The Biography of Khari Mosley

Khari Mosley is a tireless advocate, innovative problem solver, and collaborative bridge builder with over 20 years of experience advancing progressive values and electing transformational leaders to public office. In Pennsylvania and around the country, he has mobilized tens of thousands of people to participate in the democratic process. His expertise includes civic engagement strategies, environmental justice policy, workforce development programming, green economic development, infrastructure resiliency policy, and clean energy. 

He has passed environmental policy at the state level, designed one of the Pittsburgh region’s most successful workforce development programs, and helped lead the campaign that established the city’s first-ever community benefits agreement in the Hill District. Khari has worked at progressive NGOs, and in local government. In 2016, he started Sojourner Group LLC., a political consulting and public affairs firm. 

Khari Mosley is currently the Political Director for 1Hood Media, a Pittsburgh-based non-profit focusing on arts, education, and social justice. He also serves as the director of the group’s sister organization 1Hood Power, an advocacy group working on protecting voting rights, reforming the criminal justice system, and engaging new voters to participate in the civic process. 

Through his political consulting firm, he has worked with a variety of clients including former PA State Representative Tony Payton Jr., former PA State Representative Jake Wheatley, Pittsburgh City Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle, PA State Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty, and California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. His work as chief strategist on former Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner’s 2015 re-election campaign earned him three Reed Award nominations from Campaign and Elections Magazine.

From 2012 to 2019, he served as PA state director for the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of our country’s largest labor unions and environmental organizations. At BGA, he led efforts to pass PA Senate Bill 234, a piece of legislation that created incentives for commercial property owners across the state to invest in energy efficiency improvements. He also co-authored a report and case study on the economic impact of Southwestern PA’s transition from the coal industry. The document provided recommendations for impacted workers, regional economic leaders, and policymakers. Mr. Mosley also spearheaded efforts that established a 35-member bi-partisan BlueGreen Caucus in the PA General Assembly that promoted policy initiatives that advanced environmental and labor interests across the Commonwealth.

From 2009 to 2012, he served as director of green economy initiatives from G-TECH Strategies, now known as Grounded. At G-TECH, he established successful green economic development pilot programs and demonstration projects through regional collaboration, policy initiatives, workforce development programs, community-based initiatives, and small business engagement. Khari also assisted in developing several critical regional green-collar career pathway initiatives, including establishing the region’s first Green Jobs Advisory Board. He also designed the award-winning “Breaking the Chains of Poverty” workforce development program created by the A. Philip Randolph Institute’s Pittsburgh Chapter, in partnership with United Steelworkers. Since its inception in 2009, the program has trained and placed hundreds of participants, including formerly incarcerated individuals, into family-sustaining employment opportunities. 

Khari served as national political director for the League of Young Voters from 2005 to 2007 and again in 2009. In that role, he managed the organization’s voter engagement and “get out to vote” programs in Maine, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, Ohio, Florida, and Minnesota. In 2008, Mr. Mosley served as Campaigns Director for Pittsburgh United. He developed comprehensive civic engagement campaigns to establish community benefits agreements with the developers of the Penguin’s new hockey arena in the Hill District & the casino on the Northside.

Before that, Khari worked in local government under the following elected officials: former City Councilman Sala Udin, former City Councilman Bill Peduto, and former State Representative Jake Wheatley. Khari is a frequent guest on numerous media outlets, including the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC), the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PNC), Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate KDKA, PBS’s Newshour, NPR’s This American Life, The Roland Martin Show, Pittsburgh’s KQV-Radio, Pittsburgh’s KDKA Radio, Pittsburgh’s WAMO-FM, WESA-FM among other media appearances. Khari is a recurring political analyst on KDKA-TV with Business and Politics Editor Jon Delano. 

Khari served as the Democratic chairman of Pittsburgh’s 22nd Ward from 2004 to 2010. Khari served as a democratic committeeman in Pittsburgh’s 14th Ward from 2014 to 2022. He has received numerous awards for his civic engagement work from Pittsburgh Magazine, the League of Women Voters, A. Philip Randolph Institute, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Penn Future, and the New Pittsburgh Courier, among others. 

Khari is active in his community serving on the Squirrel Hill Baseball Association board from 2016-2020. Over the last decade, he has volunteered as a youth coach for the Squirrel Hill baseball and Edgewood basketball leagues. In 2018, he co-founded the Eastburgh Avengers Baseball Club, a non-profit AAU baseball program based in the Carnegie Library of Homestead. The club’s mission is to make competitive travel baseball accessible to kids from all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Eastburgh is the region’s only African-American-led AAU baseball program and the most diverse travel baseball team in Western Pennsylvania. In 2022, their 12U team finished the season ranked 21st in the state, and their 14U was the runner-up in the Western PA AAU spring league. The organization operates a 2000 sq/ft indoor baseball training facility in Munhall. The club provides affordable, community-based baseball programming for youth, inclusive to players from all backgrounds, friendly to families with busy schedules, and supportively works alongside community baseball programs.

Khari attended the Indiana University of PA, where he studied political science. He lives in the North Point Breeze section of Pittsburgh with his wife, Chelsa Wagner, an Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge, and their two sons, Thaddeus and Isaiah.