Katie is a community and cultural psychologist with extensive experience with community-based organizations in socially, economically, and ethnically diverse communities across the country as a strategist, evaluator, researcher, educator, counselor, and scholar. Katie brings experience in service delivery and multi-level systems change to her work. She has strong technical, facilitation, and coaching skills developed through more than 15 years conducting research and serving as a strategic learning partner to nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies in the social sector. Katie has content expertise in culturally responsive, community-based research, capacity building, grantmaking strategy, impact measurement, leadership development, mental health, education, and disaster management. She is a trained therapist and former secondary and post-secondary educator. A skilled client engagement lead and team leader, her approach is relationship-focused and strengths-based. She is committed to leveraging the power of applied research to build stronger, more resilient communities and dismantling systems that reinforce inequity and perpetuate oppression. She has conducted community-based systems-level disaster research in the Hawaiian Islands, American Samoa, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and across the U.S. She is a published author, with results of her research in the fields of disasters and trauma appearing in peer-reviewed journals.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Community and Cultural Psychology, University of Hawaiʹi at Mānoa
Master of Arts, Community and Cultural Psychology, University of Hawaiʹi at Mānoa
Master of Science, Counseling and Human Relations, Villanova University
Bachelor of Science, Psychology, Loyola University Maryland
Selected Project Experience
Community Partnership of the Ozarks Gun Safety and Violence Reduction Initiative Trusted Advisor
YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley Strategic Learning Partner
NewSchools Venture Fund Learning Capacity Building Coach
SF CASA Evaluation and Learning Partner
Mindful Life Project Evaluation and Learning Partner
CA CASA Evaluation and Learning Partner
Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Programs Strategic Learning Partner
Gates Foundation K-12 Strategy Learning Partner
Schusterman Family Philanthropies Fellowship Strategic Learning Partner