"Kwanza Hall"

Is currently serving as a city councilman representing District 2 in Atlanta,Georgia.He was first elected to the Atlanta City Council in 2005 and re-elected without opposition in 2009.Kwanza represents the neighborhoods of Atlantic Station,Castleberry,Downtown,Home Park,the Marietta Artery,Sweet Auburn,and the Martin Luther King Historic District,Midtown,Poncey-Highland,and the Old Fourth Ward.For 2010,he serves as the vice-chair of the City Utilities Committee.He also serves on the Community Development/Human Resources Committee and the Committee on Council.He graduated from Benjamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta.He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he studied political science.Before holding elected office,Kwanza worked in the Fulton County government,and he served as Vice President of Technology for GoodWorks international,a human rights and public service conducting firm co-chaired by Andrew Young.He then moved on to become the Director of Business Development for MACTEC Engineering and Consulting,inc.,a position he currently holds.In 2002,Kwanza was elected to the Atlanta Board of Education where he served for three years prior to his election to the Atlanta City Council.During this time on the Atlanta Board of Education,he worked toward closing the achievement gap and contributed to reforms that improved the peformance of Atlanta Public Schools on statewide tests.Among the most notable of the initiatives he has been involved in during his tenure is the Atlanta Beltline project.Kwanza has also focused on community improvement including land use,historical preservation,and sustainable development of in-town neighborhoods.He serves on the boards of a number of organizations,including the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District,Operation HOPE,the Big Kidz,Foundation,the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy, Creating Pride,and Midtown Bank.Kwanza has been been recognized by L.E.A.D. Atlanta,the Regional Leadership Institute,Leadership Georgia,and the German Marshall Memorial,Fellowship Program. In 2009,he was recgnized by Creative Loafing as Atlanta's Best Local Political Figure.