Eva Colen

Eva Colen serves in the Office of Mayor Levar M. Stoney as the City of Richmond’s first-ever Senior Policy Advisor for Youth Initiatives. Eva began her career as a high school English teacher in Philadelphia through Teach For America. She left the classroom to join Teach For America’s national recruitment team, which ultimately brought her home to Virginia, where she led recruitment efforts at colleges and universities across the state. Eva found herself exploring the worlds of education policy and advocacy in her home state and, in 2013, she worked with leadership at TFA and in Virginia’s General Assembly to pass legislation that would allow TFA to operate in Virginia. In 2017, after fellowships with Leadership for Educational Equity and 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now, Eva launched Virginia Excels, a nonprofit advocacy organization that serves as a platform for parents, families and students to engage directly in the education policymaking process and advance policies and practices that are good for kids and communities. In May 2018, Eva joined Mayor Stoney’s administration to advise on youth and education issues. In her current role, Eva provides strategic support for the Richmond Education Compact, the Richmond Children’s Cabinet, the Mayor’s Teacher Advisory Council, and Mayor Stoney’s initiative to universalize access to high-quality out-of-school time programming. Eva holds a bachelor’s degree in Classics and Women’s & Gender Studies from Columbia University and a master’s degree in Urban Education from the University of Pennsylvania.

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