HLA Staff, Richard Davis Jr.

Richard Davis Jr.

Sr. Policy Associate

(He/him/his)

Richard Davis Jr. joins Higher Learning Advocates deeply committed to advancing equitable policy solutions focused on improving experiences and outcomes for under-resourced students pursuing higher education. As policy associate, he helps advance HLA’s policy and research agenda by assisting with the development and publication of the organization’s policy products and activities.

His passion for advocating for a better system of higher learning stems from his experience as an undergraduate student body president, where he was elected to represent the voices of thousands of students during a time when his home state of Louisiana was faced with budget cuts to its student aid programs. Through his experience speaking out at the State Capitol, he was able to learn firsthand how impactful student voice can be in influencing policymaking.

Prior to joining HLA, Richard was a state policy fellow at the Louisiana Budget Project, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization aimed at analyzing state policies through a racial equity lens and with an explicit focus on their impact on low- and moderate-income families. He also served as a policy and federal relations intern at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), as well as a Governor’s Fellow at the Louisiana Department of Corrections – Office of Education and Reentry Services.

As a first-generation college graduate, Richard holds an undergraduate degree in education from Southeastern Louisiana University and a master’s degree in public administration from Louisiana State University. Outside of work, he can be found fishing, cooking, jamming out to old-school R&B, and traveling the country.

You can find Richard on Twitter at @RichardODavisJr.