Sonya Soni

About Sonya Soni

Sonya Soni is a youth justice policy advocate, social movement strategist, writer, and community organizer. From Kashmir to Uganda to South Los Angeles to Newark, she is passionate about centering community voice and power in local government systems.With a background in community participatory research and policy advocacy, she works in solidarity with youth organizers who have been policed by the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Sonya strives to bridge the gap between artists, academics, policymakers, and activists in the design of more just systems. She trains systems-impacted young people who are currently and formerly incarcerated, unhoused, and in foster care, to be policymakers and co-design antiracist, decolonized, liberatory youth-centered systems.Sonya has worked for various social justice organizations and public systems, including Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, founded by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi; PEN America\'s Prison & Justice Writing Program, elevating the voices of incarcerated writers and political prisoners; Harvard FXB Center for Health & Human Rights; Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health; Partners In Health; and the Office of former Mayor Cory Booker. Sonya co-led the Los Angeles County Youth Commission, the first-ever governing body led by systems-impacted youth with formal power in Los Angeles to design policies for the country\'s largest child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Marrying arts and activism, Sonya designs and conducts “Policymaking through Poetry” workshops for youth organizers. In 2022, she worked alongside youth organizers to abolish youth prisons across the state of California. Sonya completed her B.S. in public health and bioethics, and a Master’s of Public Health from the University of Southern California. She also has a master’s degree in medical anthropology and ethics at Harvard University. She served as a Harvard Women & Public Policy Program fellow in Nepal, Harvard Hauser Center for Non-profit Organizations fellow, and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative fellow. Sonya is a 2024-25 Kweli Literary Fellow, a fellowship program for emerging writers of color in New York. Hosted by the Asian American Arts Alliance, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Art, and Ford Foundation, Sonya is a 2024-25 Bandung Resident, a residency for artist-activists working towards Afro-Asian transborder solidarity and liberation.Sonya is based in Brooklyn, NY and descends from a lineage of female freedom fighters and caste abolitionists in India dismantling British colonial rule.

Experience

1. Vice-president, International Youth Congress

   Covenant House International

   Aug 2024 — Present · New York, NY, US

   Covenant House International is the largest provider of housing for young people in New York City and one of the few international organizations that serve young people across youth justice issue areas (i.e. youth incarceration, youth housing, foster care, and youth trafficking), both domestically and globally. I will be leading the launch of the International Youth Congress, the first time that systems-impacted young people at Covenant House from Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, the U.S, and Canada will hold formal power to create a cross-movement, transborder, multi-issue coalition when engaging in policy advocacy around housing justice and guaranteed income for young people.

Education

• Harvard University

  Master's of Theological Studies, Medical Anthropology

  2010 — 2012

• University of Southern California

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Health Promotion & Disease Prevention

  2003 — 2007

• Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

  Master's of Public Health, Global Health Delivery

  2007 — 2009

Skills

• Human Rights
• Medical Anthropology
• International Development
• International Health
• Health Policy
• Program Evaluation
• Global Health
• Research
• Community Outreach
• Poverty
• Stata
• Nonprofits
• India
• Social Justice
• Poverty Alleviation
• Qualitative Research
• Non-Profits
• Health and Human Rights
• Program Development
• Spss
• Literature Reviews
• Teaching
• Public Policy
• Capacity Building
• Public Health
• Health Equity
• India's Orphan Care System
• Grant Writing
• Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos)
• Ngos
• Policy Analysis
• Epidemiology
• Reproductive Health
• Child Malnutrition
• Grants