Skip to content

School of Government

Lead for North Carolina

Cohort 1

Jurisdiction: Greensboro

University: Guilford College

Hometown: Greensboro, NC

Zaynah Afada was a fellow for the City of Greensboro in human relations. Afada worked on fair housing investigations and mediations, and she analyzed trends in housing to ensure residents had access to affordable housing and maintained positive relationships with their landlords. The housing events she planned contributed to an increase in fair housing calls from both landlords and tenants. Afada was also recruited to participate in NC GARE (Government Alliance on Race and Equity) to help create an equity curriculum and policy for local governments.

Afada earned a bachelor’s degree in community justice and policy studies with a minor in political science from Guilford College, where she was a Bonner Scholar. She served as an executive member of Guilford’s International Advisory Committee, a project coordinator for Summit Cone Community Center, and a project coordinator at the Newcomers Garden Project. She was also a historical interpreter at the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historic Site in Gibsonville, NC.

March 2, 2026

Hyde County is launching a Citizens Academy, a free educational program designed by local governments to teach citizens how their local government operates. The academy has three main goals: to…

January 15, 2026

Maria Cuenca-Romero is driven by a genuine desire to give back, turning her passion for public service into meaningful change for the communities she serves. After attaining a bachelor’s degree…

September 22, 2025

In Clayton, numbers show how resources support services and meet residents’ needs. Each figure in the budget provides insight into how departments operate and how programs are funded, creating a…

AmeriCorps