Personally, I am a father, partner, home chef, handyman, gardener, ocean lover, and microbus enthusiast.
Professionally, I am a researcher who uses data to build a more equitable world. Using a critical and participatory approach, my research concerns young people’s role in resolving local and global social, economic, and environmental injustices, and the responsibility public and private institutions have in addressing economic inequality and climate change. My research experience covers multiple child and family policy topics, including children’s rights, gender equality, children’s participation in local governance, neighborhood safety, housing and homelessness, sustainable development, access to early care and education programs, and preventing commercial sexual exploitation of children. Through partnerships with child and family-serving and community development agencies, I’ve conducted research in New York City, as well as throughout Europe, Latin America, West and North Africa, and South Asia.
Currently, I serve as the founder and principal at AEQUA Strategies, a consulting firm that helps mission-driven organizations design and implement community-based and family-centered research, assessment, and evaluation strategies to build a more equitable world. I am also an adjunct assistant professor of population and family health at the Mailman School of Health, Columbia University.
Previously, I served as Associate Executive Director for Research at Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York where I led a team responsible for investigating key issues on child and family well-being in New York City, producing an array of data resources, and conducting community-based assessments of the most pressing needs and important community assets. These projects complement data available at data.cccnewyork.org and elevate the voices of community members, service providers, and other experts, especially when public data are lacking.
I’ve also served as a Project Director at the Children’s Environments Research Group in Center for Human Environments at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. There I directed the Article 15 Project and other research initiatives where I developed expertise in designing and implementing participatory research with children and their caregivers internationally. I have also taught at the City University of New York, including at Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and the School of Law.
I received a PhD in Environmental Psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and BA in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.