Join CCW for a conversation with Elizabeth Bennett-Parker '07, City of Alexandria Vice Mayor. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker was elected to the Alexandria City Council in November 2018 and is the youngest woman elected to Council in Alexandria’s history.

Sponsored by the CCW Community Service committee, this event will facilitate a conversation with Vice Mayor Bennett-Parker about her path to local government, what civic engagement means to her and the community she represents, and how Northern Virginia area residents can participate in local civic engagement activities.

Questions? Contact Julia Buffinton '14 or Drew Zukosky '13

About Elizabeth:

Elizabeth Bennett-Parker was elected to the Alexandria City Council in November 2018 and is the youngest woman elected to Council in Alexandria’s history. Elizabeth is the Chair of the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Board and also serves on the following local and regional boards: the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission; the Northern Virginia Regional Commission; the Visit Alexandria Board of Governors; the Eco-City Alexandria Environmental Action Plan Steering Committee; the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy; the Library Board; and co-chairs the Legislative Subcommittee of Council with the Mayor.

Prior to her election, she was appointed by Council to serve on the Community Criminal Justice Board and the Commission on Employment. She also served on the boards of Agenda:Alexandria, the United Way Regional Council for Alexandria, and the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture.
  
Elizabeth is a former Fulbright Fellow, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University, and received a master’s degree from the University of London. She was selected as one of Alexandria’s 40 under 40 in 2017. In her day job, she co-leads Together We Bake, a nonprofit job training and personal development program for underserved women. 

Elizabeth is the founder of Fruitcycle, a social enterprise that produced healthy snacks from locally-sourced produce that would otherwise go to waste, while also providing jobs for women who had been homeless or formerly incarcerated. Recognizing a similarity in missions, Elizabeth merged Fruitcycle with Together We Bake in 2016. Before launching Fruitcycle, Elizabeth worked for the National Governors Association, where she served as a liaison to Congress, federal agencies and the White House on issues related to transportation, economic development and health.