Pronouns; He/Him
Zawdie “Zii” joins the Chinook Fund team as a Caucus Facilitator for the Spring 2022 Giving Project and is an alumnus of the Fall 2021 Grant Making Committee (GMC) made up of Giving Project alumni and GMC participants from years past. Zii has been a part of the Chinook Fund community since the 1990s and served as a board member for over a decade, including a term as the Board Chair.
Zii went off to college in Atlanta, attending Morehouse College, and came to Denver by way of grad school at the University of Denver for International Studies. Following his studies, Zii worked in the U.S. Congress for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation as well as for the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire in West Africa. He also worked with the U.S. Department of the Interior in Lakewood, CO, then taught Political Science and Africana Studies full-time at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. He recently retired from nearly two decades of service as an Academic Advisor at the University of Denver where he was an essential guidepost for hundreds of students.