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Shaena Fazal is the National Policy Director for Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), an international, community-based non-profit committed to the deinstitutionalization of high-need youth in the juvenile justice, child welfare and behavioral health systems. YAP works to deinstitionalize youth through policy change, advocacy and the provision of direct services. Shaena was formerly an appellate public defender in Cook County, Illinois (Chicago) and staffer for Congresswoman Jan Schakwosky. She was awarded a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations and worked on prison reform efforts in Illinois from 2005-2011 at the John Howard Association of Illinois. In 2014, she authored the report “Safely Home”, which focuses on defining and building community-based alternatives for youth in the juvenile justice system. She received her bachelors in Sociology and Black World Studies from Miami University and her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law.