Skip to Content
Headshot of Olivia Dana

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

Inside a Judging Session for the Book Award Led by Incarcerated People
A woman sits in beige attire with a book on her lap discussing in a circle with other women and a man with a T-shirt that reads

Inside a Judging Session for the Book Award Led by Incarcerated People

In New Jersey's Edna Mahan Correctional Facility, a group of sixteen women gathered to discuss four shortlisted books for the Inside Literary Prize—the first book award in the US judged exclusively by incarcerated readers.

Jun 20, 2025

Innovating from the Ground Up
Man in Newark Community Solutions hoodie and woman wearing black jacket over Center for Justice Innovation T-shirt sit on a ledge in front of outdoor mural

Innovating from the Ground Up

Our newly launched Innovation Fund invites our staff working directly with the communities we serve to pitch new ideas for creative ways to meet the needs they see every day.

May 28, 2025