Yejide Ankobia is a highly skilled and experienced Restorative Justice practitioner, trainer and consultant. She has designed, developed, coordinated and implemented Restorative Justice Programs and Practices in schools and school districts, community organizations, prisons and workplace settings since 2006. 

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As the Restorative Community Conferencing Program Director for Community Works West, in Oakland, CA, Ms. Ankobia coordinated and ran a victim-centered diversion program for youth, working with the District Attorney’s offices in both San Francisco and Alameda Counties. Prior to her years at Community Works, she was the Restorative Justice Schools Coordinator for Hayward Unified School District, as well as a Restorative Justice Trainer and Consultant with SEEDS Community Resolution Center in Berkeley, CA. As the Dean of Restorative Discipline and School Culture for Oakland Youth at Castlemont High School in East Oakland, CA, Ms. Ankobia worked in collaboration with Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY), building and running a model program in collaboration with RJOY and the Oakland Unified School District. Ms. Ankobia acted as Trainer and Consultant to educators in Oakland Unified School District’s three-tiered model of Whole-School Restorative Justice. Ms. Ankobia currently holds the position of Assistant Principal of Student Life at Holy Names High School in Oakland.

 

A proud Bay Area native, Ms. Ankobia studied journalism at San Francisco State University and was a Reporter for the Oakland Tribune and San Jose Mercury newspapers. In a career move that took her away from print media, Ms. Ankobia began working with youth in 1997 at Mercy High, San Francisco, as Director of School Development. In 2006, she began working with youth at The Mentoring Center (TMC) as Project Coordinator of a program designed to lower the number of minority youth confined to the Alameda County Juvenile Hall. 

 

Ms. Ankobia has sat on a number of Boards and Task Forces, including the Alameda County Restorative Justice Task Force. Currently on a leave of absence from Law School, she is a training Consultant for local Restorative Justice agencies and a co-facilitator for a support group to empower ‘at-risk’ girls, especially African American girls.

 

A certified yoga instructor, Ms. Ankobia spends her free time writing and sharing the benefits of yoga with others.