Parent.
Teacher.
Legislator.

About Merika Coleman

As the mother of two school-age children, Merika Coleman shares the hopes and dreams of all parents. She makes sure her son and daughter study hard, have respect for their teachers and strive to do better.

Merika knows success early in life means success as an adult. She sees this in her classroom as a government teacher at Miles College.

As a State Representative, she takes these lessons with her to Montgomery. As our next Senator, we can trust Merika Coleman to fight for all of us - no matter what the issue!

Representative Merika Coleman was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2002.

Representative Coleman received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communication and her Master of Public Administration Degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Representative Coleman was a 2004 Fleming Fellow with the Center for Policy Alternatives, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to strengthen the capacity of "Citizen Legislators." She was also selected as an American Council of Young Political Leaders delegate to Japan in 2003.

Professionally, Representative Coleman has held several positions with nonprofit organizations as a public policy analyst and strategist were she championed issues such as tax reform, constitutional reform, public transit funding, affordable housing and environmental justice.

She transitioned to become the Director of Community and Economic Development for Lawson State Community College where she also served as an Adjunct Instructor of Government and then became Director of Economic and Community Development for the City of Bessemer where some of her responsibilities included business recruitment and retention, downtown revitalization as well as neighborhood revitalization and land use planning.

Representative Coleman is currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Miles College.

Representative Coleman also serves as a Board member of Greater Birmingham Ministries, WiLL, which is the Women Legislators' Lobby and is an organization which equips legislators with information on the impact of federal policy and the federal budget on state programs.

Additionally, she is a founding member of the Midfield Voter's League, an organization which just elected the first African American Mayor of the City of Midfield.