Yahusef Medina

Yahusef Medina serves as the director of Community Initiatives at Virginia Humanities, the state’s humanities council headquartered at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. In his role, he provides leadership and expertise in broadening and strengthening community partnerships statewide. He cultivates relationships with new and historically underserved audiences and advances innovative and inclusive, community-driven, public humanities projects and programming. Yahusef leads the Virginia HBCU Scholars fellowship, the Virginia African American Cultural Resources Task Force, and works across the organization to co-design and develop educational content.

Prior to his current role, Yahusef served as a bilingual community engagement specialist for Richmond Public Schools and as an education and re-entry program specialist for the New York State Office of Children and Family Services in Harlem, NY. In addition to his work at Virginia Humanities, he serves on the board of directors for Canary Academy Online, the Afro Latin@ Forum, and as chair of the Education and Career Training committee for the Virginia Latino Advisory Board. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Liberty University and has started doctoral coursework in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia.