HEAL Food Alliance

2025 School of Political Leadership 

LAFPC - Good Food Zones

Déjà Thomas

(she/her)

Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Community Initiatives, 
LAFPC - Good Food Zones

We're in a precarious political moment wherein political education is more important than ever to combat misinformation, racism, and classism, all of which impact our food systems. SoPL will provide a space for our team to be intentional about how we incorporate strategies in our short term campaigns that build a powerful multiracial base to co-create and support our long term vision.

Meet Déjà

Déjà is seasoned program manager, researcher, and strategist on food systems policy, Black worker issues, and systems change. At LAFPC as the Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Community Initiatives she prioritizes a collaborative and participatory approach to managing and integrating LAFPC convened groups in advancing the Good Food for All Agenda via working groups, capacity building, and community initiatives. She has a Master's of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), as well as a Food Studies Certificate from UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Communication from Santa Clara University. She is a 2023 John Mack Weingart Fellow, 2019 Switzer Environmental Fellow, 2016 Udall Scholar, and a 2016 Global Social Benefit Fellow at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship. In her previous role at UCLA Labor Center's Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity (CARE) at Work she managed and oversaw programmatic priorities. This work included managing 10+ research projects including six published reports (Workforce Warriors, IE Works, Essential Stories, Dismantling Disparity, Reimagined Recovery, and Unseen Costs), and projects that supported the successful passage of SB 150, SB 1340, and AB 628. She also managed strategic partnerships with the Southern California Black Worker Hub for Regional Organizing standing up two new Black Worker Centers. Moreover, built a school to movement pathway for Black students through training, classes, and fellowships building the next generation of Black organizers, as well as managing million dollar grant renewals and funder relationships. Her other work includes project management, community partnerships, and strategy development for Prosperity Market, process evaluation of the California Transformative Climate Communities program and theory of change documentation for a rural Ugandan social enterprise.