Anna “AJ” Johnson serves as the Director of Housing and Economic Mobility, leading the implementation of JBAY’s policy activities to uplift the well-being of children, youth, and young adults who experience foster care or homelessness.
For more than 20 years AJ has worked to uplift children and families through education, training, and policy. In their time as an advocate, they advanced policies to improve the quality of life of children, youth, and young adults experiencing foster care, incarceration, poverty and homelessness.
Before returning to JBAY, AJ led California Competes: Higher Education for a Strong Economy’s policy agenda, including advancing legislation advocating for statewide coordination, holistic student support, public benefits access, student parent financial aid, and student housing.
AJ was the Associate Director of Housing and Health at John Burton Advocates for Youth and a Senior Policy Associate at the National Center for Youth Law. Before attending policy school, AJ was an educator for six years at the Oakland Unified School District and the School District of Philadelphia.
AJ is a lecturer of Health Policy Advocacy at UC Berkeley School of Public Health and a UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy Alumni Association board member. They hold a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of California – Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, an Urban Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in Social Welfare, Advocacy in Multicultural Settings from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
