Marlyn (“Mar-leen”) Bruno is a Government Innovation Fellow on the Children & Families team. She supports work with the state of Michigan to strengthen family wellbeing and prevent child welfare contact. This includes working with state staff and community organizations across Michigan to connect families with community-based resources to meet their needs. Previously at the GPL, Marlyn supported the Pretrial Initiative.
Marlyn is passionate about making state and local governments more equitable and responsive to the needs of marginalized and criminalized communities. Before coming to the GPL, Marlyn worked within DC and Chicago governments to (re)design housing, public safety, and economic mobility programs. In her past lives, she has worked at the intersection of the criminal legal and immigration systems: she supported the implementation of DOJ programs for noncitizens appearing pro se in immigration court at the Vera Institute of Justice and provided legal support to New Yorkers in removal proceedings at a public defender’s office.
Marlyn holds an MPP from Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy and a BA in Psychology from Princeton University. Outside of work, she can be found somehow getting covered in soil, clay, or flour and lamenting her choice of messy hobbies.