Rachel Swaner is the Vice President of Policy, Research, & Advocacy at the Community Service Society, leading a team fighting for economic, racial, and social justice and upward mobility for all New Yorkers. She was previously the Senior Director of Research at Think of Us, where she oversaw research that centered the lived experience of people impacted by foster care to help transform the child welfare system. She is also the former Research Director at the Center for Justice Innovation, where she led a department doing local, national, and international research and evaluation projects related to decarceration, violence prevention, community well-being, and youth development. She was previously a researcher at the Harlem Children’s Zone and a youth programs director at a NYC high school. She is on the advisory board for the Participatory Budgeting Project. Rachel received her PhD in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center, and her Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Administration from New York University, and has been teaching at Wagner since 2007.