My name is Abigail Owen, and I recently joined ACTE as the Media and Advocacy Coordinator. I will be responsible for managing ACTE’s media activities, developing social media content to support policy and advocacy goals, overseeing website and blog content related to policy and research, and sharing information on federal policy activities with members. I am excited to support ACTE’s Policy, Research and Content Department, and the overall association, through media and policy-related communications and grassroots advocacy.

I graduated from Georgetown University with my Master’s in Public Policy in May of 2024. This graduate program is what brought me to DC, where I currently reside. Previously, I was living in Austin, Texas, where I did my Bachelor’s in political science and international relations at the University of Texas.

I have worked for various advocacy and non-profit organizations prior to joining ACTE. In those roles, I strengthened my media relations, strategic communications, programmatic, and political analysis skills. Most recently, I worked on the communications team of FWD.US, an immigration and criminal justice reform advocacy organization. My primary responsibilities were press engagement and media-facing advocacy campaigns. These experiences strengthened my interest in using strategic communications to advance policy goals and increase public understanding of complex issues.

I also worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as a Program Associate on the Latin America and Caribbean team for a year during my last semester of graduate school and post-graduation. In my role at NDI, I supported democracy-strengthening programs in Guatemala and Honduras focused on citizen participation, legislative coordination and election observation. This work was relevant to my policy area of focus in graduate school, which was international development, particularly in Latin America, as I grew up in both Mexico and Panama.

Increasing equitable access to quality education is something I have always been very dedicated to. In graduate school, I was part of an organization that leveraged evidence-based policy tools to maximize partner organizations’ capacity to deliver and evaluate social impact. I worked on two projects that aimed to bridge the gap of educational inequity in Bogotá and Panama City, respectively. Similarly in graduate school, the major theme of my thesis was educational attainment outcomes in Mexico.

I am very eager to apply my dedication to education to the federal policy level in the United States, therefore I am thrilled to be part of the team at ACTE. Please do not hesitate to contact me at aowen@acteonline.org with any questions or comments!