Vera Institute of Justice

Cymone Fuller was a senior program associate in Vera's Center on Youth Justice. Cymone joined Vera with years of experience working in nonprofit organizations committed to criminal justice and education policy reform. Prior to moving to NYC, she helped to develop and lead the "Minnesota Solutions Not Suspensions" initiative through the Minnesota Education Equity Partnership—an initiative that prioritized youth, family, and community voice in the reform of school discipline policies and practices, and helped school districts analyze their discipline practices and outcomes through a racial equity lens.

During her time at Vera, Cymone worked on a number of projects focuses on improving family engagement policies and practices along the juvenile justice continuum, enhancing aftercare services for youth returning home after justice involvement, and incorporating youth voice in juvenile justice policy development. She also worked with Vera's national Initiative to End Girls' Incarceration, which aims to end the use of incarceration and punitive justice responses for girls and LGBTQI+ youth by assisting jurisdictions to use a racial- and gender-equity lens to assess their practices, as well as develop and implement effective strategies to better meet the needs of girls and LGBTQI+ youth.

Cymone holds a master's degree in public administration from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service and a BA in sociology and social justice from the University of Minnesota.