Elyria native starts job as "front door" to the White House

For the past three weeks, the Rev. Thomas Bowen has been adjusting to a new job and a new workplace, a process that takes anyone time. But for Bowen, the adjustment is just a bit different: His new office is in the White House and his new job is as a senior adviser for Public Engagement in the administration of President Joe Biden. An Elyria native, Bowen said that even after going through the lengthy vetting process, receiving his credentials and arriving on his first day, the feeling was still surreal. "There's some folks that have asked if this is my dream job," Bowen said. "I said no, it's not, because I never would have dreamed that I'd be working in the White House for a presidential administration. … I'm not so arrogant as to think that I'd end up here." Bowen went to the White House after seven years in the office of Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser as director of both the Mayor's Office on African American Affairs and the Mayor's Office of Religious Affairs. He has lived in D.C. for more than two decades and has been a part of the Shiloh Baptist Church, one of the oldest Black congregations in American history, nearly the entire time. In his new role, Bowen has several responsibilities, most revolving around his duty to serve as a go-between for citizens and the president. He said that the Office of Public Engagement is often referred to as the "front door of the White House." Bowen now calls the nation's capital home and the entire American public is now his concern, but he said Elyria and Lorain County will always be in his heart and on his mind. "The fact that I can make sure people's voices and their concerns are heard and to get the information that they need is just wonderful," Bowen said. "And to think I'm just a boy from Elyria, Ohio, who was born on the south side and grew up on the west side — and here we are. Growing up in Elyria Bowen said that the support system from friends, family and the wider community that he received growing up in Elyria was uniquely able to mold him into who he is today. The support that Bowen recounted the most fondly was what he received from fellow young, Black, academically driven students like himself in Elyria Schools. "I just wish more people had the support system that I had, that would actually cheer you on and hold you up as an example," he said. "I can recall in fifth grade, giving a science report on the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh. And at the end of my report one of my best friends Houston Young, who's now an engineer, stood up and led the class in a standing ovation for my report. I mean, who does that? "People always talk about peer pressure in a negative way," he said, "but I had peer pressure in a positive way going to Hamilton (Elementary School)." Bowen said he, Young and other classmates would gather in a corner of the Hamilton playground they called "the battlefield," not to play, but to compete academically, comparing their grades and report cards. Bowen said that the diversity of people he met and grew up with in Elyria also helped to foster an understanding that is crucial to his job now. One of Bowen's duties with the Biden administration is to lead the White House's outreach to the descendants of European diaspora communities from places like Greece and Italy. He said that growing up in Elyria, surrounded by Black kids like himself but also the descendants of Polish, Italian, Greek and myriad other immigrants uniquely prepared him for that job. "There's a certain diversity that I'm fortunate to have come from," Bowen said. "The funny thing is, I leave Elyria and go to a historically Black college and people asked me, 'Well, how will you relate to the world?' And it's worked out perfectly for me, because I've had the best of both worlds." Returning home After high school Bowen went to Morehouse College in Atlanta, a historically Black, all-men's liberal arts college that boasts influential alumni from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock to Samuel L. Jackson. After graduation, Bowen returned home following the death of his father, Clinton Bowen, to help his younger brother Michael. It was around this time that Jeanine Donaldson, now the director of the Elyria YWCA, said she first heard of this young man who had graduated from Morehouse, but didn't seem to yet have a job. "I had never met (Bowen), but he was a Morehouse man, and that speaks volumes in the African American community," she said. Donaldson said she became something of a mentor to Bowen, pushing him to apply for a job as the associate director of Oberlin College's Upward Bound program. She was a critical figure in Bowen's early career and remains a reference on his job applications to this day; even those that are sent to the White House. "For just about every job he's had, I wrote a letter of support," Donaldson said. "Every job and I am just so excited I got to do that for his job at the White House. While working at Oberlin College, Bowen heard that a position had opened on the Elyria School Board and said some of his students told him to run. "I told them 'Go get the papers and I'll do it,'" he said. "And they did, they called my bluff." Bowen won that election in 1996, becoming the youngest person elected to the Elyria School Board, according to Donaldson. His first experience with public service, Bowen said his time on the board was invaluable in helping him make his next steps. "To be a part of the process of policy for a school system was a wonderful thing and a learning experience," he said. "What I learned then is I trust myself and I trust my heart to do the right thing for the majority of people, and particularly those who don't have a voice or anyone to speak up for them. I have always tried to be that." But Bowen had another calling and went on to pursue his education in ministry at The University of Chicago Divinity School. The seminary was a natural move for Bowen, he said, as so much of who he was was shaped by growing up in Bethany Baptist Church in Elyria. "It's from his background in the church that his missionary mindset comes from," Donaldson said. "And so he goes out in the community and practices what his grandma and grandpas and aunties and mother have all poured into him." After becoming a minister, Bowen found his way to Shiloh Baptist in 2002, where he started as a youth minister. Over 20 years later he is still there, now serving as the Earl L. Harrison Minister of Social Justice. He continued his work with the church through his time in the office of the mayor and plans to do so while working in the White House. Bowen said that, though he is less than a month in, he loves his new job and his only regret is that his mother Dorothy Bowen died before he got it. "(This job) gives me a real, authentic joy," Bowen said. "I tell people all the time that my only regret is that my mom passed away in July, before I experienced this. That I wouldn't be able to bring her on a tour or dress her up in her best and bring her to a reception — that's the only thing I want for." True to hometown Donaldson repeatedly talked about how she believed that Bowen, whether or not he meant to be, was a figure who could inspire others from Elyria to rise. "That's what kids, Black and white, need to see," she said. "The greatness that has come out of Elyria. There's that saying, you can't be what you can't see. If you've never seen yourself working in the White House, how can you believe it? So this is monumental." She compared Bowen's return trips to Elyria to those of 1950 Heisman Trophy winner and fellow Elyria High School graduate Vic Janowicz. "I remember those days, and I remember how excited people would get when Vic Janowicz came to town," Donaldson said. "When he came home, it was a big deal … there was just this kind of energy, and a lot of us in the Black community feel that same energy when Tom (Bowen) comes home. He's our hometown guy." Donaldson said that Bowen was aware of the purpose he could fulfill to kids in the county, and that she knew he wouldn't forget them. "Tom doesn't forget people," she said. "I'm sure he's reaching back now, thinking 'OK, who is gonna be the first to come on a tour of the White House with me?'" Bowen already has a plan in mind, he said, as he is working out how to get kids from the Lorain County Urban League's annual D.C. tour out for a visit. But, Lorain County residents do not need to go to the White House to visit with Bowen, as he frequently returns for community events and speaking engagements. "It's good to go back or come back, particularly working where I work, to be able to connect with people," he said. "I'm coming back because I need to. I need to hear what's on the minds of the people I grew up with — the people of Ohio — so that I can share what I believe would benefit them with the Biden administration." Bowen's next return to Elyria is coming up soon, as he will speak at the Metro Central Ohio NAACP's annual membership breakfast on April 13 in Elyria, NAACP President Ardelia "Dee" Tolbert said. More than any speaking engagement or visit, Bowen said the most important thing he can do to inspire his fellow Elyrians is to do his job well. "The fact that I can be perhaps an inspiration for people back home, for my family and those I encounter, that gives me a whole lot of joy," he said. "That I can say yeah, someone from Ohio or Lorain County or Elyria can do these things, the sky's the limit for what we can do." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.