Center for American Values

Drake Franklin is from Gainesville, Georgia, and serves as AFPI’s Southeastern Development Director & Policy Analyst in the Center for American Values. Drake most recently served as the Executive Director of Evangelicals for Trump for the Trump-Pence 2020 presidential campaign. In this role, he managed 62 prominent advisory board members and numerous national surrogate relationships. He also worked closely with national and state-level GOP campaign staff to implement several initiatives, including a targeted voter contact program and a robust digital presence while managing and executing over eighty in-person and online events all across the nation. Franklin previously served as a White House Intern in the Presidential Correspondence Office, where he assisted the writer’s team in researching, drafting, and dispatching proclamations, greetings, and letters on behalf of the president. Franklin currently resides in Washington, D.C. When he’s not studying, he enjoys running, boxing, and spending time with friends.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Joseph P. Kennedy

Matias Perttula serves as the Deputy Director of the Center for American Values at AFPI. Previously, Perttula served as the Director of Advocacy for International Christian Concern (ICC), where he led the government relations efforts to inform the key legislators on global religious freedom challenges facing Christians and other religious minorities. During his time at ICC, he traveled to Nigeria and Pakistan, where he worked with government and civil society leaders to promote religious freedom. He chaired the Program Committee for the International Religious Freedom Summit in 2021 and 2022. Before serving at ICC, Perttula was an assistant at the Brookings Institution for the Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy. Perttula also worked as the Executive Director for the Office of the President at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, where he oversaw the university’s government relations platform, administration for the president’s office, as well as communications and public relations. He also served as an adjunct faculty member in the university’s College of Business. Perttula completed his master’s in business administration in 2013 at Southeastern University and was named the most outstanding graduate of his class. Perttula previously completed his bachelor’s degree in political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also studied at the Harvard Extension School in International Security Studies. Perttula was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1986 and spent his childhood in Finland. He moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1998. He is fluent in Finnish and English. Perttula is married to Barbarah Perttula, and they have one son, Lincoln, and another boy on the way. Perttula and Barbarah love being involved in the local church as well as cheering on their favorite NFL teams.

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”

William Wilberforce

Javon Price is from Fairfax, Virginia, and serves as a Policy Analyst in the Center for Opportunity Now, the Center for Second Chances, and the Center for American Security for AFPI. Price most recently worked in the United States House of Representatives as a Staff Assistant for Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida, Previously, Price interned for the White House Domestic Policy Council and the Office of American Innovation. He also interned for the Republican Governors Association and the Republican Attorneys General Association. Additionally, Price is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he studied International Politics with a focus on Security. Price is a veteran of the United States Air Force, having served in the Reserves from 2017-2020. He left the Air Force as a Senior Airman (E-4). When Price is not focused on politics or his studies, he enjoys watching the Dallas Cowboys compete every Sunday. Outside of football season, he is a huge fan of the Georgetown Hoyas Basketball Team and the Washington Nationals.

“The future is for those who prepare for it today.”

Malcolm X

Carrie Sheffield serves as the Director of the Center for the American Worker and the Center for American Values at AFPI. Sheffield managed municipal credit risk at Goldman Sachs and rated bonds at Moody’s Investors Service. She researched for American Enterprise Institute economics scholar Edward Conard and served as Warren Brookes Journalism Fellow at Competitive Enterprise Institute. She covered Congress for The Hill and POLITICO. Sheffield won a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship, contributed on political economy at Forbes, and wrote editorials for The Washington Times under Tony Blankley. She published in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, USA Today, CNN Opinion, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNBC, National Review, Washington Examiner, and Newsweek. As founder of Bold TV, a digital news network, Sheffield’s work is recognized in profiles by The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Harvard University, CNN, Columbia Journalism Review, and Sirius XM. Sheffield is a 2018 winner of the William F. Buckley Award by America’s Future Foundation and was named a Most Inspiring New Yorker by Bumble. Sheffield earned a master’s in public policy from Harvard University, concentrating in business policy, and is a member of the Harvard Christian Alumni Society. She earned a B.A. in communications at Brigham Young University and completed a Fulbright fellowship in Berlin. In her free time, you will find Sheffield traveling. She visited every continent (including Antarctica) before turning 30, celebrating her 30th birthday in Sydney, Australia. 

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

Winston Churchill

Paula White-Cain was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and serves as the Chair of the Center for American Values at AFPI. Currently, White-Cain serves as Senior Pastor at City of Destiny. For the past 37 years, White-Cain has worked across the world in almost 200 countries, ministering, fighting for religious freedom and humanitarian rights, and advocating for the voiceless. White-Cain also served as an advisor to President Donald J. Trump in the Office of Public Liaison’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative. Prior to her work at the White House, she co-founded one of the fastest growing and largest churches in the nation, which currently has over 28,000 members. She served as pastor of this church for 22 years, and during that time, Paula White Ministries was launched and became a global media and outreach ministry. She is married to legendary singer/songwriter Jonathan Cain of the iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Journey and recites his daily motto of Don’t Stop Believin’ while riding horses and having the time of her life with her family.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Maya Angelou