Allison Doami

When I first learned about CZI, I was astounded at the work we did in our Justice and Opportunity Initiative. We were trying to contribute to solving the mass incarceration problem we have in the US when it seemed like very few people cared about it. I first learned about the US’s incarceration problem during my senior year of college when I took a History of Mass Incarceration course and was appalled at the damage we have done to immigrants and BIPOC. From then on, I continued to educate myself by listening to a podcast called Ear Hustle, which happened to be one of CZI’s grantees, and asking questions to our experts involved in this work at CZI. Through the Ear Hustle podcast, I learned about Mount Tamalpais College and believe education is critical to breaking recidivism and setting up those incarcerated for success.

Through the Ear Hustle podcast, I learned about Mount Tamalpais College and believe education is critical to breaking recidivism and setting up those incarcerated for success.

As an infrastructure engineer who almost solely works on internal tools and platforms, I am pretty far removed from our mission-driven product work. But because CZI offers so many different opportunities to give back to the community, I have had the immense privilege of being part of the Community Fund Panel for 3 years now! I have thoroughly enjoyed my time being a part of this panel because I’ve been able to gain a new perspective on what community means and participate in conversations that make me put my critical thinking cap on! Outside of CZI, I have been volunteering at the Primary School in East Palo Alto for the past couple of years as a reading mentor and most recently became an AYSO Girls U6 Coach in Mountain View!