Dafna Gozani

Dafna Gozani has over a decade of experience working with youth as an educator and advocate. Gozani’s advocacy draws on her personal and professional experiences with system-involvement and focuses on building healthy communities by centering the voices of those most directly impacted. As a policy attorney with the Youth Justice Initiative team she helps lead YJI’s policy advocacy, including drafting and implementing legislation, collaborating with NCYL’s litigation team, while also working with communities to advance policies rooted in positive youth development. Gozani is leading YJI’s effort to develop a new statewide project in Colorado aimed transforming the state’s juvenile justice system towards a community-driven, public health approach to youth.

Prior to joining NCYL, Gozani was a Youth Justice Attorney at Bay Area Legal Aid advocating for system-involved youth, homeless youth, and youth at risk of exploitation by providing wraparound civil legal representation, engaging in strategic impact litigation, and partnering with stakeholders to leverage youth-serving systems. Gozani received her law degree from Loyola Law School at Los Angeles with a concentration in Public Interest Law and International Criminal and Human Rights Law. Before attending law school, Gozani taught high school inside the Boulder County Juvenile Justice Center for six years.