About Greg Jackson

National Leader. Local Commitment.

Greg Jackson was shot and nearly killed in the District in 2013. Since that tragic night, he has become a leading advocate, organizer and after leading efforts to pass the first federal law on gun violence in 30 years, he was appointed Special Assistant to President Joe Biden on Gun Violence Prevention.

In this role, he led a 49% reduction in homicides nationwide in just 3 years.

A community organizer at heart, Greg Jackson has organized and served in Washington, D.C. since 2007 where he helped found and later serve as the co-chair of DC for Obama, a movement that deployed thousands of volunteers to achieve victory in the historic 2008 election of President Barack Obama. Greg was later hired by the Democratic National Committee to lead a team of over 380 staff in North Carolina, where he played a pivotal role leading over 36 local campaigns. After Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012, Greg returned to DC as the national field director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, where he led the largest midterm voter registration effort in U.S. History. It was then that he survived a near fatal gunshot wound, which led him to shift from campaigns to making D.C. safer place to call home.

In 2015, he was appointed to the cabinet of Mayor Muriel Bowser as her first Director of Community Relations and Services, where he oversaw an effort to successfully resolve over 2,000 resident concerns. During the 2016 election, Greg was hired as the first national field director of "For Our Future", an organization built and funded by national labor unions to increase voter turnout in Black and Brown communities. After the challenging 2016 election, Greg returned to DC government where he joined the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) as their Communication and Community Relations Director where he drove historic numbers of residents to our District's incredible parks and recreation centers in the spirit of "play". It was here he coined DPR's motto "Where Fun Happens", launched the award winning "FitDC" campaign and enhanced opportunities for DC youth, residents and seniors to enjoy the District through recreation.

After losing a family friend to gun violence in 2019, Greg returned to the national stage to address gun violence across the country. He was hired as National Advocacy Director and Executive Director for Community Justice Action Fund, the nation's only Black survivor led advocacy organization focused on ending gun violence. While at Community Justice, Greg was able to lead advocacy work to ensure federal funds responding to the COVID-19 pandemic (American Rescue Plan) prioritized public safety, led battles to secure $42 billion in funding for gun violence prevention and pass the first law on gun violence in 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. After the passage of this historic bill, Greg was appointed as Special Assistant to President Biden on Gun Violence and named the Deputy Director of the first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. At the service of the President, Greg developed and implemented 54 executive actions, coordinated federal responses to mass shootings , oversaw the allocation of billions and fully implemented the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, leading to a 49% reduction in homicides across the United States of America.

After his time at the White House, Greg is working on getting his Master's in Public Health from Yale University, serving as the President of the Rocket Foundation alongside music artist Quavo and consulting with organizations across the country to make communities safer from gun violence.

Despite his dynamic progress, Greg has lost multiple loved ones to gun violence and his D.C. home was hit 13 times during a nearby shooting by while he served in the White House. As Council member, Greg aspires to bring his dynamic experience and commitment to making DC safer from gun violence and a place where all can thrive.