Uncrowned Community Builders

Dr. Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich is an author, public scholar, policy analyst, community activist, and spokesperson on behalf of creative black leadership and urban politics.

As executive director and chief operating officer of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc., a twenty-three year confederation of the top national civil rights and service organizations, she facilitates dialogue among African American leadership and designs opportunities for collaboration, across racial lines, on issues important to the community. She also is a professor of Urban Power Politics at several nationally recognized universities.

Dr. Scruggs-Leftwich received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master's degree from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of the University of Minnesota, and a Bachelor's degree from North Carolina Central University. She also was a Fulbright Fellow to Germany.

Previously she was deputy Mayor of Philadelphia; New York State's Housing Commissioner; HUD's Deputy Assistant Secretary; Executive Director of President Carter's Urban and Regional Policy Group which issued the first formal National Urban Policy over two decades ago; and director of the Urban and National Policy Institutes for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington. Dr. Scruggs-Leftwich co-owned several non-depository banking corporations and has served as a consulting vice president in the municipal finance field.

She is regularly quoted in newspapers around the country and has been profiled in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications. She is a commentator on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer and appears frequently on many other public affairs broadcast shows.

Dr. Scruggs-Leftwich has written over one hundred publications. She writes a syndicated column for The National Newspaper Association and is working on her next book, Sound Bites of Protest: Race, Politics and Public Policy.

She has been a professor at several top universities throughout her career including Howard Universityand the University of Pennsylvania. She is listed in Who's Who Among Black Americans; Who's Who in America; Who's Who Among American Women; and her career and life are described in the Biography of African American Women.

Her areas of expertise include urban policy, public administration and governmental behavior, black women as activists and change agents, city and regional planning, developing neighborhoods and small communities, strategic planning, and leadership development.

She is the daughter of Uncrowned Queen, Geneva B. Scruggs.