Amber Hikes
Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at ACLU
Amber Hikes is a social justice advocate, community organizer, and unapologetic queer black woman. As the ACLU’s first Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, she provides vision, leadership, and direction for the ACLU’s nationwide strategy to support equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) across all aspects of the organization’s work and efforts. Amber serves as both the internal and external ambassador on the importance of EDI as a crucial cornerstone of the ACLU’s culture of belonging.
Prior to joining the ACLU, Amber served as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs where she developed policy and served as the principal advisor to the Mayor on issues that affect the LGBTQ community. At the Mayor’s Office, Hikes set her sights on fighting and advocating for the most impacted populations within the LGBTQ community – specifically youth, elders, immigrants, transgender people, and people of color. In her time leading the office, Amber advocated for anti-discrimination legislation at the municipal level, passed one of the nation’s most trans-inclusive police policies and added black and brown stripes to the rainbow flag, prompting an international conversation about race and discrimination within the LGBTQ community.
A community organizer from an early age, Amber’s full-time career began in education access advocacy — as the youngest Upward Bound director in the country, at the University of Pennsylvania. The moral compass of Amber’s work, intersectional inclusion, can be traced throughout her organizing and her work supporting and facilitating the pursuit of postsecondary education for youth of color experiencing poverty and homelessness. Hikes has been recognized nationally by OUT Magazine as “Community Organizer of the Year” in the 2018 OUT 100 and by Business Equality Pride as one of the 40 LGBTQ Leaders Under 40. Hikes earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and Psychology and English degrees from the University of Delaware.
Takes part in
Confronting Racism and Injustice in the “New Normal” Corporate World
How can we confront systemic racism and injustice in the workplace? And what can be done to be a good ally and recognize your own privilege? The speakers in this panel will discuss the following topics:
- One year after George Floyd's murder, has the corporate world become less racist?
- Power, privilege and equity: How do they look in the transformed post-COVID workplace
- What is the level of anti-racism corporate policies and practices?
Amber Hikes
Ericka Jones
Odessa Jenkins
Janine Yancey