Chaka Fattah (born Arthur Wesley Davenport; November 21, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House for from 1995 to 2016. The district included portions of North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, and West Philadelphia along with Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County. He previously served in the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
On July 29, 2015, Fattah and a group of associates were indicted on federal charges related to their alleged roles in a racketeering and influence peddling conspiracy. He was convicted on 23 counts of racketeering, fraud, and other corruption charges on June 21, 2016, and resigned two days later. On December 12, 2016, Fattah was sentenced to 10 years in prison. On August 9, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia overturned Fattah's bribery convictions. On July 12, 2019, a Philadelphia judge sentenced Fattah to 10 years in federal prison for public corruption. He was released from prison in the summer of 2020.
Early life and education Arthur Davenport was born and raised in Philadelphia, to Russell and Frances Davenport as the fourth of six sons. His father was a sergeant in the United States Army and his mother was an editor for the Philadelphia Tribune. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother soon remarried to a man she met at a national conference on black power in 1968. Following this conference, his mother and her new husband decided to change their family name to Fattah. They would change Arthur's name to Chaka, after a Zulu king. His mother and stepfather's social activism strongly influenced Fattah's political development.
His adoptive father, David Fattah, and mother, Falaka Fattah (born Frances Brown, also known as "Queen Mother" Falaka Fattah), are community activists in West Philadelphia, where they are building an "urban Boys' Town" through their organization, the House of Umoja. He has five brothers.
Fattah attended Overbrook High School and the Community College of Philadelphia.Chaka Fattah educational background Philadelphia Daily News He earned a Bachelor of Arts in business and economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 1984, Fattah completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In May 1986, he received his master's degree in governmental administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government.
Fattah was the recipient of numerous honors and awards including 10 honorary doctorates and the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Time magazine named Fattah one of the 50 most promising leaders in the country.
Pennsylvania General Assembly Fattah served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 192nd district from 1983 to 1988, and as a State Senator for the 7th district from 1988 to 1994.
In 1987, Fattah founded the Graduate Opportunity Initiative Conference, an annual three-day informational and scholarship conference which aims to significantly increase the enrollment of under-represented graduate students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM fields). The conference was designed to encourage minority students’ interest in STEM graduate and professional schools.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections In 1991, State Senator Fattah decided to run for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district in the special election that was held after Democratic U.S. Congressman William Gray decided to resign. On November 5, 1991, City Councilman Lucien Edward Blackwell won the election with a plurality of 39% of the vote defeating Fattah (28%), John F. White (28%), and Nadine Smith-Bulford (5%).
In 1994, Fattah decided to challenge Blackwell in the Democratic primary. He defeated the incumbent 58%–42%. He won the general election with 86% of the vote. After that, he was re-elected every two years with at least 86% of the vote. He was never challenged in the Democratic primary until 2016, when he lost to Dwight E. Evans.
Tenure Fattah represented the 2nd district in Pennsylvania, an overwhelmingly Democratic district, in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2016. Fattah endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008.
GEAR Up and education
Fattah was the architect of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
In his first years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Fattah introduced and passed into law Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), a college awareness and preparedness program. Since its inception, more than $4 billion in federal funds have been distributed to assist 12million students in 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Fattah sponsored H.R. 4207, American Dream Accounts Act which would authorize the Department of Education to award three-year competitive grants to support partnerships that provide financial support and preparation for low-income students as they plan for their college education. The bill is co-sponsored in the U. S. Senate by Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. Specifically the legislation creates personal online accounts for students that monitor higher education readiness and includes a college savings account. The accounts follow students from school to school and through college. Parents can grant vested stakeholders (including counselors, teachers, coaches, mentors, and others) access to the account to update student information, monitor progress, and provide college preparatory support.
Fattah introduced bills targeting the equity of resource allocation within and between school districts. In 2002, he introduced the "Student Bill of Rights", H.R. 2451. The measure called for States to provide highly effective teachers, early childhood education, college prep curricula and equitable instructional resources to all students who attend public schools. Current law requires that schools within the same district provide comparable educational services; this bill would extend that basic protection to the State level by requiring comparability across school districts.
