Commission Bio: Leila Bozorg

Leila Bozorg is the Chief of Strategy and Policy at NYC Kids RISE, a nonprofit working with public, private, and community partners to provide every NYC public school student with the opportunity to build assets for higher education and receive reinforcing messages of support from within and across their NYC communities, starting in kindergarten.  Prior to joining NYC Kids RISE, Leila served in multiple roles at the NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development from 2014 to 2020, including as Chief of Staff to the Commissioner, and later as the Deputy Commissioner for Neighborhood Strategies. She was the 2019 recipient of the Citizen Housing and Planning Commission’s Ibo Balton Award for Community Planning for her leadership in the creation of the City’s fair housing plan, Where We Live NYC.  Previous to her work at HPD, Leila served at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), first as a Presidential Management Fellow, and later as a Senior Policy Advisor (2010-2014).  The daughter of Iranian immigrants, Leila holds a BA in Government Studies from Wesleyan University and a Master of City Planning from MIT.