Valecia McDowell

Valecia is an accomplished, nationally recognized lawyer practicing in the areas of governmental investigations and civil rights assessments. Valecia was honored as one of the Top 10 “Innovative Legal Practitioners” in North America by the London-based Financial Times and was the only lawyer in North Carolina who was included in Forbes’ inaugural list of the “Top 200 Lawyers in America.”

Valecia has also dedicated much of her life to equity-driven community service.  She has served on the Leading on Opportunity Council and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation, and Chaired the Board of the Community Building Initiative, one of our leading local equity-focused non-profits. 

Valecia’s passion for equity in the arts stems from her own upbringing.  She chaired the Arts & Science Council, led the effort to seek a county-wide sales tax to fund community-based arts programming, and is the honorary Co-Chair of the $18M Arts+ Capital Campaign to create an accessible, transformative cultural campus. This “first of its kind” local campus will reduce economic hurdles for cultural enrichment, support place-making in East Charlotte, and encourage bridge-building across differences as only the arts can. Woman of the Year 2019.