Mustafa is a joint MPA/J.D. student at Princeton SPIA. Raised in Chicago, and later in Nashville, Tennessee, Mustafa approaches his public service work as social justice advocate and organizer. In all of his work, he centers the praxis of community building, accountability, transformative justice, and the stories of community members in his approach to driving change within and outside the criminal legal system. Prior to Princeton, Mustafa worked at the Vera Institute of Justice, a national nonprofit dedicated to transforming our justice system, where he worked to end mass incarceration by pushing elected prosecutors to adopt diversion policies that shift people away from the criminal legal system, address racial disparities, and make prosecutors’ offices more accountable to the communities they serve. Outside of Vera, Mustafa was appointed by the mayor’s administration of the City of Knoxville as a program specialist to develop, implement, and evaluate violence interruption and prevention programs within the city. His office led street-outreach violence interruption strategies with community-based organizations, coordinated safety innovation and collaboration among City Departments, and enhanced partnerships with on-the-ground people and organizations working to make Knoxville safer. He previously worked with legal teams at Juvenile Law Center advocating for harm reduction and the rights of youth in the child welfare and justice system. This past summer, he worked as a Graduate Policy and Strategic Initiatives Intern with the City of Philadelphia. In his free time, Mustafa enjoys running, collecting vinyl records, reading, and taking his dog Mars to the dog park.