A Discussion About Houston's Future
ABOUT AMANDA EDWARDS
Amanda Edwards is a native Houstonian and a former At-Large City Council Member. Her hands-on, results-oriented servant leadership is focused on empowering residents and obtaining results. Amanda is an accomplished attorney with extensive municipal finance experience, a grassroots public servant, and an effective community advocate. Amanda is also the founder of a community non-profit that empowers various groups ranging from seniors to women.
As a City Council Member, Amanda has proven herself to be an effective and relentless advocate. With an eye toward the future and a vision of an economy that works for all Houstonians, she has led citywide efforts to cultivate technology, innovation, and public transit. In fact, Houston’s new Innovation District (part of the recommendations stemming from the Tech & Innovation Task Force Amanda initiated and led) is now under construction, with the first phase of it (The Ion) now complete.
Amanda has also led Houston’s efforts to reduce the disparities in accessing capital faced by women and minorities who own small businesses in Houston. Amanda now leads BEAMW (the Business Ecosystem Alliance for Minorities & Women) to provide a wide array of support, including one-on-one financial counseling services for small business owners, among other things.
Amanda’s experience as a municipal finance attorney proved invaluable during her tenure on the City Council as the city grappled with budgetary deficits and pension reform. Amanda served as the Vice Chair of the Budget & Fiscal Affairs Committee, authored numerous measures to ensure more accountability and good stewardship of the city’s limited resources, and helped lead budgetary sessions analyzing the city’s $5.1 billion budget. Amanda also served on the Economic Development Committee.
Amanda graduated from Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD. She earned a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University in 2004. While at Emory, Amanda served as a Community Building and Social Change Fellow, and she worked in six Community Development Corporations (CDCs). After graduating from Emory, she worked for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in Washington, D.C. Amanda went on to earn her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was a student attorney for the Criminal Justice Institute.