{"id":143947,"date":"2023-11-27T13:45:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=143947"},"modified":"2023-11-27T13:45:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T18:45:50","slug":"thinking-globally-working-locally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2023\/11\/27\/thinking-globally-working-locally\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking globally, working locally"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Wright State graduate Adama Diakhate helps the underserved and works to revitalize neighborhoods as a community engagement specialist for the City of Dayton.<\/p><\/div>\n

Adama Diakhate, a Wright State University international studies graduate, is helping Daytonians \u2014 many of whom are immigrants \u2014 find local housing and become part of the community.<\/p>\n

He understands their situation somewhat. He, too, is an immigrant.<\/p>\n

Diakhate, who earned bachelor\u2019s degrees in international studies<\/a> and French<\/a> from Wright State in 2018, was recently promoted to community engagement specialist in the City of Dayton\u2019s Department of Planning, Neighborhood and Development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be working with neighborhoods and businesses,\u201d he said. \u201cMy hope is to get more citizen engagement, to revitalize and to work with neighborhoods to find better ways to create more housing opportunities and to help with any needs. In city government, that\u2019s what we\u2019re here for, to serve the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey to his new position started when as a teenager he came to the Cincinnati area from Senegal in West Africa. His parents immigrated earlier to pave the way for him, with the goal of better education and job opportunities for the family.<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school, Diakhate was accepted to universities in Cincinnati and Kentucky, but a little farther north was a place that came recommended.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard good things about Wright State and got good feedback from friends about how great the university is,\u201d Diakhate said.<\/p>\n

He initially enrolled as a biological science major, but within the year, he developed an interest in international relations, focusing on peace and diplomacy, and switched majors.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Wright State, he landed a job as a lab technician in Dayton but soon realized that was not for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my degree, I wanted to do something other than sitting in a lab,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to help the underserved, help those in the community who lack resources. That\u2019s been an issue within the immigrant community \u2014 that was my number one motivation to switch jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though he had finished his degree from Wright State, Wright State was not finished with him. Diakhate continued to get emails from the university, one of which caught his eye. It was about AmeriCorps, a federal agency for national service through volunteerism.<\/p>\n

Diakhate became involved with the Hall Hunger Initiative, a nonprofit organization created in 2015 by Tony Hall, a former member of the U.S. Congress and United Nations ambassador, Tony Hall through AmeriCorps to help those in need to secure housing and food.<\/p>\n

After his journey with AmeriCorps, Diakhate worked as a case manager at Homefull, a social service organization in Moraine, and a year later, was promoted to coordinate Homefull\u2019s Rapid Rehousing program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat helps people get housing opportunities and connects them to resources, including jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A couple of years later, Diakhate came upon an opportunity to apply as a legislative aide to Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph. He did and was brought on board in July 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really opened up so many doors,\u201d Diakhate said. \u201cIt made me understand local politics and how things work in general \u2014 all to help the underserved and all of our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later, Diakhate was promoted to his current role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State is the reason why I\u2019m at the point I\u2019m in,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t get that email about AmeriCorps, I wouldn\u2019t be doing what I\u2019m doing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diakhate is looking beyond today.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy long-term goal is becoming a lawyer to help immigrants,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s hard to transition to a different country, through a lack of understanding the language or how the system functions. I\u2019ve seen a lot of families suffer through a lack of proper paperwork. My drive is to help those families.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this while, Dayton has been where he wants to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had opportunities to be in different states, but I\u2019ve stayed here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He has a message for those at Wright State: put the university\u2019s array of organizations to good use, which leads to opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a Wright State student,\u201d Diakhate said, \u201cyou\u2019re in a great place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State graduate Adama Diakhate helps the underserved and works to revitalize neighborhoods as a community engagement specialist for the City of Dayton. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":143955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4299,2025,725,747,715,4855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-profile","category-community-service","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143947"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143966,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143947\/revisions\/143966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}