Bona Mikaela, a woman with long dark hair, wearing a beige blouse, white top, and pearl earrings, smiles at the camera against a plain light gray background.

Mikaela Bona

Community Data Manager

Institute of Public Safety and Social Justice

Chicago

I believe evaluation is a form of education: listening deeply, learning from those most affected, and enacting knowledge as justice and liberation.

mbona@adler.edu Connect on LinkedIn

OVERVIEW

Bona leads evaluation efforts as community data manager for two prison-based programs at Adler University: Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (IL-CHEP), a statewide coalition advancing higher education in prison, and CHOICE, a peer-led trauma intervention program in Illinois correctional facilities. She brings over six years of experience in research, advocacy, and program evaluation, with expertise in gender equity, economic justice, and restorative justice.

Her work includes evaluating higher education in prison programs, co-creating a policy scorecard on unpaid care work in the Philippines, contributing to climate adaptation research in emerging U.S. cities, and supporting economic justice initiatives in Kenya and the Philippines. Across these projects, she specializes in participatory, evidence-driven approaches that amplify community knowledge and strengthen the impact of social programs.

LEADERSHIP + ENGAGEMENT

  • Family Rescue, Domestic Violence Legal Advocate, 2025.
  • Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party), Advocacy Writer, 2019.
  • PAKISAMA (National Movement of Farmers’ Organizations), Researcher, 2017.

CURRENT RESEARCH + OPPORTUNITIES

  • Monitoring and evaluation.
  • Gender equality.
  • Restorative justice.
  • Governance research.
  • Social policy.