Rev. Dr. Derrick
Harkins

The Rev. Dr. Derrick Harkins is a senior advisor with Raben, where he uses his extensive political and ministerial experience to help advance the firm's Faith Strategies Group — the firm's effort to strengthen progressive public policy through stronger connections with the millions of faith-driven Americans.

Before joining Raben, Derrick was appointed by the Biden-Harris administration to serve as director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Before HUD, he was director of Interfaith Outreach for the Democratic National Committee, where he also led faith outreach during the 2012 reelection campaign of President Barack Obama. Derrick served as director of membership and strategic partnerships at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, engaging human service organizations, faith institutions, policy and advocacy organizations, and other networks of influence. He was also senior vice president for innovations in public programs at Union Theological Seminary.

Derrick’s ministerial career began at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York as an assistant minister. He served for seventeen years as pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, DC. Prior, Derrick served as the senior minister of the New Hope Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, where he was also president of the Greater Dallas Community of Churches and a founding board member of The Dallas Leadership Foundation. Derrick has been a guest lecturer on the church and social action at a number of colleges and universities, including Rutgers, Cornell, Iona College, Howard University, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Derrick served as chair of the Board of Odyssey Impact Productions and is an executive producer of several acclaimed documentaries, including "The Rape of Recy Taylor," and, most recently, "A Crime on the Bayou." He was a contributing author for "The Audacity of Faith: Christian Leaders Reflect on the Election of Barack Obama."

Derrick earned a bachelor’s in Broadcasting and Film from Boston University, a master’s of divinity in Church History from Union Theological Seminary, N.Y., and a doctorate in Homiletics as a Proctor Booth Fellow from United Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he and his wife Juli, a healthcare policy specialist, are the parents of two adult daughters.