Jorja Leap has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Social Welfare in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs since 1992 and serves as the executive director of the UCLA Social Justice Research Partnership. She is also honored to serve as the research and evaluation director for the Watts Gang Task Force. As an anthropologist and recognized expert in gangs, community violence and systems change, she develops and directs real-life scholarly efforts that involve research, evaluation and policy recommendations at the local, state and national level. Among multiple efforts, she has served as the lead researcher for the White House Community Violence Intervention Collaborative, an effort that encompassed 16 jurisdictions and 17 cities across the United States from 2022 to 2024. Dr. Leap is currently engaged in a longitudinal evaluation of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang reentry program in the world, as well as a two-year evaluation of the Newark Community Street Team, an innovative community-based effort in New Jersey. She is the co-founder of the UCLA Watts Leadership Institute, working closely with the community-based leaders of Watts as well as its nonprofit network.  

Dr. Leap has authored numerous reports, chapters and books, including Jumped In: What Gangs taught me about Violence, Drugs, Love and Redemption; Project Fatherhood: A Story of Courage and Healing in one of America’s Toughest Communities; and Entry Lessons: The Stories of Women Fighting for their Place, their Children, and their Futures after Incarceration. Dr. Leap has been a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including being named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Los Angeles (2012) and being given the Hero Award for Commitment to Families of Murder Victims (2017). In 2019, she was deeply honored to receive the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award and was inducted into the California Social Work Hall of Distinction (2023).