Brent J. Cohen is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for State and Local Governance. He works across the Institute’s portfolio, providing strategic guidance, policy analysis, and partnership development with government and community stakeholders. His work focuses on advancing community safety, strengthening community trust, expanding opportunity, and reducing reliance on incarceration.

Under President Biden, Brent served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, where he led the Department of Justice’s $5 billion grantmaking, research, and statistical enterprise. Prior to that, Brent was OJP’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and during the Obama administration was a senior advisor advancing criminal and juvenile justice reform. He has also held senior leadership roles in New York City government, including directing legislative and government affairs at the New York City Department of Probation, and has led national policy and advocacy work at the Center for American Progress and JustLeadershipUSA. President Obama appointed him as a White House Fellow in 2013.

Brent holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and an MPA from NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.