Joshua Cox completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University, where he was a four-year letterman on the varsity baseball team and won the coveted William Neely Mallory Award, which is the most prestigious athletic honor given to a senior male. Upon graduation, Josh taught middle school English at New Orleans College Prep Charter School in New Orleans’ third ward.
After two years in the classroom, Josh realized that poverty - and the problems that accompany it - are the biggest barriers to reducing inequality, and he left to attend the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Fels Institute of Government to better understand how the law influences politics, finance and government.
In 2014, Josh returned to New Orleans after law school and worked for three years as a commercial litigator before serving as the Director of Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Orleans Parish School Board. Soon after, he accepted an offer to serve as Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Initiatives to the first black female Mayor of New Orleans, LaToya Cantrell.
While in the Mayor's Office, Josh led a diverse body of work. He’s managed philanthropic relationships on behalf of the City of New Orleans and appointments for the City's 100+ boards and commissions. He also was deeply involved in initiatives related to the City’s relief and recovery from COVID-19, including the workforce development program that pivoted out-of-work folks in hospitality into the community health workers we needed to stop the spread in communities of color.
Now, Josh runs the for-profit arm of Resilience Force, a national labor brokerage dedicated to building the workforce America needs to adapt and respond to climate change. Resilience Force connects workers to disaster restoration companies after natural disasters in the Gulf South and organizations in Sonoma County preventing wildfires through vegetation management.
In the future, Josh hopes to continue to do work that is at the intersection of philanthropy, business and social impact. He believes that capitalism and philanthropy can drive social equity in the world and looks to do work that increases economic opportunity for underserved individuals at scale.