Oriya Cohen is a policy program manager the Research to Action Lab at the Urban Institute. He works with researchers across policy centers on projects related to affordable housing, social mobility, community development, economic development, and inclusion. Before joining Urban, Cohen was a Coro Fellow in public affairs in San Francisco, where he worked with various organizations to develop affordable housing, research the impacts of sea-level rise across the Bay Area, and launch a postgraduate legal fellowship. Before joining Coro, Cohen worked in the Oakland Office of the Mayor as a policy associate. There, he helped establish the city’s first department of transportation and supported the development of a citywide general obligation bond to fund transportation, infrastructure, and affordable housing projects across the city.

Cohen received a BA in sustainable environmental design from the University of California, Berkeley.