Dr. Kenya R. Johnson

Dr. Johnson (she | her | hers) is currently an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Houston–Downtown. She teaches a range of BSW courses, including Introduction to Social Work & Social Welfare, Urban Practice I, HBSE II (Human Behavior in the Social Environment), Engaging with Cultural Humility, and Practice with Children and Adolescents. In addition, she coordinates the BSW New Student Cohort, a welcoming program that orients new students to the major, helps them build community, and develops practical leadership skills to prepare them for field practicum experiences and their professional journeys beyond the program.

About her journey...

Dr. Johnson grew up in the Pine Lawn community in St. Louis county and graduated from Normandy High School. The juxtaposition of witnessing multiple forms of oppression while also being connected to the rich history of civil rights and black activism in St. Louis underscores her strong commitment to advancing racial justice. Dr. Johnson’s educational background includes receiving her Bachelor’s in social work from University of Central Missouri, her Master's in Social Work from Saint Louis University, and Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at the University of Houston's Graduate College of Social Work.

A few years after relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. Johnson was trained as an anti- racism facilitator through the Western States Center in Portland, Oregon and Race Forward in Chicago, Illinois. Her 20+ years of experience in being an anti-racist trainer contributes to her current scholarship and activism work. She also has an extensive background as a mental health practitioner working in community and school-based settings. Her journey includes policy advocacy, political engagement and community organizing work having facilitated grassroots mobilization efforts that increased voter engagement, especially in communities of color. Dr. Johnson received numerous awards for her community activism work in Nevada.

Several years after relocating to Houston, Texas, Dr. Johnson and her sister, Dr. Kim Baker co-founded Full Circle Strategies LLC (Est. 2017). Full Circle is a consulting firm specializing in helping organizations engage in race equity work. It provides support through their Holistically Engaging in Anti-Racist Transformation Academy© also known as HEARTspeak. HEARTspeak is an evidenced-based behavioral change intervention. As a lead HEARTspeak strategist, Dr. Johnson engages with a diverse group of organizational leaders and their staff who represent various professional sectors across the country. She co-facilitates trauma-informed skill-building training, provides coaching and leads a team of skilled facilitators who provide support to individuals committed to practicing race equity work at the individual and organizational levels. The HEARTspeak Academy centers anti-racism, holistic wellness, liberation, solidarity, and love as core values that affect change.

It was a culmination of Dr. Johnson's twenty-five years of professional experiences that led to the start of the Race Equity Leadership and Research Collective in 2020. This Houston based nonprofit founded by her and her sister, is also known as the RE Collective. The RE Collective is dedicated to the advancement and leadership cultivation of Black, Indigenous, Latino/a, and other people of color through leadership, research, and advocacy. The RE Collective's signature program is called The Ukombozi Fellowship, which is a year long leadership development training for BIPOC and White community, organizational, and system leaders.

Learn more about The Ukombozi Fellowship - CLICK HERE