Kevin Beckford

Kevin Beckford is an education advocate, racial equity practitioner, and social entrepreneur. In his current role as Senior Associate at the Pretrial Justice Institute, he is focused on pretrial system reform. He co-founded and serves on the board of The Hustlers Guild, a nonprofit that uses hip hop to expand access and opportunity to Black and Latinx youth from low-income households in partnership with violence prevention organizations, detention centers, celebrities, pro-athletes, and Fortune 500 companies. The Guild has reached over 7,000 students since 2018. Beckford was a 2020 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity. He previously worked as an advisor to Secretary Julian Castro at the Department of Housing and Urban Development; in the White House Presidential Correspondence Office and as a high school and middle school history teacher in Philadelphia. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in African-American Studies and Political Science from Yale University, his Master of Philosophy in African Studies from the University of Cambridge, and his Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.