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M
URIEL BOWSER
MAYOR
April 20, 2026
The Honorable Phil Mendelson
Chairman
Council of the District of Columbia
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 504
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Chairman Mendelson:
In accordance with section
2 of the Confirmation Act of 1978, effective March 3, 1979 (D.C. Law 2-
142; D.C. Official Code § 1- 523.01), and pursuant to section 5 of the Office and Commission on
African Affairs Act of 2006, effective June 8, 2006 (D.C. Law 16-111, D.C. Official Code § 2-1394),
I am pleased to nominate the following individual:
Ms. Rahel Gizaw
14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20010
(Ward 1)
for appointment as a public member of the Commission on African Affairs, filling a vacant seat
formerly held by Carmen Eliam, for the remainder of an unexpired term to end October 27, 2028.
Enclosed, you will find biographical information detailing the experience of the above-m entioned
nominee, together with a proposed resolution to assist the Council during the confirmation process.
I would appreciate the Council’s earliest consideration of this nomination for confirmation. Please
do not hesitate to contact me, or Steven Walker, Director, Mayor’s Office of Talent and
Appointments, should the Council require additional information.
Sincerely,
Muriel B owser
Mayor
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A PROPOSED RESOLUTION
~ 'Chairman Phil Mendelson
at the request of the Mayor
10 IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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15 To confirm the appointment of Rahel Gizaw to the Commission on African Affairs.
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17 RESOLVED , BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA , That this
18 resolution may be cited as the "Commission on African Affairs Rahel Gizaw Confirmation
19 Resolution of 2026".
20 Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia confirms the appointment of:
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22 Rahel Gizaw
23 14th Street, NW
24 Washington, DC 20010
25 (Ward 1)
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27 as a public member of the Commission on African Affairs, established by section 4 of the Office
28 and Commission on African Affairs Act of 2006, effective June 8, 2006 (D. C. Law 16-111, D. C.
29 Official Code§ 2-1393), filling a vacant seat formerly held by Carmen Eliam, for the remainder
30 of an unexpired term to end October 27, 2028.
31 Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia shall transmit a copy of this resolution,
32 upon its adoption, to the nominee and to the Mayor.
33 Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
Rahel Shiferaw Gizaw
ProfessionalExperience
Medical & Public-school Interpreter
LibertyLanguageServices— Washington,DC |Oct2025—Present
* ProvideaccurateAmharic-EnglishmedicalinterpretationwhilemaintainingstrictHIPAAconfidentiality
andprofessionalneutrality.+ Safeguardpatientprivacybyproperlyhandlingandsecuringverbal,written,andelectronichealth
informationincompliancewithhospitalstandards.* Coordinateassignmentsanddocumentation,includingvouchersubmissionwithprecisestart/endtimesandcheck-in/outverificationusingtheFluency12S2system.+ Maintainprofessional,calm,andculturallysensitivecommunicationtofostertrustandpositiveinteractions
withpatients,nurses,andclinicalstaff.
ComputerScientist(GS-1550-09)
NAVALOceanographicOffice\NAVOCEANO- BayStLouis|Mississippi,MS|April4,2024-April24,2025
N-641SystemsIntegrationServicesDivisionfocused|DevOps/Cloud
(PositioncanceledduetoDoDfederalhiringfreezeafterIsuccessfullypassedthefullSecretclearanceprocess.ActiveSecretClearanceretained.)
+ Supported DoD network infrastructureacross secure NIPR and SIPR environments.
* ManagedVPNserversandfirewallconfigurations,optimizingnetworkconnectivity.+ AutomatednetworkmonitoringusingPythonandmanagedapplicationswithinAWS/AzureGovCloud.
DataMiningofQualityInspectionRecordsNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory \Pasadena, CA| Jun 2021 — Aug 2021
+ Analyzed10,000+inspectionrecordsusingPythonandExceltoevaluatesupplierqualityanddefecttrends,ensuring
‘NASAcompliance.
+ BuiltautomateddatapipelinesanddashboardsinPythonandExceltovisualizemanufacturingtrends,metrics,anddefects.+ Analyzed2019-2020inspectiondatatouncoverqualitytrendsandcomparesuppliervs.JPLmachineshop
performance.+ ProvidedtechnicalinsightstoQAandstakeholders,improvingsupplierprocesseswithautomatedreportsandanomalydetection.
ITSupportTechnician
AmericanAssociationofCollege& UniversityTransformingSTEMHigherEducation—Alexandria,VA\Nov2023-Oct2024
+ Deliveredon-siteTier1/Tier2technicalsupportforfaculty,staff,andattendeesduringnationalSTEMconferences.
