Aliya Rahman works with New America's Open Technology Institute on body-worn camera policy and workforce development surrounding community fiber expansion. Her work is informed by a background in legislative, electoral, and community organizing for racial and criminal justice campaigns, fifteen years of software development for the social justice movement, and a former life as an educator and researcher working in public education and workforce development.
Aliya served formerly as Program Director at Code for Progress, where she led the recruitment, in-residence training, and job placement of community organizers of color into full-time developer positions. She is also is the former Field Director of Equality Ohio, where she built a statewide field program focused on bridging gaps between racial justice organizers, LGBT rights groups, and labor. Prior to that, she worked for the Center for Community Change, first as their Ohio organizer in the passage of employment legislation supporting formerly incarcerated people, and later as a national circuit rider working with immigrant rights groups on voter engagement.
Aliya studied aerospace engineering and education as an undergrad and masters student at Purdue University, where she also taught undergraduate courses in computer programming for engineers, chemistry, and the social foundations of education. She was an ABD doctoral student in Educational Leadership at Miami University when she left academia to work full-time as field staff in the social justice movement.