Dr. Nyeisha DeWitt is the founder of a Oakland Natives Gives Back, an active member of the Oakland Unified School District's Truancy Task Force, and an active member of the Effective Teachers for Oakland Task Force. She works very closely with the Office of Mayor Jean Quan to tackle the dropout crisis in the Oakland community. Oakland is a convener of the Grad Nation initiative (the only city West of the Mississippi to be named a "Featured Community" by America's Promise Alliance). She is the Program Director of Citywide Dropout Prevention at Oakland's Promise Alliance. Nyeisha was recently featured on the California Forward website as a "Forward Thinker". In 2010, she was recognized as a Hometown Hero by Comcast and ANG Newsgroup.