2025 Community Champion Award Honorees
Representative Tarik Khan
Congressman Dwight Evans
Representative Tarik Khan
Tarik Khan has participated in several Breakthrough programs and fundraising events, most notably speaking with Scholars about his education and career path in our Career Conversations series. We appreciate our ongoing dialogue with Rep. Khan about educational equity and his support of BTGP's work as we continue to increase our impact & numbers of students served.
Tarik Khan was elected to represent Pennsylvania's 194th Legislative District in Philadelphia on November 8, 2022, representing Manayunk, Roxborough, parts of Chestnut Hill, and East Falls. Tarik was born and raised in Philadelphia and graduated from Central High School of Philadelphia, Davidson College, Roxborough Hospital School of Nursing, La Salle University, and The University of Pennsylvania.
His father emigrated to Philadelphia from Pakistan to build a better life for himself. Tarik credits his parents and his diverse background for his urge to speak out about injustice and fight against it. Tarik followed in the footsteps of his mother, who is a nurse; Tarik has been a registered nurse for nearly two decades and has been a nurse practitioner since 2011.
As a nurse, Tarik worked tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic and co-created a vaccine program for persons with disabilities that he presented at a White House/CDC forum. Tarik's work was featured in People Magazine and Good Morning America - GMA3 and was the subject of the Mid-Atlantic Emmy award-winning documentary "Angel Dose." Tarik received his Ph.D. from The University of Pennsylvania in May 2023, and is the former President of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association. He was also the founder and chairperson of Enabling Minds, which supported the education of children with developmental disabilities.
As a legislator, Tarik has passed several bills into law, including legislation making first-responders eligible for workers comp benefits for PTSI, expanding access to healthcare for children, supporting caregivers and people living with Alzheimer’s, expanding funding for affordable housing, protecting consumers against SLAPP suits, increasing veterans’ access to disability benefits from Agent Orange and burn pit exposure, and security funding for mosques, synagogues, churches and LGBTQ+ centers at risk for hate crimes.
Congressman Dwight Evans
"I’m grateful for the important work that Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia has been doing for 30 years, helping so many underserved middle school students to succeed in school and in life, and helping college students to grow the numbers of diverse educators. Breakthrough is making a difference!”
Through Congressman Dwight Evans, Breakthrough Philly was one of several nonprofits who received public funding from 2022 to 2024.
Congressman Evans represents Pennsylvania's 3rd Congressional District, which includes Northwest and West Philadelphia and parts of North, South and Center City Philadelphia. He was first elected in a special election in November 2016. Before that, he served as a state representative and made history as the first African-American chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Throughout his public service career, Congressman Evans has worked tirelessly to expand and broaden access to economic and educational opportunities for all Philadelphians. He currently serves on the influential Ways and Means Committee, which oversees Social Security, Medicare, taxes and trade. His priorities there include using the tax code to increase affordable housing, repair school buildings and strengthen the social safety net.
In his first term, he had one of his bills passed and signed into law, a true accomplishment for a freshman in the minority party. That law is designed to reduce costs for small business owners who apply for a loan through the Small Business Administration. In his first term, he also supported a criminal justice reform bill which became law, the First Step Act.
He proudly voted for landmark accomplishments during the first two years of President Biden’s term when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress. These include the American Rescue Plan that provided a temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit that lifted millions of kids out of poverty, a policy Congressman Evans wants to restore.
Congressman Evans also voted for the first major federal gun reform law in nearly 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is delivering hundreds of millions of dollars for much-needed work in Philadelphia; and the Inflation Reduction Act, which is cutting the cost of prescription medications like insulin for millions of Americans, and includes the nation’s largest investment ever in fighting climate change.
Congressman Evans is a member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and continues to advocate for life-saving gun reforms such as “red flag” laws, restoring a version of the federal assault weapons ban that was in place from 1994 to 2004, and universal background checks for gun buyers. He also continues to support reforms like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that the House passed in 2021.
As part of the House Democratic majority that served from 2019 to 2022 and in the current Congress, Congressman Evans works to advance priorities such as protecting health care and reducing health disparities, and advocate for gun reform, criminal justice reform and economic development, including supporting small businesses. He works on these issues as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Black Maternal Health Caucus.
A lifelong resident of Philadelphia, he is a graduate of Germantown High School, the Community College of Philadelphia and LaSalle University. Congressman Evans will keep working to rebuild Philadelphia, and America, block by block!