Bilal Abdul Qayyum | BIO
Bilal Abdul Qayyum serves as the president and executive director of the Father’s Day Rally Committee, Inc. (FDRC). Since 1989, FDRC’s mission is to implement grassroots, call-to-action, responsibility community campaigns in response to societal and community challenges facing African American fathers, males, and the community at-large in Philadelphia and the surrounding Delaware Valley.
Qayyum, an activist born out of the ‘60s civil rights movement, attended Tennessee State University where he majored in Business and Sociology. His drive and leadership as a community organizer led him back to his hometown of Philadelphia whereas the director of a non-profit organization, he became the voice in West Philadelphia that led to a full service, inner-city supermarket.
Bilal emerged as an effective administrator and a fierce and vocal leader that led him to serve in Philadelphia’s city government under an unprecedented five administrations – in the offices of Community and Youth Employment; Housing and Community Development; Economic Development for the Department of Commerce – spanning 35 years. In addition to overseeing multi-million-dollar city-projects, in his personal time Qayyum has serve on many community boards such as Philadelphia’s Multicultural Affairs Congress the Police Advisory Commission, Governor Wolf Commission on African American Affairs. His passion for inclusion and economic opportunity led to the creation of Philadelphia’s African American Chamber of Commerce and Philadelphia’s first Minority Enterprise Development Conference – a weeklong of instructional and network meetings for minority owned businesses.
His effective leadership and tireless contributions have led him to be ranked by the Philadelphia Tribune as one of Philadelphia’s most influential African Americans for a span of fifteen years (2005-2024). He shared the honor of the region’s most influential leaders with U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and former Philadelphia Mayor John Street in 2007. Over Quayyum’s 35 years of leadership, the FDRC has instituted programs such as the annual Father’s Day Picnic (each year drawing more than 2,000 men with their families); Project Save A Life – encouraging life-skills for African American males and their families; While serving as Co-Chair of Men United for Better Philadelphia he walked from Philadelphia to Harrisburg under the banner “Jobs Not Guns”; Fathers On A Mission and a litany of other programs aimed at placing African American issues on the front burner of political platforms. From a corner activist to a national lecturer and the leader of FDRC, Bilal Qayyum’s dedication to the Delaware Valley’s community and beyond has spanned over 50 years. Qayyum and his wife reside in Philadelphia, Pa and have five grown children, fourteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
