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Rafiq R. Kalam Id-Din II, Esq., a current resident of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is the Founder & Managing Partner of Ember Charter Schools for Mindful Education, Innovation and Transformation (Ember), formerly Teaching Firms of America Charter Schools (TFOA). A social entrepreneur, activist, teacher, lawyer, and nonprofit leader with over 25 years of experience, Rafiq grew up in severe poverty in inner-city Philadelphia during the height of the crack epidemic and violence of the 1980s and early 1990s.

A two-time graduate of the University of Virginia (Bachelors in English and African-American Studies, and a Master of Teaching—English Education), Rafiq received his JD from NYU School of Law as a Thurgood Marshall Scholar, becoming an Editor of the Law Review and President of the Student Bar Association.

A co-founder and former Executive Board member of the NYC Coalition of Community Charter Schools, founder of the #BlackLedSchoolsMatter initiative, and co-founder of the Black-Latinx-Asian Charters Collective, Rafiq also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Echoing Green and President of the NYU Law Alumni of Color Association (LACA).