This is an accepted version of this page Chaka Fattah (born Arthur Wesley Davenport;[1][2] November 21, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 2016.

On July 29, 2015, Fattah and a group of associates were indicted on federal charges related to their alleged roles in a racketeering and influence peddling conspiracy.

In 1991, State Senator Fattah decided to run for Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district in the special election that was held after Democratic U.S.

On November 5, 1991, City Councilman Lucien Edward Blackwell won the election with a plurality of 39% of the vote defeating Fattah (28%), John F. White (28%), and Nadine Smith-Bulford (5%).

Since its inception, more than $4 billion in federal funds have been distributed to assist 12 million students in 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

Parents can grant vested stakeholders (including counselors, teachers, coaches, mentors, and others) access to the account to update student information, monitor progress, and provide college preparatory support.

[30] The measure calls for States to provide highly effective teachers, early childhood education, college prep curricula and equitable instructional resources to all students who attend public schools.

[33] The legislation provides a 50% tax credit to donors who contribute to qualifying scholarship trusts that are recognized and registered with the Secretary of the Treasury.

[citation needed] College Opportunity Resources for Education (CORE) is an initiative providing almost $27 million in last-dollar scholarships to over 18,000 students.

A report issued by the National Student Clearinghouse concludes that participants in CORE are more likely than their fellow non-CORE classmates to complete their college education in four years.

[citation needed] In 2012, Fattah negotiated a partnership between FIRST and Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide robotics programs to 4 million youth by 2015.

[38][failed verification] In December 2011, Fattah through his role on the Appropriations Committee, directed the OSTP to establish an Interagency Working Group on Neuroscience (IWGN).

Fattah states that his priority is ensuring that small and medium businesses have the tools they need to prosper in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

The conference brought together national leaders in cooperative development to share best practices to create powerful change for their organizations.

[47] HEMAP is a loan program designed to protect Pennsylvanians who, through no fault of their own, are financially unable to make their mortgage payments and are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.

Started in 1983 by Pennsylvania's Act 91 of 1983, it was only one of its kind until 2010 when Fattah added language to the Dodd Frank bill to provide similar assistance, to homeowners nationwide.

He touted the possibility that such a system would bring in so much money it would allow for greatly increased federal spending, saying the "excess funds" would "provide universal health care, support an equitable public school finance system, and fund economic development in urban and rural areas", in addition to extinguishing the national debt and eliminating all other federal taxes.

Fattah has also added a 1 percent tax credit designed to eliminate the impact of the measure on couples making less than $250,000 a year.

In November 2006, he declared his candidacy for Mayor of Philadelphia,[57] where two-term incumbent Mayor John F. Street was barred from re-election by term limits, amid pressure from Democratic voters to keep his Congressional seat to maintain a Philadelphia representative on the powerful Appropriations Committee in the House.

After emerging as a mayoral candidate, Fattah came under fire from the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police for his repeated calls to grant a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of murdering police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981;[58] he also was criticized for possibly unethical campaign spending, based on new campaign finance rules adopted by the city of Philadelphia.

[59] Fattah eventually came in fourth in the Democratic primary, close behind fellow Congressman Bob Brady but well behind former city councilman Michael Nutter, who went on to win the fall general election handily.

In August 2014, Fattah's longtime aide and close confidant Gregory Naylor pled guilty to federal charges in a complex money laundering scheme used to hide an illegal million-dollar loan that a candidate, unnamed in that indictment, received for his failed mayoral campaign in 2007.

[61] On July 29, 2015, Fattah and four of his associates, Bonnie Bowser, Karen Nicholas, Herbert Verderman and Robert Brand were indicted for their alleged roles in a racketeering conspiracy involving several schemes that were intended to further the political and financial interests of the defendants and others by, among other tactics, misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal, charitable and campaign funds.

[3][62] The trial was originally scheduled for May 2, 2016, but in April a judge had the date pushed back to May 16 to give the defendants time to review the excess of more than 100,000 documents accrued by the prosecution.

[64] Initially, he stated he would not leave office until October when he was due to be sentenced, but subsequently announced his immediate resignation from Congress two days later on June 23.

[65] Just days later, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in McDonnell v. United States which altered the legal definition of bribery to exclude "pay for access".

[71] FNGA's mission is to work with universities, non-profits and private corporations to advance brain science and research throughout the globe.

"[72] Fattah, who is the longest serving African-American in Congress from Pennsylvania and the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, was known for having a particular legislative focus on advancing neuroscience research.

[73] He served as the Ranking Member of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies.

With other women, he is the father of another daughter, Frances ("Fran"), and one son, Chaka Fattah Jr., known as "Chip",[79][80] who was convicted of felony bank and tax fraud in February 2016.