Research Connections Fellows

Nominated by key national policy and professional organizations, Research Connections Fellows participate in a special training on using the Research Connections Web site to respond to technical assistance requests from their members. Fellows also help inform the continual improvement of the site, the development of new policy-relevant site content, and the identification of timely policy research questions.

The current Research Connections Fellows are:

Soumya Bhat
Senior Program Associate
The Finance Project

Soumya Bhat is a Program Associate at The Finance Project, where her work is focused on the financing and sustainability of early childhood and out-of-school time initiatives. As part of the Afterschool Investments project team, Ms. Bhat manages the State Profile series, maintains content for the federal Afterschool.gov website, and regularly responds to public queries about the financing of afterschool programs.

She also supports The Finance Project's state fiscal mapping work analyzing existing public and private funding available to support early childhood services. Her written products encompass a variety of topics, including a strategy brief for afterschool programs in rural settings and publications on financing housing supports and permanency initiatives for youth transitioning out of the foster care system. Prior to joining The Finance Project, Ms. Bhat studied early education issues and school finance at The New America Foundation in Washington, DC. She holds a Master's Degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

Rashida Brown
Legislative Policy Associate
American Public Human Services Association

Rashida Brown is currently the legislative policy associate for the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, an affiliate membership organization within the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). She is also the staff liaison for the National Association of State Child Care Administrators. At APHSA, Ms. Brown serves public child welfare administrators and directors of Child Care and Development Fund Lead Agencies in all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Her primary role is to inform state and local human services administrators and Governor-appointed commissioners on federal legislation, regulations and policies related to vulnerable children and families.

She works closely with Congress and the Administration on various children's issues, which include, but are not limited to, child welfare, child care and juvenile justice programs. Prior to her work at APHSA, she served as a social services administrator at the Maryland Department of Human Resources in Baltimore and worked in private adoptions and therapeutic foster care. Ms. Brown graduated with a masters' degree in social work from Howard University School of Social Work. She is licensed in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Jennifer Louis
Senior Research Analyst
Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care

Jennifer Louis is the Senior Research Analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC). Her projects include managing the collection of state subsidy data and to produce state and federal reports on the use of subsidized children, licensed child care providers and the required quarterly reporting for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for early childhood in Massachusetts.

Jennifer is also involved in providing survey design and data analysis to units in the Department of Early Education and Care as well as provides ad hoc analysis to both internal and external entities. Jennifer has been involved in research and statistical analysis for over 10 years. She is a member of the American Psychological Association. She received a B.A. from the University of Nevada and a M.A. from Bridgewater State University.

Davida McDonald
Director of State Policy
National Association for the Education of Young Children

Davida McDonald is Director of State Policy at NAEYC, where her primary responsibilities are researching and tracking state public policy trends and working with state and local affiliates to build their public policy capacity. She brings to NAEYC a knowledge of statewide advocacy and coalition-building campaigns. Prior to working at NAEYC, she worked in the state program at the Trust for Early Education as State Program Analyst and came there from Massachusetts, where she managed a statewide information dissemination and capacity-building campaign as well as an advocacy skills building and leadership development project targeting child care providers. Prior to her work in the early care and education field, Ms. McDonald worked at a community health center in a Boston neighborhood managing its health education and outreach activities. She was also Project Coordinator of the Welfare in Transition Project at the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute, working under Principal Investigator Lisa Dodson to document the affect that welfare reform had on women, their families, and their communities in Boston and Cambridge, MA. Ms. McDonald has a BA from Harvard University and a Masters of Public Health in maternal and child health from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Caitlin McLaughlin
Senior Director of Research
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies

Caitlin McLaughlin is the Senior Director of Research at the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). She is responsible for conducting research on the demand, supply, cost and quality of child care, as well as other topics related to NACCRRA's mission to support greater access to affordable, high quality child care for America's working families. Since joining NACCRRA in 2007, she has held various roles with the Research and National Programs teams, including helping to lead NACCRRA's child care quality improvement and fee assistance programs in partnership with the military. Caitlin has been engaged in research and evaluation in a variety of academic and nonprofit organizations since 1991. She has also taught in school and community settings from early childhood through college students. She holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and master's degrees in Music and in Human Development from the University of California, Irvine.

Violeta Mora
Information Specialist
National Child Care Information Center

Ms. Violeta Mora is an Information Specialist at the National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC), a service of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Child Care. She is responsible for collecting and disseminating information about various child care issues, including child care subsidies and subsidy administration, business development, business management, and diversity and multicultural issues. Prior to joining NCCIC, Ms. Mora provided direct services to children and families in a variety of roles at the Northern Virginia Family Service, including family support worker, parent resource specialist, and parent involvement specialist. Ms. Mora received her BA degree in psychology from Marymount University in 2004, and is currently pursuing an MA in Social Work at The Catholic University of America.

Julie Poppe
Program Manager
National Conference of State Legislatures

Julie Poppe is a Program Manager with the National Conference of State Legislatures' Child Care and Early Childhood Education Project in Denver, Colorado. She has been a member of the child care and early education project for over ten years where she provides a range of informational services to state legislators and legislative staff through technical assistance, publications, legislative educational presentations and research on issues related to early care and education for children from birth to age 5. Ms. Poppe has authored and co-authored publications on topics including child care financing, children's mental health services, infant and toddler development and care, and funding inclusive child care. She recently coauthored a report entitled, Early Care and Education State Budget Actions FY 2009 and is managing the report update for FY 2010. Ms. Poppe holds a Master's degree in public administration from the University of Colorado at Denver and a Bachelor's degree in social work from the University of Wyoming. She also has experience in health policy and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.

Stephanie Rose
Assistant Policy Analyst
Education Commission of the States

Stephanie Rose serves as an Assistant Policy Analyst at ECS, dividing her time between early learning (P-3) related issues and general information clearinghouse tasks. Prior to joining ECS, Stephanie worked as an analyst in the field of climate and energy policy with ICF International, as well as an investment banking analyst at Peter J. Solomon Company. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, as well as a Master of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

Tonja Rucker, Ph.D.
Senior Program Associate
National League of Cities

Dr. Tonja Rucker currently serves as the Senior Program Associate for Early Childhood Development in the Institute for Youth Education and Families at the National League of Cities (NLC). She is responsible for providing primary program support for the Institute's work in areas related to early childhood success. Prior to joining the NLC team, Tonja served as a Project Associate for the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network in Washington, D.C. In this position, she provided support to several efforts aimed at motivating and supporting students at all academic levels to pursue careers in mathematics, science, and engineering (MSE). Prior to joining the QEM Tonja served as Transition Coordinator for Baltimore City Head Start and as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park. She has a doctorate in Human Development from the University of Maryland College Park and a BA in Psychology from Spelman College.

Amanda Szekely
Senior Policy Analyst
National Governors' Association

Amanda Szekely is a Senior Policy Analyst at the National Governors' Association, Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) where she contributes to the Education Division's early childhood projects.

Prior to joining the NGA Center, she was a senior associate at The Finance Project and supported states and communities in developing strategies to finance and sustain initiatives serving children and families. Ms. Szekely holds a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree in politics from Brandeis University.