Tanya Clay House is the Executive Vice President for Campaigns and Advocacy at the Hip Hop Caucus and the Hip Hop Caucus Action Fund where she works to uplift BIPOC communities and work toward racial, social, and economic justice through advocacy, grassroots coalition building, and the use of culture and narrative storytelling.  

She most recently was the Senior Program Officer for Voting Rights at the State Infrastructure Fund where she managed the voting rights portfolio, including all national voting rights litigation funding. This included management of the Voting Rights Working Group which is comprised of twelve of the nation’s premier civil rights organizations engaged in voting rights litigation. It also included the Election Protection Mapping Project which is designed to provide a comprehensive landscape of the state and national voter protection activities across the country. As the Senior Program Officer, Mrs.  House worked directly with major foundations and funders and supported the fundraising goals of the  State Infrastructure Fund. She also serves as CEO and Co-Founder of ClayHouse Consulting Inc. Her  

clients have included the NAACP and the National Coalition for School Diversity, the Network for Public Education, African American Policy Forum, and more.  

As an Obama Administration appointee, Mrs. House formerly served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for P-12 Education in the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD) at the U.S. Department of Education. In her role, she provided recommendations to the Assistant Secretary of OPEPD, and other senior Department officials on a host of policy initiatives as the leader of the P-12 team in OPEPD. In addition to the reauthorization and subsequent implementation of the Every Student Succeeds  Act (ESSA), Mrs. House oversaw the development of policy in the P-12 budget and spending plan and was responsible for policy recommendations and decisions for major grant competitions. Mrs. House also led high-priority policy initiatives across the  Department, including work on school diversity, discipline practices, and the racial justice implications of policies throughout the  Department.  

Prior to this appointment, Mrs. House served as Director of the Public Policy Department at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil  Rights Under Law, and formerly served as the Public Policy Director at People For the American Way (PFAW). She was also instrumental in the development, implementation and management of the non-partisan Election Protection Coalition. In 2000, Mrs.  House began her political career as Legislative Counsel for United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). From there, she  moved to the Senate to work for United States Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) focusing on civil rights and social policy issues.  

In 2021, Mrs. House was recognized by Women Engaged for her work in philanthropy with the “She Who Rises to the  Challenge and Builds Power as a Leader in Philanthropy Award. She was also awarded with two of the highest honors from the  National Bar Association (NBA). In April of 2021, She received the Gertrude Rush Distinguished Service Award - named after the first Black female attorney in Iowa and one of the founders of the NBA, Gertrude Rush. Then, in July of 2021, Mrs. House received the Equal Justice Award for her work on protecting the civil rights of all people throughout the years. In 2020, Mrs. House was  awarded the President’s Circle Leadership Award on behalf of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and was selected  as the 2020 National Bar Association (NBA), Women’s Lawyers Division’s Front Line Woman Lawyer. In 2018 she received the  Push Excel Award for Educational Excellence, and in 2017 she was awarded the NBA’s Vince Monroe Townsend Jr. Civil Rights  Legend Award. Earlier in her career, Mrs. House was selected as a 2010 NGen (Next Generation) Fellow with the Independent  Sector Foundation. She was also selected by the Root.com as one of the top 100 African Americans to watch for 2010 and was awarded the 2003 Congressional Black Caucus Chair’s Award for her dedication, leadership, and commitment in advancing the cause  of civil and human rights for all Americans.  

Mrs. House has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress, State Legislatures, and Federal and State Agencies, including before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee, the Committee on House  Administration, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She is a member of the  Board of Directors of the National Bar Association (NBA), the Civil Rights and Social Justice Section of the American Bar  Association, the National Council on School Diversity, Sojourners, and Chair of the Civil Rights Law Section of the NBA. Mrs. House has been a guest speaker for numerous national and international panels and conferences and has been interviewed and quoted by national television, print, and radio media, including the NBC Nightly News, Associated Press, C- Span, Washington Post, LA Times,  New York Times, USA Today, BET news, the Detroit News, National Public Radio, Roll Call, Regional Network News, and others.  

Formerly of Louisville, Kentucky, Mrs. House earned her B.A cum laude in political science from the University of Michigan,  where she excelled as a varsity track athlete. She earned her J.D. from the University of Texas, School of Law, where she was executive editor of the Texas Journal of Women and the Law, and attorney general for the Rocky Mountain Black Law Students  Association. Tanya resides outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband and their two sons.