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Olivia Dana

Chief of Staff

Olivia Dana is Chief of Staff at the Center for Justice Innovation, where she serves as a strategic advisor to the CEO and a member of the Executive Team. With more than a decade of experience in criminal legal system reform, Olivia plays a central role in advancing the Center’s mission and impact through cross-organizational collaboration, strategic planning, and executive leadership.

Prior to stepping into her current role, Olivia oversaw the Center’s Supervised Release program, a supportive pretrial services programs which serves over 8,000 participants annually across Brooklyn and Staten Island. Her work focused on building an innovative pretrial model grounded in supportive services and community engagement. She also served as Deputy Director of Research-Practice Strategies, where she performed original research and provided technical assistance to jurisdictions around the country seeking to build more effective and fair local criminal justice systems. As Project Director at the Staten Island Justice Center, she developed alternative-to-incarceration programs and spearheaded community-based initiatives.

Olivia began her career as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn’s Kings County District Attorney’s Office, where she managed all stages of criminal prosecution and advanced restorative and community-focused approaches to justice.

Her work has been recognized through numerous publications and speaking engagements on pretrial reform, restorative prosecution, and broader criminal justice reform efforts.

Olivia holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in English from Fordham University. Olivia is a licensed attorney in New York State.

Olivia's Updates

Center for Justice Innovation Voluntarily Recognizes Brooklyn Supervised Release Union
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Center for Justice Innovation Voluntarily Recognizes Brooklyn Supervised Release Union

The Center for Justice Innovation (Brooklyn Supervised Release) is pleased to voluntarily recognize National Organization of Legal Service Workers UAW, Local 2320 as a staff union, representing many of our Brooklyn-based Supervised Release Program staff. We look forward to a productive, collaborative collective bargaining process that helps us continue our vital work building safety and justice with the communities we serve.  

Nov 20, 2025

Reflecting on Strong Starts, 10 Years On
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Reflecting on Strong Starts, 10 Years On

Over the past decade, the Strong Starts Court Initiative has worked to transform the family court process to focus on strengthening parents’ relationships with their babies.

Nov 19, 2025

Why Supporting Families Is Crucial to Strong Communities
A woman in a Queens Community Justice Center T-shirt lifts a child holding a basketball up on her shoulders towards a hoop.

Why Supporting Families Is Crucial to Strong Communities

For many families, contact with the legal system comes after years of struggling to meet basic needs. When we invest in solutions that respond to those needs both inside and outside of the courts, we pave the way for safer, stronger communities.

Nov 18, 2025