1. Chaka Fattah was born on Arthur Wesley Davenport; November 21,1956 and is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the US House for from 1995 to 2016.
45 Facts About Chaka Fattah
1. 2.
Chaka Fattah previously served in the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
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Chaka Fattah was convicted on 23 counts of racketeering, fraud, and other corruption charges on June 21,2016, and resigned two days later.
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On December 12,2016, Chaka Fattah was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
5.
Chaka Fattah was released from prison in the summer of 2020.
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Chaka Fattah's father was a sergeant in the United States Army and his mother was an editor for the Philadelphia Tribune.
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Chaka Fattah's parents divorced when he was young, and his mother soon remarried to a man she met at a national conference on black power in 1968.
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Chaka Fattah attended Overbrook High School and the Community College of Philadelphia.
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Chaka Fattah earned a Bachelor of Arts in business and economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Chaka Fattah is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
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In 1984, Fattah completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government.
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Chaka Fattah was the recipient of numerous honors and awards including 10 honorary doctorates and the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Institute of Government Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.
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Chaka Fattah served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 192nd district from 1983 to 1988, and as a State Senator for the 7th district from 1988 to 1994.
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In 1987, Chaka Fattah founded the Graduate Opportunity Initiative Conference, an annual three-day informational and scholarship conference which aims to significantly increase the enrollment of under-represented graduate students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
15.
In 1991, State Senator Chaka Fattah decided to run for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district in the special election that was held after Democratic US Congressman William Gray decided to resign.
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In 1994, Chaka Fattah decided to challenge Blackwell in the Democratic primary.
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Chaka Fattah was never challenged in the Democratic primary until 2016, when he lost to Dwight E Evans.
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Chaka Fattah represented the 2nd district in Pennsylvania, an overwhelmingly Democratic district, in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2016.
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Chaka Fattah is the architect of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.
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Chaka Fattah has introduced a few bills targeting the equity of resource allocation within and between school districts.
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Chaka Fattah wrote the legislation for the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
22.
Outside of legislative work Chaka Fattah has created a few local education initiatives for Philadelphia and Pennsylvania families as a state legislator and in cooperation with state and municipal governments, including the CORE scholars program and the annual Grad Conference.
23.
Chaka Fattah was the lead Democrat responsible for the funding of the United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney General.
24.
The Chaka Fattah Neuroscience Initiative is a policy initiative designed to make major progress understanding the human brain by intensifying, in a collaborative fashion, federal research efforts across brain disease, disorder, injury, cognition and development.
25.
Chaka Fattah is the lead Democrat responsible for funding the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative.
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Chaka Fattah is an advocate for the SelectUSA program, an initiative that encourages US businesses operating off-shore to return to the US and promote the US marketplace.
27.
In May 2013, Chaka Fattah introduced the Creating Jobs through Cooperatives Act.
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Chaka Fattah's bill calls for $25million federal investment and technical assistance to cooperatives through a new National Cooperative Development Center.
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In November 2013, Chaka Fattah was invited to attend as Keynote speaker at the Annual Cooperatives Conference, hosted by the NCBA.
30.
In 2013, Chaka Fattah served as a vice chair on the House Gun and Violence Taskforce, a taskforce created under the direction of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
31.
Chaka Fattah received an F rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund and an A+ rating from the Coalition on Gun Violence and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence for his positions on gun control.
32.
Since 2006, Chaka Fattah has "pioneered gun-buyback programs" in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Police.
33.
Chaka Fattah touted the possibility that such a system would bring in so much money it would allow for greatly increased federal spending, saying the "excess funds" would "provide universal health care, support an equitable public school finance system, and fund economic development in urban and rural areas", in addition to extinguishing the national debt and eliminating all other federal taxes.
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Chaka Fattah has added a 1 percent tax credit designed to eliminate the impact of the measure on couples making less than $250,000 a year.
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In 2005, Chaka Fattah opposed the War in Iraq and supported Congressman John Murtha's call for troop withdrawal.
36.
Chaka Fattah publicly supported the "Bring Our Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Act" a bill that called for bringing the troops home within six months and transitioning the Iraqis to self-government.
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The Chaka Fattah campaign defended itself, claiming that it had followed less restrictive federal rules in spending the money, but eventually returned a portion of the excess contributions to the exploratory committee following a settlement with the city's Board of Ethics.
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Chaka Fattah eventually came in fourth in the Democratic primary, close behind fellow Congressman Bob Brady but well behind former city councilman Michael Nutter, who went on to win the fall general election handily.
39.
The FBI further alleged that Chaka Fattah accepted an $18,000 bribe from a man seeking an ambassadorship.
40.
On June 21,2016, Chaka Fattah was convicted of all charges, including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, bank fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a financial institution, and falsification of records.
41.
On December 12,2016, Chaka Fattah was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
42.
Chaka Fattah reported for prison at Federal Correctional Institution, McKean near Lewis Run, Pennsylvania on January 25,2017.
43.
In December 2016, Chaka Fattah founded the consulting firm, Chaka Fattah Neuroscience Global Advisors.
44.
Chaka Fattah served as the Ranking Member of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.
45.
Chaka Fattah is married to his third wife, Renee Chenault-Chaka Fattah, a former Philadelphia television news broadcaster on WCAU-TV.