During graduation season, we celebrate all the graduating seniors who have made an impact through their work with LEO.
Eva Romero, graduating with a major in economics and minor in accountancy and data science, served as a research operations intern with LEO.
Eva brought her passion for education to the role: “My parents have always instilled in me that education is your way out of poverty. It’s the only way to break the generational cycle.”
During her time at LEO, Eva worked on several projects that aligned with her passion, including 10,000 Degrees College Success program which helps low-income and first generation students find scholarships, access education resources, and complete their bachelor’s degrees.
Click the link in our bio to learn more about Eva's @notredame journey.
Congratulations to Eva and Notre Dame's Class of 2026!
Access to transportation impacts both physical and economic mobility.
David Phillips, LEO's director of research, discusses the effects of providing free public transit in the most recent episode of Probable Causation hosted by @jenniferdoleac He also shares what we learned from LEO's study on free transit fares in King County, Washington.
Click the link in our bio to listen.
This week we hosted Workshop 1 for new partners ready to learn about the research process.
We welcomed 11 partners to South Bend to connect with each other, our researchers, and our leaders.
Partners learned the key elements of rigorous research and spent time with their research team to design their impact evaluation.
Thank you to our partners for trusting us with your stories and working alongside us to disrupt the anti-poverty space. Rachel Fulcher-Dawson, LEO’s interim managing director, wrapped up the workshop with these words:
“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try”
- Dolly Parton
Budgeting season is approaching fast!
Next month, join the #EvidenceMatters community with J-PAL North America and Carrie Cihak for a deep dive into the practical "how-to" of institutionalizing evidence-based spending. This webinar explores how local government leaders are partnering with researchers and practitioners to embed rigorous data into budgeting processes.
In this webinar, Ricardo Basurto-Davila, Ryan Flynn, Jen Tolentino, and Sam Quinney will discuss:
- Action steps for evidence-based spending
- Tips for getting started
- Bringing data and evidence to the front burner
- Timing ISN'T everything
🔗Register NOW with the link in our bio
This week we hosted our 2nd LEO Research Conference.
Kirabo Jackson delivered the keynote address and presented his findings on the public return from investment in schools and children.
Thank you to all the researchers who shared their research and discussed ways to lift communities out of poverty.
Together, we are taking evidence to impact.
We have some really exciting news to share with you.
After a national search, we’re thrilled to welcome Holly Kuzmich as LEO’s next Michael L. Smith Managing Director.
Holly brings a rare combination of experience that sits right at the heart of LEO’s work—working alongside social entrepreneurs to scale high-impact organizations, leading at the national policy level, and guiding teams through moments of growth and change. Most recently, she served as managing director at the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, working closely with social entrepreneurs to help scale organizations making a difference in people’s lives.
She’ll officially join LEO on July 7 and will be relocating to South Bend, her childhood hometown.
“The evidence that LEO produces is vitally important to our nation's poverty-fighting organizations--and most importantly, to those living in poverty--as well as policymakers and philanthropy. LEO has quickly become a national leader, and I'm excited to build on its foundation and scale what works. I can't imagine a better institution than Notre Dame to take on this bold and important mission.” - Holly Kuzmich
Click the link in our bio to learn more about Holly in the full announcement.
Last night @goodwill_ni announced the launch of the Padua program in South Bend. This is the first replication of the evidence backed program created by @ccfwstories
Catholic Charities Fort Worth and LEO have worked together to create evidence and expand impact by taking Padua to scale.
The Little Black Dress event celebrated all of Goodwill Michiana's programs and featured Tim Sexton, @notredame Associate Vice President of Public Affairs, in their fashion show.
Click the link in our bio to learn more about the new Padua site.
On Notre Dame Day, we invite the Notre Dame family to celebrate the University's mission to be a force for good in the world and to give to the areas of campus that mean the most to you.
You can help LEO and Notre Dame outsmart poverty with a gift of any amount today. Your Notre Dame Day donation to LEO will support our work to build and share evidence on what is working to reduce domestic poverty.
Giving is open! Visit the link in our bio any time from now until end of day tomorrow April 22 to make a gift to LEO.
#NDday #NDLoyal @ndloyal
“They have been such a blessing for me,” said Olga Valquez, a Padua program participant and a mother of three in Fort Worth, Texas.
@ccfwstories and LEO have worked together to take Padua to scale - with the first replication site launching with @goodwill_ni in South Bend this spring.
LEO faculty Patrick Turner believes this moment demonstrates what LEO was built to do: “I wanted my work to have real impact, or as we say at Notre Dame, to be a force for good in the world.”
Visit the link in our stories or ABC57 to hear from Olga and Patrick about the impact of Padua.
Congratulations to Goodwill's Shelbyville Excel Center on celebrating 10 years of economic impact. Over the past decade, Shelbyville Excel Center has empowered hundreds of adults to earn their high school diploma and credentials to advance their career.
LEO is proud to be a partner of Goodwill Excel Center, building evidence of their impact and advocating for expansion across the country.
“We are grateful to the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame, whose economists have partnered with us for nearly 10 years to build evidence that The Excel Center model is a solution to generational poverty.” says Betsy Delgado, Senior Vice President and Chief Mission and Education Officer at @goodwillindyin
Visit the link in our bio to read the article to learn more about Shelbyville Excel Center's impact.
Our rigorous impact evaluations with LEO partners are informing literature on criminal justice reform.
In "The Science of Second Chances: A Revolution in Criminal Justice" economist and LEO affiliated researcher @jenniferdoleac highlights how @jocomnh Brief Jail Mental Health Screen and @ccofchicago Homelessness Prevention Call Center reduced recidivism.
Brief Jail Mental Health Screen connects jail inmates to mental health care. LEO's study shows this intervention as such a critical time in a person's life reduced the likelihood of another booking within a year by 17%.
Homelessness Prevention Call Center provides emergency financial assistance for housing. LEO's study found this support reduced new arrests by 5.6 percentage points among individuals with past criminal justice involvement. This overall effect includes a large decline in violent crime arrests, including for battery.
Visit the link in our bio to read Jennifer Doleac's groundbreaking approach to criminal justice reform.
Yesterday our Evidence Matters webinar gave practical tips for government and non-profit workers seeking research partnerships.
Research and collaboration go hand-in-hand. LEO faculty Patrick Turner reflected on the importance of researchers and partners defining the study together: "It really is this co-creative process of trying to find overlap on where there's research interest on the question, and then working towards how we can best overlay research evidence on top of that."
Public sector evidence leader Carrie S. Cihak encouraged government partners to feel confident in their part of the research process, "It's part of human nature to be problem solvers, and that's really what research is all about."
J-PAL North America government partnerships lead Louise Geraghty reminded workers who are part of a program's day-to-day operations that the foundation for the study is built on their lived experience: "You're the expert, you know your community, and the researchers that you're working with are looking to you as such."
Thank you to Louise Geraghty, Vincent Quan, Patrick Turner, and Carrie S. Cihak for a candid conversation on government and research partnerships.
Visit the link in our bio to learn more about the Evidence Matters series with J-PAL North America and check out our past sessions.
