Emily A. Nelms

As a native southerner, I experienced the racial divide firsthand growing up in the city of Birmingham. To have the opportunity to work with an agency that fights to eradicate racism is a cause that is dear to my heart, as it is a chance to bring change to my own home city and to change the portrait that history has painted across its canvas. I have a passion for society to see the urban landscape as more than just race or ethnicity, but as neighbors helping neighbors to help themselves without hesitation. Assisting in the work of advocacy, education, and monitoring here at GCORR allows me the ability to be able to begin to paint a new portrait of that landscape, one that has brighter colors, and that is all-inclusive.

Emily A. Nelms is an administrative assistant to executive staff members of the General Commission on Religion and Race, working particularly in the areas of monitoring, advocacy, and education and training. She joined our staff in late 2008.

Emily hails from the city of Birmingham, Alabama, where she enveloped a passion for urban and civil rights history during her undergraduate studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She earned a B.A. in History from UAB, and pursued graduate studies in American History, with a focus on modern political and social movement history in cities, as well as race-related issues. Her Alabamian roots drive her greater interest in the grassroots movement that pushed into the cities during the civil rights era.

Emily previously served as Communications Coordinator at Canterbury United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and as an Executive Assistant to the Senior Vice President of Political Affairs at the Credit Union National Association in Washington, D.C. In her home North Alabama Conference she served in several capacities ranging from summer camp counselor to assisting in communications with the annual conference.

In her free time, Emily enjoys reading, movies, and great conversation (even better if it involves food). She loves traveling home to Alabama to see her family, but also has a weakness for any location with historical significance. She lives in the federal district with her cat, Zoe.