Emberlin Leja is a project manager in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where she provides systems and operations support to Urban researchers, in addition to project management and proposal development.

Before joining Urban, Leja worked for the City of Syracuse’s innovation team on policy and program recommendations around city budget allocations for crime-preventive community programs, participatory budgeting, and constituent engagement. Before that, she was a policy fellow in the Syracuse mayor’s office, where she conducted policy research, wrote proposals, and provided administrative support on racial equity initiatives. In addition, she was a graduate consultant for the Office of Management and Budget’s Executive Office of the President and was a policy consultant for the iConsult Collaborative at Syracuse University.

Leja holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology and citizenship and civic engagement and a master’s degree of public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.