For the second time in three years, a team of Morehouse College students has helped shape a piece of federal legislation into law - a rare distinction for any college advocacy program, and made even more remarkable by what makes MARCH different: it is one of only a small number of undergraduate federal advocacy programs in the country, and the only one dedicated solely to advancing federal policy affecting Black men and boys.
What MARCH Is
MARCH (Morehouse Advocacy Reaching Capitol Hill) is a semester-long course and experiential learning program (HINT 499-01) that trains a small group of selected Men of Morehouse to become effective advocates on the federal issues shaping their communities. Students choose and research a policy issue, build the case for legislative action, and travel to Washington, DC to meet directly with congressional offices. Intentionally called the “MARCH Ambassadors” as they represent the College, students also gain hands-on experience by engaging in critical conversations with representatives from NPR, PBS, the Brookings Institution, the Alliance to End Hunger, the Department of Justice, and others in the DC ecosystem who shape and communicate policy.
The program was co-founded by Provost Dr. Kendrick Brown and Executive Director of EIB, Dr. Hideko Sera, who brought her 15 years of federal advocacy experience across three states to the program's design. Their goal: give students not just an understanding of how federal policy is made, but direct, supervised practice making it happen - and to honor Morehouse College's long legacy as an institution that produces impactful advocates.
One group from MARCH's inaugural cohort took on criminal justice reform, focused on oversight and conditions inside federal prisons. Calvin Bell III (’24) and Sterling Williams (’26) helped build support for the bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act, signed into law in July 2024, establishing mandatory independent inspections of all 122 federal correctional facilities and a new ombudsman's office to investigate complaints from incarcerated people and staff.
Two years later, one group from MARCH's third cohort turned to a challenge closer to home for many students and their families: the national housing affordability crisis. Advocacy by DayMond Johnson (’26), Jared McKenzie-Smith (’26) and the current juniors, Acie Abner and Carter Louviere contributed to the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which became law in July 2026 as the first major federal housing package in decades, aimed at boosting housing supply, unlocking financing for more housing types, and modernizing federal housing programs.
Two Wins, Two Cohorts
Each MARCH cohort fields three to four student groups, each pursuing a different federal policy area, such as education, food insecurity, healthcare, business opportunities, housing, criminal justice, and medication costs. Every group prepares its own legislative case and carries it to Capitol Hill, and every group has come home having secured co-sponsorships and support for its issue - a track record MARCH values across the board, not only in the two instances where a bill it helped advance ultimately became law. In fact, Congressman Sanford Bishop, Jr. (’68) praised MARCH as, “I wish we had this program when I went to Morehouse.”
Two bills signed into law, and just as many groups whose advocacy built momentum that hasn't yet crossed the finish line - every one of them reflects what happens when students are trusted and trained with real stakes and real access, not just a simulation of the political process.
Looking Ahead: Cohort Four
This fall, 11 MARCH Ambassadors make up the program's fourth cohort. They are already deep into the research and coalition-building phase of the course, identifying the issues they will carry to Capitol Hill and beyond. The cohort is scheduled to travel to Washington, DC, in November, just after the midterm elections - timing carefully chosen so the Ambassadors can meet with congressional offices at the start of a new legislative session.
The application process for the fifth MARCH cohort, scheduled for Fall 2027, will open in the upcoming spring semester.