Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is an American social justice advocate and businesswoman.
Ellis-Lamkins is the co-founder and CEO of Promise, a business that is overhauling the bail system with headquarters in California.
Ellis-Lamkins’ Career
She previously held positions as the CEO of the anti-poverty organization Green For All, the Head of Care at Honor, and the Executive Officer of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, an association of organized labor that represents more than 100 unions and more than 110,000 members in the Californian counties of Santa Clara and San Benito.
She also served as the executive director of Working Partnerships USA, a grouping of community organizations, labor unions, and religious institutions dedicated to reducing economic inequality in Silicon Valley, California.
Ellis-Lamkins joined SEIU Local 715 in San Jose as a union organizer in 1998, the year she received her degree from California State University, Northridge.
Following a campaign to win union representation for low-wage workers, Ellis-Lamkins joined Working Partnerships USA’s team as the organization’s education coordinator.
The Labor/Community Leadership Institute’s first senior fellows program was established under her direction. For local clergy and lay leaders, Ellis-Lamkins in this capacity developed the Faith in Action training program. She took over as president of Working Partnerships USA within five years.
She also rose to the position of Executive Director of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, a labor federation that represents over 110,000 union members and over 100 unions in the counties of Santa Clara and San Benito.
As the executive director of Working Partnerships USA, Ellis-Lamkins increased the number of children covered by the country’s first county-based universal children’s health insurance program to over 160,000. This program has been adopted by thirty additional counties in California.
Ellis-Lamkins also spearheaded the effort to establish one of the nation’s first community benefits agreements, which set forth local standards for a sizable economic development project in San Jose.
Under Ellis-Lamkins’ direction, Working Partnerships was also successful in raising the living wage. Working Partnerships received criticism for the non-financial profit’s ties to the electoral activities of the South Bay Labor Council, but it also raised $6 million in grants during its first six years of operation and won local policy victories.
Partnership for Working Families, a national coalition “dedicated to building power and reshaping the economy and urban environment for workers and communities,” was established in 2003 under the direction of Ellis-Lamkins.
Ellis-Lamkins’ Awards and Recognitions
“Spur” awarded Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins the “2018 Silver Spur Awards” San Jose Magazine named Ellis-Lamkins one of the 100 most powerful people in Silicon Valley. The Silicon Valley Business Journal called her one of “40 to watch under 40.” In 2009, Ellis-Lamkins received the Visionary Leadership Award for her work as executive officer of the Labor Council and executive director of Working Partnerships USA.
