Background
Avivah joined Redstone after graduating with honors from Williams College with a double major in Economics and Political Science and spending a year as an Analyst at Charles River Associates in Boston. While at Williams, Avivah wrote a thesis on the effects of public benefits on recidivism rates. She found that formerly incarcerated people who had access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, were significantly more likely to be able to stay out of prison and re-integrate into society. In this research, she compared states that had reversed bans on public nutrition assistance with those that still had them in place, providing an imperative to reverse the bans where they still exist. Avivah spent her junior year as an exchange student at Exeter College within Oxford University, taking tutorials within the PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) degree.
Previously at Williams, Avivah worked as a research assistant in providing substantive updates and research for the graduate textbook Economic Growth, by Quamrul Ashraf and David Weil. Prior to that, Avivah interned at PEN America in New York City, a nonprofit advocating for free speech for writers and journalists around the world.
Avivah is passionate about equity and access to the outdoors, and directed the Learn to Ski Program at Williams, expanding access to financial aid to cover program costs for participants. She also was a program leader in the Williams Outdoor Orientation For Living as First Years, coordinating access to borrowed gear and supporting the addition of base campus trips to allow students a more accessible option to the outdoors.
Avivah grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and is an ultra-runner and triathlete working on climbing all of the 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. You might find her jumping into cold mountain lakes or playing guitar around a warm campfire.