The ESEA Fiscal Fairness Act, H.R. 5071 – amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to requires school districts to equalize the real dollars spent among all schools within its jurisdiction – with the imperative to raise the resources allotted to schools in the poorest neighborhoods to meet those in well-off schools – before receiving federal aid.
Fattah introduced "Communities Committed to College", H.R. 1579. The legislation provides a 50% tax credit to donors who contribute to qualifying scholarship trusts that are recognized and registered with the Secretary of the Treasury.
He also wrote the legislation for the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC). The tax credit assists any full-time college or university student or their families that claim the credit. Since 2011, it has assisted 4.5million students and their families. AOTC provides up to $2500 tax credit for families to assist them with the cost of college. The credit is unique in that families under a set income without a tax liability are eligible for a tax rebate. President Obama has called for making the tax credit permanent. Outside of legislative work Fattah has created a few local education initiatives for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania families as a state legislator and in cooperation with state and municipal governments, including the CORE scholars program and the annual Grad Conference.
College Opportunity Resources for Education (CORE) is an initiative providing almost $27 million in last-dollar scholarships to over 18,000 students. The program encourages the students to participate in service to the local community and provides technical assistance to the families of program participants ensuring that they apply for educational assistance programs (Pell Grants, PHEAA grants, etc.) offered by the state and federal government.
A report issued by the National Student Clearinghouse concluded that participants in CORE were more likely than their fellow non-CORE classmates to complete their college education in four years.
Youth mentoring Fattah was the lead Democrat responsible for the funding of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General. Since 2011, Congressman Farrah was able to negotiate an increase of $30M to investment in DOJ programs that fund groups including the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
In 2012, Fattah negotiated a partnership between FIRST and Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide robotics programs to 4million youth by 2015.
Neuroscience Fattah was the lead Democrat responsible for funding some of the largest science agencies in the federal system (NASA, NSF, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). In December 2011, Fattah through his role on the Appropriations Committee, directed the OSTP to establish an Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience (IWGN). Housed within the White House and chartered on June 20, 2012, the IWGN convenes representatives across the Federal government to make recommendations about the future of neuroscience research.
The Fattah Neuroscience Initiative is a policy initiative designed to make major progress understanding the human brain by intensifying, in a collaborative fashion, federal research efforts across brain disease, disorder, injury, cognition and development. The initiative aims to coordinate Federal research across agencies and draw upon public-private partnerships and the world of academia. The initiative promotes research and discovery across brain cognition, development, disease and injury.
Manufacturing Fattah states that his priority is ensuring that small and medium businesses have the tools they need to prosper in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. He is the lead Democrat responsible for funding the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In his role on the Appropriations Committee, Fattah has advocated to $128 million in funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a program that assists small and mid-sized manufacturers create and retain jobs, increase profits, and save time and money. He is also an advocate for the SelectUSA program, an initiative that encourages U.S. businesses operating off-shore to return to the U.S. and promote the U.S. marketplace.
Cooperative development Fattah was considered a “true champion” of the co-op movement by the American Co-op Association.
In May 2013, Fattah introduced the Creating Jobs through Cooperatives Act (HR 2437). This legislation will provide means to catalyze cooperative development, provide tools to entrepreneurs to bring cooperative to their communities, partner with financial institutions to provide grants a loans to developing businesses, offer technical training and professional development. His bill calls for $25million federal investment and technical assistance to cooperatives through a new National Cooperative Development Center. The bill has national support from co-op and EOB advocates and members. Co-ops have a broad base and connection to community in the Philadelphia area.
In November 2013, Fattah was invited to attend as Keynote speaker at the Annual Cooperatives Conference, hosted by the NCBA. The conference brought together national leaders in cooperative development to share best practices to create powerful change for their organizations.
Sponsored legislation