Mariah Bonilla
MARIAH BONILLA (she/her/hers) is a Project Policy Analyst at UCLA LPPI, and she serves as the Community Coordinator for the Latino Data Hub. Mariah is a UCLA alumna with a B.A. in Public Affairs and a minor in Chicana/o/x Studies. She is an alumna fellow within the UCLA LPPI Research Department.
At UCLA LPPI, Mariah worked on projects that analyzed representation among 2022 midterm election candidates and Latinx voices in the L.A. Times Opinion and Editorials Section. As an undergraduate, Mariah co-authored two chapters on the launching points of civic engagement and the role of organizations in sustaining young Black changemakers. Mariah is a current Youth Justice Fellow at the Social Justice Learning Institute. As a YJF fellow, she has advocated for her community’s access to equitable housing, food justice, and knowledge of their rights.
Mariah was born and raised in Los Angeles and began her career as a junior community organizer at 16 years old.
She is a proud daughter of working-class parents, whom she is greatly influenced by. Witnessing her father’s incarceration has influenced her desire to research criminalization and led her to further support formerly incarcerated community members in Los Angeles.
