President and Founder
The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership
Development | Madison
Pastor and community activist Rev. Alexander Gee is president and founder of the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, a faith-based nonprofit organization that provides programming for youth, re-entry services for men re-entering the community after incarceration and neighborhood economic development initiatives. Gee, who is also lead pastor of Fountain of Life Church on Madison’s south side, founded the center in the mid-1990s in response to what he saw as the unmet social, academic and spiritual needs of Madison’s at-risk and disenfranchised Black community. In 2018, Nehemiah was awarded a $1 million grant from the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health for its work in addressing health disparities in Wisconsin. The center is also home to the Justified Anger Coalition, which works to engage non-Black allies in addressing racism in Dane County.
Gee is currently spearheading another initiative, The Center for Black Excellence and Culture, a 37,000-square-foot facility under construction on Madison’s south side. Gee envisions the center as a place where the Black community will convene to learn about Black history, engage in art and music and incubate businesses. The center has raised more than $28 million through its capital campaign and is expected to open in late 2025.
Gee is a sought-out speaker, having taught and lectured locally as well as in India, South Africa, Cambodia, South Korea and Canada. He is the author of two books and host of the podcast “Black Like Me.” He’s received numerous local and national awards for his leadership and advocacy.
Education: Bachelor’s, University of Wisconsin-Madison; master’s, Fuller Seminary; doctorate, Bakke Graduate University
2022 Wisconsin 275 Profile
Nonprofits and Education
CEO
Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development | Madison
A longtime pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church and chief executive officer of the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, Rev. Alex Gee has emerged as one of the leading voices in the movement for racial equity in Madison. In 2013, he penned a cover story for The Capital Times, entitled “Justified Anger,” that detailed his experience as a Black man in Madison. The first-person piece raised alarms about persistent racial disparities across the corrections, government, education and business sectors in Madison – holding up a mirror to a city known to be a bastion of liberal politics. That article set off a chain of town halls and community forums where residents discussed injustices and potential solutions. It also birthed Justified Anger, an initiative of The Nehemiah Center to develop partnerships with white allies to help dismantle systems of racial inequities.
In 2018, the Nehemiah Center received a $1 million grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health to reduce racial health disparities among African Americans.
In 2020, Gee announced plans for the creation of The Center for Black Excellence and Culture, a three-story, 65,000-square-foot cultural center to be built on Madison’s south side. Plans for the $38 million center include theaters, a fitness center, art and recording studios, coworking spaces, and more. The Black-led and -designed project has been described as the first of its kind.
A groundbreaking is expected late this year with an opening slated for next year.
Education: Bachelor’s, University of Wisconsin-Madison; doctorate, Bakke Graduate University
