Commitment to Public Service

Experienced in all three levels of government-local, state and federal-Congressman Fattah spent 12 years in the  Pennsylvania Legislature; he served six years as a state representative, and six years as a state senator. Congressman Fattah has held key leadership roles in both the Pennsylvania Higher Education Facilities Authority and the  Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, roles in which he helped 1.3 million students from Pennsylvania attend college. In 1986, he founded the annual Fattah Conference on Higher Education, which has motivated thousands of students to pursue graduate school opportunities. In February 2006, at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Conference on Higher Education, Congressman Fattah announced that all 700 undergraduate attendees would receive full scholarships to graduate school.

Congressman Fattah also designed and implemented “Read to Lead,” a free summer reading program that provided books and classroom teaching for 5,000 children. In addition, Congressman Fattah co-chaired the Web-based Education Commission, which made recommendations on how the Internet is being used to enhance learning opportunities for all learners from pre-kindergarten through high school. He has served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, on the Board of Trustees for Lincoln University, Temple University, Pennsylvania State University and Community College of Philadelphia. Congressman Fattah has been identified by Time Magazine as one of the 50 most promising leaders in the country, and has been a guest on NBC’s Meet the Press and MSNBC’s Hardball.