Tamara Joachim is a first-generation college student studying Sociology and Public Policy at CUNY Hunter College. She has been active during the past two years with the Welfare Rights Initiative, which seeks to inform and empower students to organize around sensible social welfare reform and education policies. Tamara is a 2006 Young People For Fellow, and organized a GOTV campaign at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn New York during the 2006 congressional elections. Tamara has participated in the National Equity Center 's Summer Civil Rights and Social Justice Training Institute at the University of California , Los Angeles where she was later given the resources to implement community forums informing parents about the impact current education policy has on the future on New York City public school students.

As a 2007 Drum Major Institute Public Policy Scholar, Tamra was able to develop and hone her public speaking and debate skills, tap into her leadership potential, and sharpen her policy research skills in preparation for a career in public policy. She has worked in the Capitol Hill office of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) as a press intern. Tamara is interested in the various intersections and social implications of poverty, especially predatory lending and fringe banking, structural barriers preventing entry of low-income Americans into the middle class, and access to quality public education.