Yvonne Yu is an anti-discrimination advocate and mediator who has worked across the nonprofit, private and public sectors with a focus on community engagement, conflict management and public education. She spent six years investigating and conciliating state and federal anti-discrimination cases for the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights (RICHR), in conjunction with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Housing and Urban Development. At RICHR she frequently designed and presented civil rights trainings on fair housing, employment and public accommodations to the general public, legislative bodies, private corporations, housing providers, local nonprofits and professional associations. Prior to this she worked as the Marketing and Outreach Manager for a Pawtucket, RI nonprofit advancing culturally inclusive adult sexual health education and LGBTQIA+ rights, and in several other service and outreach positions.
Yvonne received her Master's in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, where she worked in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office and partnered with Maine housing authorities to build best practices for equitable administration, and her B.A. in Anthropology from Brown University, where she served on a task force creating the University's first comprehensive Title IX policy addressing sexual harassment, assault and gender violence. She lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore before moving to Rhode Island, and constantly strives to look for new ways to expand accessibility and amplify diverse voices in service of the common good.