+ ResolvedliveAV,network,andhardwareissuesunderpressure,ensuringseamlessoperations+ Assisteduserswithsoftware,connectivity,andtechnicalinquiriestomaintainsmoothsessionflow.
+ Providedreal-timetroubleshootingupdatestoeventorganizersandstaff.
GraduateTeachingAssistant(IT& Programming)
UniversityoftheDistrictofColumbia— Washington,DC |Jan2022~May2023
+ Supportedinstructionfor50+studentsinPython,Java,C++,SQL,andwebtechnologies,providingtroubleshootingandleamingguidance.
+ Observedstudentengagementandclassroominteractions,offeringfeedbackandassistinginstructorsinfosteringapositivelearningenvironment.+ Assistedwithgrading,documentation,andcourserecord-keeping,ensuringaccuracyandconfidentiality.
+ Providedone-on-oneacademicandtechnicalsupport,promotingstudentconfidence,understanding,andprogress
NASA Engineer & Student Ambassador Coordinator
UDC CAM-STARS / NASA Partnership – Washington, DC, | Sep 2020 – May 2023
• Coordinated STEM classroom outreach in K–12 schools, observing student engagement and supporting positive,
developmentally appropriate learning environments.
• Facilitated hands-on instructional sessions and workshops, collaborating professionally with teachers, administrators,
and program staff.
• Maintained accurate program documentation and reporting for participation, learning outcomes, and project
compliance requirements.
• Led CRM and collaboration system improvements (Salesforce, SharePoint, Power Apps, Power Automate) to
streamline communication and support team coordination
Founder | Lead Translator & Interpreter
Global Visa Support LLC – Washington, DC | 2016 – Present
• Provide live interpretation and document translation across educational, medical, legal, immigration, and court
settings with accuracy and confidentiality.
• Facilitate classroom, parent–teacher, and student support meetings, ensuring clear, culturally responsive
communication.
• Prepare affidavits, personal statements, and official documents with precision and adherence to legal standards.
• Manage client scheduling, case records, invoicing, and service coordination, ensuring organized and timely workflow
operations.
Education
• University of the District of Columbia | M.S., Computer Science (Machine Learning & AI) GPA 3.6 •
University of the District of Columbia | B.S., Computer Science GPA 3.8
Certifications & Training
• Currently holds an Active Secret Clearance • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner | CompTIA Security+
Publication
• Impact of Sentiment Analysis for the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election on Social Media Data
(https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3589883.3589888)
E
xecutive Office of the Mayor – Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments
John A. Wilson Building | 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 600 | Washington, DC 20004
R
ahel Gizaw
Ms. R
ahel Gizaw is a computer scientist, IT professional, and community
advocate with experience spanning federal service, research, education,
and public-facing roles.
She was appointed to a position with the Naval Oceanographic Office ,
where she supported secure Department of Defense systems within NIPR
and SIPR environments, focusing on DevOps, cloud infrastructure,
network operations, and automation. She also completed a NASA Jet
Propulsion Laboratory internship in Data Mining of Quality Inspection
Records, where she analyzed more than 10,000 inspection datasets using
Python and Excel to identify defect trends, support compliance standards,
and strengthen quality assurance processes through automated reporting
and anomaly detection.
In addition to Ms. Gizaw’s technical background, she brings over a decade of experience in
language access and community service. She is the Founder and Lead Translator of Global Visa
Support LLC, providing Amharic-English medical and public school interpretation services. Her
work emphasizes ethical professionalism, confidentiality, and culturally responsive
communication in healthcare, educational, legal, and immigration settings.
A Ward 1 resident, Ms. Gizaw earned both her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and her
Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of the District of Columbia.
GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Executive Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser
Office of the General Counsel to the Mayor
______________________________________________________________________________
The John A. Wilson Building • 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW • Suite 300 • Washington, D.C. 20004 • Office (202) 724-7681
To: Kimberly A. Bassett, Steven Walker
From: Betsy Cavendish
Date: March 25, 2026
Subject: Legal sufficiency review of a resolution appointing members of the Commission
on African Affairs
This is to Certify that this office has reviewed the above-referenced Resolution and
found it to be legally unobjectionable. If you have any questions in this regard, please do not
hesitate to call Kimberly Ulan, Associate General Counsel, Executive Office of the Mayor, at
202-727-2292, or me at 202-724-7681.
______________________________
Elizabeth Cavendish