Angela Raeburn: Working for Greater Good at Home and Abroad

In 2004, Angela Raeburn (M.P.A., 2005) was deep in her master’s of public administration at CSU Stanislaus. But she was presented with an opportunity to do graduate-level work in Belgium and the United Kingdom. So she enrolled in CBAPP’s online M.P.A. program and completed her degree a year and a half later while studying abroad. It would become the first of three master’s degrees she would earn and would serving as a launching point for both a year spent completing a Congressional Black Caucus Fellowship in Washington, D.C. and her current post as president of Junior Achievement of Sacramento.

While abroad, Raeburn completed master’s degrees in Conflict and Sustainable Peace at Catholic University of Leuven (in Belgium) and Conflict Resolution at University of Bradford (in England). As her travels and the titles of her degrees might suggest, her first passion was foreign policy, which led her to apply for the Congressional Black Caucus Fellowship program. She was one of six graduate-level students selected for the program in 2005, and she became a key member on the staff of Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D – Michigan), who then sat on the House’s Foreign Operations Committee.

Essentially, Raeburn’s job was to keep Kilpatrick up to speed on various foreign policy issues of the day. With the escalation of the conflict in Iraq, plus hot button issues flaring up in both Haiti and Darfur, it was an exciting time to be so involved in the gears of Capitol Hill.

“I was the person responsible for gathering information for [Kilpatrick] and bringing her up to speed on the issues in various parts of the world,” says Raeburn, who found herself disappointed by the partisan politics that dominated Washington. But she still found the experience worthwhile. “From an individual standpoint, it was extremely rewarding because I got to hear from some of the world’s top experts on foreign policy issues. For example, I went to a briefing with Condoleeza Rice on Sudan.”

Now, a little more than a year after her fellowship ended, she finds herself back home in Turlock, California, as the president of Junior Achievement of Sacramento. The non-profit aims to teach children about entrepreneurship, finance, and other money matters. “We look to teach students leadership and problem solving so they can succeed in the global economy,” explains Raeburn.

The mother of three is the first to admit that managing the Sacramento division of Junior Achievement, which has 139 area offices spread around the world, is a distinct departure from her foreign policy work. Now, she spends her time working with and advocating for 50 schools and more than 10,000 students in the greater Sacramento area. In between, she keeps up on foreign policy issues by reading newspapers like Le Monde (she speaks French fluently) and other journals. Whether its abroad or at home though, Raeburn seems intent on being involved in policy issues for quite some time. The latest indication of that? She’s contemplating a run for a spot on her city council.

- Ryan Brandt: Reprinted from The Report