Stevon Cook grew up with drug and alcohol addicted parents. Stevon and his sister witnessed the ill-effects and destruction that this behavior had not only on his mom and dad, but also on his own life as a young boy and teenager growing up in San Francisco.

“My mother’s antics while high made her the classic neighborhood drug addict that everyone laughed at. Because of that, everyone made fun of me, making it harder for me to make friends and I became more of a follower seeking the approval of the very people who rejected me.”

Stevon’s life changed his sophomore year of high school when he attended a Stanford University summer philosophy program. “There I realized how underprivileged my education and life was compared to my peers who came from more stable backgrounds. I realized education would be the way to ensure that when I have kids, they will have the resources and privileges those kids enjoyed.”

Stevon has accomplished much since we met him as a high school senior at Thurgood Marshall High School in San Francisco in 2003. He recently graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts. He also developed and pursued an interest in film and video production.
“I realized through my video projects that I was taking more of an interest in the business than the production side. I have a new interest in different business industries such as the stock market and real estate. These are fields that historically have low representation from African Americans, so my participation is not just about having the tools to build wealth for myself and my family, but to excite and expose my community to these untraditional areas of investment. This is about helping people build a better future for themselves and their children.”

Stevon’s ambitions led him to apply to the San Francisco’s City Hall Fellows, a highly selective program that offers America’s best and brightest college students an unparallel opportunity to experience local government by working as fulltime staff members.

It is an opportunity that Stevon says will give him exposure to how policy is created on the local level and the impact it has on everyday residents. The program’s mission is to introduce America’s future leaders to the inner workings of local government, bringing their talent and energy to bear on the challenges local governments face, and finally, exposing them to meaningful public careers.

“My interest in this position came from observing the shortcomings of government and its inability to improve the conditions of its most underprivileged citizens. Instead of complaining about failed government, I wanted a first hand look on what I could do to improve it and better understand its functions.”

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