Mariah Cooley

Chicago, IL

Program Manager, University of Chicago Crime Lab

Reducing gun violence by training youth in conflict mediation and equipping community violence intervention leaders.

Mariah Cooley is a Program Manager at the University of Chicago Crime Lab, an organization that designs, tests, and scales data-driven innovations to address America's gun violence crisis and improve public sector criminal justice responses. In her role, she manages a curriculum for senior leaders of community violence intervention organizations across 60 cities nationwide, integrating immersive learning labs with evidence-based frameworks to increase their capacities around public safety. Her commitment to this work is deeply personal, rooted in the loss of her cousin to gun violence in 2017. Since then her work has also included serving as a board member for March For Our Lives and as a coalitions associate on the Harris-Walz campaign's national gun violence prevention portfolio. Through the Scholars program, Mariah plans to develop the Peoria Youth Peacekeeper Initiative, training middle and high school students in conflict mediation and violence prevention. She will leverage the program to learn from existing models of youth engagement and community-based violence interruption, aiming to build a strong, replicable framework for youth-led violence prevention that builds safer communities from within.