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Services Offered
Qualitative Research and Analysis: Research can play a critical role in advancing the agenda of community organizations, foundations, governmental bodies and advocacy organizations. How and what role research can play depends on the needs of your organization. Some organizations may need best practices research into existing policies, policy campaigns or programs in other cities/states so they can learn from prior experiences. Some may need a summary of existing research to help inform decision-making or smart investment strategies. Others may need someone to plan and implement an evaluation of existing programs to understand how to improve upon past experiences and direct future funds. Targeted research can help improve programs, inform campaign strategies and policy agendas and strengthen organizational outcomes. With my extensive research expertise, I can help you plan and implement research that supports your organizational goals, using best pactices research, literature reviews, qualitative interviews, focus groups, surveys, public policy research and more.
Program Evaluation: Through research planning, interviews and focus groups, I have helped organizations and their funders better understand program impacts, measure goals and outcomes and suggest areas for improvement for programs and for future giving.
Report, Grant and Organizational Material Writing: I am a skilled writer with experience writing reports, grant applications, organizational materials, website content and Op-Eds.
Recent Clients and Projects
Keystone Research Center: KRC is a policy and research organization based in Harrisburg, Pa. whose aim is to help create a more equitable Pennsylvania economy by producing original research and proposing new policy solutions to solve the problems faced by working Pennsylvanians.
Project 1: The Human and Social Service Impact of Gas Drilling on Local Communities:
I conducted research for several case studies of the social and human service impacts of PA counties facing significant Marcellus Shale gas drilling. This included secondary research and qualitative interviews of human and social service experts, state, county and local politicians and nonprofits, citizens and other experts. I co-authored several reports on our findings. These reports brought state-wide attention to positive and negative impacts on local infrastructure and social services. Policy recommendations emanating from the research, especially enacting a severance tax on gas drillers, have become a key component of Governor Tom Wolf’s agenda.
Project 2: Evaluation and Program Support for the Made Right Here Project:
The Made Right Here project is a workforce and economic development project based in Pittsburgh whose aim is to fuel local manufacturing through technical support of hardware startups and workforce training. I was a key member of both the internal and external evaluation team, acting as an embedded researcher during the course of the Department of Labor Workforce Innovation Fund grant (2012-2015). I provided information, research and reflection for the yearly evluation and co-authored the project's yearly evaluation reports. I also provided technical support to the project in the form of research and implementation of the project's credentialing system and curriculum development; led efforts to register the project as a DOL-recognized apprenticeship, which was officially registered in Novemebr 2014. I also led grant writing efforts for sustainability funding and was the primary writer for the project, including creating project manuals, summaries, marketing materials, articles, surveys, etc.
Project 3: Qualitative Research on Pittsburgh Efforts to Diversify the Construction Industry:
I was lead qualitative researcher on this project aimed at understanding efforts at diversifying the construction industry in Pittsburgh by (1) examining existing mechanisms that exist to get more diversity in the workforce on large-scale construction projects and (2) researching existing pathways into Pittsburgh union construction careers other than through direct-entry into apprenticeship. The methodology included identifying and researching 10 large construction projects in Pittsburgh that contain diversity goals for the construction workforce. I conducted interviews with owners, construction managers, general contractors, non-profits and city officials to understand existing mechanisms that exist to get more diversity into the workforce.
Project 4: Exploratory Research on the Job Benefits Connected to Green Infrastructure Projects: Conducted exploratory research of other cities across the US who have implemented green infrastructure projects. The goal of the research was to identify the jobs benefits connected to such projects so as to help inform a local campaign to advance a green infrastructure plan. I produced an internal document outlining the existing research on job creation connected to green infrastructure projects and findings from interviews of experts from the Center on Wisconsin Strategies (COWS), LIVE Green in Lancaster, PA, Green for All, Sustainable Stormwater Management in Portland, OR and the Sustainable Business Network in Philadelphia, PA.
Institute for Work and the Economy: The Institute for Work and the Economy is a public policy research organization based in Chicago, IL whose aim is to address structural workforce and economic development problems through research and public policy solutions.
Project 1: Final External Evaluation of the Made Right Here Project: Provided insight, research and reflection for the final evaluation of the Made Right Here project. Co-authored the final evaluation for the Department of Labor Workforce Innovation Grant funding that initially supported this project.
Project 2: How to Decrease Barriers to Expanding Apprenticeship in the U.S.: I subcontracted with the Institute for Work and the Economy for a research project with the Aspen Institute’s Skills for America’s Future. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this research sought to understand the obstacles to expanding apprenticeship into new industries and occupations and with new employers. This research will include state and federal policy recommendations on how to decrease barriers to expanding apprenticeship in the U.S. Conducted literature review, survey and qualitative interviews with employers in manufacturing, health care, insurance and IT.
Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board: The 3 Rivers WIB is the region's leader of the public workforce system. They seek to bridge the gap between individuals in need of work and companies in need of talent.
Project 1: Evaluating Ten Summer Youth Programs Aimed at Teaching and Increasing Interest in STEM: I was lead qualitative researcher evaluating the effectiveness of ten pilot projects (funded by Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry) aimed at engaging low-income youth in STEM careers and learning during the summer of 2015. I designed research and interview protocol and conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with both providers and youth who participated in the program. I suggested strategies for improving the impact on youth for the WIB's future round of funding.
Project 2: Grant Writing and Request for Proposal Writing: Wrote several grants to secure funding for the WIB's Learn and Earn program. Wrote the request for proposals (RFP) for providers in the City of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County for the Learn and Earn program and the summer STEM program.
Dissertation Research
The Caring Precariat: Home Health Care Work in New York City:
My dissertation examines the ways in which government funding and public policies structure service delivery and working conditions in the home health care industry in the nation’s most populous city—New York City. This study augments in-depth interviews of policy elites, government bureaucrats, employers, advocates and unions with analysis of a new data set collected from hard-to-reach low-wage workers to explore the role of the federal, state and city government in creating and regulating contract arrangements that determine wages and working conditions of a low-wage workforce situated between the formal and informal economy. Several themes emerge from this research. First, by examining the relationship between the formal, regulated, publicly-funded home health care system and the informal, gray market privately-funded home care system in NYC, I found that the state relies on the informal care economy (and therefore workers working outside of the regulated, formal system) to fill in the care gap created by piecemeal public coverage. Shifts in government regulation, funding and constellations of third party government move the boundaries between formal and informal jobs—in this case, growing informal work and putting more financial burdens on families. Second, this dissertation explores how a union, namely SEIU 1199, that had previously been unable to raise wages significantly for home health aides, was able to win, remarkably, a living wage by creating and then taking advantage of opportunities to revamp the home health care industry during a period when the State was looking to cut Medicaid. Third, the State, with the help of 1199, facilitated a reorganization of the home health care industry, which led to its consolidation and the growth of Managed Care, which is potentially beneficial to the union and the state, although some fear may lead to a decrease in hours of care for patients and less work for aides.
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