Reverend Naomi Washington-Leapheart

City of Philadelphia

Reverend Naomi Washington-Leapheart is the Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs for the city of Philadelphia. In this role, she serves as a public facing leader, liaison, and subject matter expert for the Mayor’s Office on local and national matters that impact diverse communities of faith. She also manages the Mayor’s Commission on Interfaith Affairs. Naomi is also an adjunct professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. In 2019, Naomi received the Pohlhaus-Stracciolini Award for Teaching Excellence, which recognizes an adjunct faculty member at Villanova who demonstrates a commitment to the life of the mind and to the well-being of students through teaching that is intellectually stimulating, challenging, and accessible, with efforts extending beyond the classroom.  An ordained minister, she earned the Master of Divinity degree from Lancaster Theological Seminary and has served as Co-Pastor and Minister of Music at the Wisdom’s Table at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ. Naomi’s writing can be seen on Medium, Religion Dispatches, and Rewire.News. She regularly preaches and teaches in diverse congregations around the country and has presented and lectured at national conferences and religious and academic institutions, including Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Vanderbilt University School of Divinity, Swarthmore College, Ithaca College, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Chicago Theological Seminary, the American Academy of Religion, the United Church of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the International Council of Community Churches.