Déjà Thomas

Déjà’s work focuses on managing CARE at Work programmatic priorities including strategic partnerships and research with the Southern California Black Worker Hub for Regional Organizing and the implementation of our school-to-movement pathway, building the next generation of Black organizers.

Calling California home, Déjà has family roots in Mississippi, Chicago, and New York. She grew up in Atlanta, a bit in New Jersey, and partially in Bellevue (WA). Family experiences at an early age shaped her understanding of the challenges and opportunities of Black worker determination. Her work experiences include process evaluation as part of the California Transformative Climate Communities program and theory of change documentation for a rural Ugandan social enterprise. She also co-authored the Re-Imagined Recovery: the Public Sector, Black Workers, and COVID-19 brief in 2020.

Déjà has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree with community economic development and design and development concentrations, as well as a Food Studies Certificate at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is a 2019 Switzer Environmental Fellow, 2016 Udall Scholar, and a 2016 Global Social Benefit Fellow at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Her other current work includes development and policy work for the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. Outside of work she’s a big foodie and reality tv watcher!