Alexia Kelley is the president and CEO of FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities). Prior to that appointment, she was deputy director and senior advisor in the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, as well as former director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She was the principal founder and executive director of

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) is a non-partisan, Catholic, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in the United States, which according to its website aims to promote "the fullness of the Catholic social tradition in the public squar ...

Education and career

Kelley graduated with a B.A. in Religion with honors from

Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...

in 1989. Her thesis focused on the writings and speeches of the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

abolitionist and suffragist Lucretia Mott. After college, she worked at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in Washington, D.C., a Quaker social justice

lobby Lobby may refer to: * Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building * Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians :* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States * Lobby (food), a thick stew ...

and one of the oldest

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

lobby organizations in the United States. From there, she attended Harvard Divinity School, graduating in 1993 with a Master of Theological Studies. Following graduate school, Kelley worked for the

Catholic Campaign for Human Development The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the national anti-poverty and social justice program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) History CCHD was begun in 1969 as the "National Catholic Crusade Against Pove ...

, a national Catholic anti-poverty initiative, for nearly a decade. During her tenure at CCHD, Kelley co-edited ''Living the Catholic Social Tradition: Cases and Commentary'' with Dr. Kathleen Maas Weigert. The book profiles community organizing projects across the country that had received support from CCHD, and it explores the principles of the Catholic social tradition that undergird support and participation in such projects. Following her tenure at CCHD, Kelley worked for three years at Environmental Resources Trust (ERT), a business unit of the non-profit organization Winrock International dedicated to promoting

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

development and

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing Greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of greenhouse gases or Carbon sink, removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caus ...

. There she worked on renewable energy policy and development projects, including a partnership between ERT and Verdant Power. In the fall of 2004, she took a leave from ERT from to serve as religious outreach director for the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

on the John Kerry campaign. She assisted in outreach to faith communities for the Kerry campaign. In 2005, she co-founded

, a

faith-based organization A faith-based organization is an organization whose values are based on faith and/or beliefs, which has a mission based on social values of the particular faith, and which most often draws its activists (leaders, staff, volunteers) from a particula ...

that works to promote the Catholic social justice tradition and Catholic support for social justice issues such as

health care reform Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place. Health care reform typically attempts to: * Broaden the population that receives health care coverage through either public sector insur ...

, economic justice, peace, and

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

. Kelley co-authored ''A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division'' with

Catholics United Catholics United is a U.S.-based non-profit 501(c)(4) non-partisan political organization, that states that it is "dedicated to promoting the message of justice and the common good found at the heart of the Catholic social teaching." The group c ...

director Chris Korzen. The book, published in July 2008, reintroduced the concept of the common good into the national dialogue on faith and politics, as both a uniquely Catholic and American principle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Alexia American Roman Catholics Living people Haverford College alumni Harvard Divinity School alumni Roman Catholic activists United States Department of Health and Human Services officials Year of birth missing (living people)