Sumayyah Waheed
Sumayyah Waheed leads Books Not Bars policy work, for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland California. She has a law degree.
She is involved[1]in crafting and tracking legislation and conducting extensive research to support the campaign's effort to reform the California juvenile justice system.
Sumayyah Waheed directed the All In For Washington campaign to flip Washington state's upside-down tax code so that all communities thrive, and led statewide juvenile and criminal justice campaigns at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California. There, she played a cornerstone role in the movement to dismantle California’s youth prison system. She has also worked for Color of Change, the nation's largest online racial justice organization, and city and county governments.
Education
Sumayyah earned her J.D. from U.C. Berkeley School of Law and her B.A. from The Ohio State University.
CAIR
In 2022 Sumayyah Waheed was a board member at CAIR - Washington.[2]
Activism/career
After working at the Family Violence Law Center and Equal Rights Advocates during law school, Sumayyah Waheed came to the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights on a fellowship after graduating. When her fellowship expired, Waheed joined the Center as a grassroots organizer. She served as one of the primary people responsible for leading Families for Books Not Bars, the only statewide network of families whose children are locked away in California youth prisons.