| Robin Wonsley | |
| Predecessor: | Cam Gordon |
| Education: | Carleton College St. Thomas University |
| Alma Mater: | University of Minnesota |
| Residence: | Seward, Minneapolis |
| Party: | Independent socialist[1] |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2022 |
| Office: | Member of the Minneapolis City Council from the 2nd Ward |
| Birth Name: | Robin Wonsley |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Otherparty: | Democratic Socialists of America |
Robin Wonsley (born 1991) is an American activist and politician affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America who has been a member of the Minneapolis City Council from the 2nd Ward since 2021.[2]
Wonsley was born in Chicago in 1991 and grew up on the South Side. She attended Carleton College as a Posse Foundation[3] Scholar and graduated in 2013 with a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies.[4] After graduation, she was awarded a Watson Fellowship that supported her travel to Canada, Australia, South Africa and Ireland, where she studied criminal justice policies and practices.[4] She moved to Minneapolis in 2014 and became the program coordinator for the University of Minnesota Women's Center and a board member for Restorative Justice Community Action.[5]
She completed a mini MBA in Nonprofit Management from St. Thomas University in 2015[6] and began a Ph.D. program at the University of Minnesota in 2018. During her Ph.D. program, she conducted research on housing and racial disparities in the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department.[5] [7]
After the 2015 killing of Jamar Clark by police officers in Minneapolis, she became politically active over the next several years, including in the Black Lives Matter movement and Fight for $15 organizing efforts to raise the minimum wage in the city.[8] [5] She joined the Twin Cities chapter of Democratic Socialists of America in March 2020.[9] In the summer of 2020, she participated in the George Floyd protests.[10] She also became an organizer in the defund the police movement, an effort to reallocate some community resources towards crime prevention services and programs.[10]
In 2021, she became the first Black Democratic Socialist to win a seat on the Minneapolis City Council after she defeated 14 year incumbent Cam Gordon, a member of the Green Party of Minnesota.[9] [11] [12] The election also became the first time Minneapolis elected a majority of people of color to the city council.[13]
Wonsley represents the 2nd Ward,[13] which includes the neighborhoods of Cedar-Riverside, Como, Cooper, Longfellow, Prospect Park, Seward, and the University District.[14] After the election, she identified housing as a major issue for the ward, and rent control as one of her policy priorities. She also advocated for the development of policy to address encampments in Minneapolis and the needs of encampment residents[15] and joined four other councilmembers in supporting the development of a rent control policy.[16] In January 2022, she called for a stop to evictions from homeless encampments, and was joined at a protest against eviction at the Near North homeless encampment by councilmembers Elliott Payne, Jeremiah Ellison, Jason Chavez, and Aisha Chughtai.[17]
As of January 2024, Wonsley serves as the chair of the Administration & Enterprise Oversight Committee and the vice-chair of the Public Health & Safety Committee.[18]
She resides in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis.[19]