Amy L. Solomon is a Senior Fellow in the Litmus program of the NYU Marron Institute and a senior leader and policy entrepreneur with deep experience in government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sectors. She also currently serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, working to shine a light on the black box of federal justice funding, policy, and operations.

From 2021-2024, Solomon led the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the largest grantmaking agency at the U.S. Department of Justice. Nominated by President Biden and confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the U.S. Senate, she served as the assistant attorney general, leading an 800-person workforce and overseeing about $5 billion annually in grants to support state and local criminal justice efforts and to generate research and statistics to inform national policy and practice. During her three-plus year tenure leading OJP, she spearheaded a broad range of strategies and investments to build knowledge, advance community safety, and serve victims. She also led an unprecedented effort to reimagine OJP’s mission and investment strategy to center the role of communities as co-producers of safety and justice.

Previously, Solomon was vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures, where she launched and led a corrections reform portfolio and initiatives to advance economic mobility for people with criminal records. She collaborated closely with other social impact organizations, serving on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Funders Forum and the founding Clean Slate Advisory Board.

From 2010 to 2017, Solomon served as director of policy for OJP and as senior advisor to OJP’s assistant attorney general. She concurrently served as executive director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council, a cabinet-level body established by President Obama comprising more than 20 federal agencies. The Council spearheaded successful policy reforms including the federal Ban the Box rule, fair housing guidance, the Second Chance Pell initiative and Medicaid guidance for the justice-involved population.

Solomon spent 10 years at the Urban Institute, directing projects relating to prisoner reentry and public safety. She also worked at the National Institute of Justice, managed a community service program for justice-involved individuals; developed reentry strategies for a state department of correction; and worked with juveniles in probation, halfway house, and school settings. She has served on numerous boards and advisory councils, helping shape innovative approaches to social justice challenges in collaboration with policymakers and practitioners, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, researchers and the advocacy community. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan.