National Housing Leader Rasmia Kirmani Joins Center for Justice Innovation
Expert in community engagement and public safety is new Chief Program Officer.
Media Contact: press@innovatingjustice.org
March 19, 2025
The Center for Justice Innovation welcomes national housing justice leader Rasmia Kirmani as our new Chief Program Officer for Community Safety. Kirmani is a national expert on public housing with deep expertise in community engagement and public safety and has been working closely with the Center for three decades, most recently as the Center’s Board Chair.
Kirmani most recently founded the National Public Housing Network in partnership with the Ford Foundation and The Action Lab; and served as interim Executive Director and Senior Fellow at Hester Street, an urban planning, design, and community development nonprofit helping residents shape their own neighborhoods. Prior to that, she worked on the executive team at the New York City Housing Authority, where she founded the Fund for Public Housing (now the Public Housing Community Fund) to invest in the well-being of public housing residents and their communities. She also led the Brownsville Partnership, a community-based organization that partners with community residents to advance safety and health in Brownsville, Brooklyn. She currently serves on the board of directors at Youth Design Center, JustFix, and Green City Force. Kirmani also currently serves as Commissioner, New York City Planning Commission.
“We are thrilled to welcome Rasmia Kirmani to the crucial role of Chief Program Officer for Community Safety. Rasmia not only has extensive experience organizing and inspiring communities, she is an expert in planning and implementing change in complex systems. And Rasmia is uniquely qualified to bring these skills to the Center as a New Yorker who shares our values, knows us inside and out, and supported our work over many years building safety and justice as a community partner, adviser, and leader of our Board,” said Courtney Bryan, the Center’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Throughout my career, I’ve admired the Center’s work and been lucky enough to partner on numerous occasions with its incredible staff in our shared goal of building strong, safe communities. After working in parallel for so many years, it is an honor to be able to contribute to the Center’s work as Chief Program Officer for Community Safety. I’m eager to learn from the hard-working Community Safety team that my predecessor, James Brodick, has so skillfully guided, and I look forward to working alongside them to strengthen existing partnerships and build new ones as we deepen the Center’s investments in housing and community justice,” said Rasmia Kirmani, Chief Program Officer for Community Safety.
Kirmani’s career has intersected with the Center many times, starting with her first job in New York City as a receptionist for the Times Square Alliance, which partnered with the newly founded Midtown Community Justice Center (then the Midtown Community Court) to respond to the public safety challenges facing the neighborhood. While leading the Brownsville Partnership, she supported the growth of the Center’s Brownsville Community Justice Center. Over the years, she has continuously partnered with the Center to support and advocate on behalf of public housing residents.
Kirmani steps into this new role as James Brodick, our previous Chief Program Officer, moves into the role of Chief Strategic Growth Officer, expanding our community safety vision nationwide by fostering new partnerships and opportunities.
About the Center for Justice Innovation: The Center for Justice Innovation is a community justice organization that centers safety and racial justice. Since our founding in 1996, the Center has partnered with community members, courts, and the people most impacted to create stronger, healthier, more just communities. Our decades of experience in courts and communities, coupled with our field-leading research and practitioner expertise, help us drive justice nationwide in innovative, powerful, and durable ways. For more information on how and where we work, please visit www.innovatingjustice.org.