Fellowship provides young Africans tools to lead, serve their fellow citizens

It takes a village. [The Phoenix community] served as coaches, presenters and facilitators. The Fellows also learned about various levels of public management and met with representatives of the office of U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, the state Legislature, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Arizona Department of Administration, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Maricopa Association of Governments and the Phoenix city manager.”
Hector Zelaya, Director of Executive Education, ASU’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions
Years before he first set foot on campus this summer, 2022 Fellowship Alumnus Jessy Mendes was quite familiar with the acronym “ASU.”
Not the ASU that Sun Devils know. One he created.
Mendes, 26, didn’t start his own university. He founded the Angola Skateboarding Union, known in his country as ASU. Mendes and the union built that country’s first skateboard park to inspire and empower hundreds of Angolan youth.
Mendes is one of 24 dedicated, idealistic, creative young African leaders who traveled to Phoenix this summer for an international training program named for legendary South African President Nelson Mandela, the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders…
Learn more about this summer’s Leadership in Public Management Institute at Arizona State University in this article.
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Obinna Orjingene & Caleb Mulongo
2018 Fellowship Alumni