Meet Our Fellows
We are pleased to introduce the inaugural cohort of our 2011 Youth Justice Leadership Institute. The Institute fellows come from across the country and are working on wide variety of juvenile justice reform issues. One thing they all have in common is a passion for ensuring that youth who come into conflict with the law are treated fairly and appropriately.
Abdi Ali | Minneapolis, MN
Abdi Ali is a multilingual professional in human services with over fifteen years of experience working in human rights, alternative dispute resolution, and juvenile justice. He is also the founder and program director of the Center for Multicultural Mediation and Restorative Justice in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sarah Jane Forman | Detroit, MI
Sarah Jane Forman is an assistant professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where she launched the Youth Justice Clinic, which she now directs. Prior to teaching, she served as an associate at Sindel, Sindel & Noble, P.C., a St. Louis criminal defense firm. She began her career as a public defender in the youth advocacy department of the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jennifer Kim, Oakland, CA
Jennifer Kim is a Policy Advocate for Books Not Bars at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, where she served as the Lead Organizer for Southern California youth prisons, recruiting 100 new family members. She has a juris doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law and serves as Vice President of the School’s American Constitution Society.
Aurora Lopez | Oakland, CA
As a Community Organizer for Stop the Injunctions Coalition in Oakland, California, Aurora Lopez is working to stop the use of civil gang injunctions as a strategy to address violence. Previously she served as the Program Manager for the Spanish Speaking Citizens’ Foundation’s Raza Leadership Program, where she worked to empower low-income Oakland youth to become community leaders.
Rukia Lumumba | New York, NY
Rukia Lumumba is the Director of the New York City Youth Services Department at the Center for Community Alternatives. She has also worked on national campaigns to free political prisoners incarcerated in the United States, as well as on the national campaign to free the Scott Sisters, who were wrongfully sentenced to two life sentences each for an alleged robbery of $11.00.
Jason Smith | Skokie, IL
Jason Smith works as a social worker at the Village of Skokie- Human Services Division in Skokie, Illinois, where he serves as a liaison to community agencies, schools and hospitals. He previously worked for the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency where he assisted in the development of a state-wide juvenile offender reintegration program in Michigan.
daNaE | Los Angeles, CA |
daNaE works as a Youth Organizer at the Youth Justice Coalition in Inglewood, California. She is also the founder of Todos Somos Arizona, an organization which aids immigrants incarcerated in hundreds of detention facilities across the country and people of color who have been targets of racial profiling.
Lynn Wu | Berkeley, CA
Lynn Wu is a staff attorney and juvenile justice policy advocate at the Prison Law Office in Berkley, CA. She is currently working with Stanislaus County Probation Department on the Girls Juvenile Justice Initiative to connect justice-involved girls in Stanislaus County to gender-responsive services and reduce their further involvement in the delinquency system.
Back to Youth Justice Leadership Institute Home »
Why the Insittute is Needed»
How the Youth Justice Leadership Institute Works »
FAQ »
Become a Fellow! »
