Kate Hemady, PhD
My mission is to empower community-based organizations (CBOs) to deeply integrate evidence-based approaches (“programs”) into their work for greater effectiveness and sustainability. That means both building supportive systems around a new program and, when needed, tailoring programs into the specific contexts of CBOs and agencies. As an Implementation Support Consultant, I take on the role of subject matter expert, program monitor, technical assistance provider, quality assurance chief, transformation officer or change manager, and evidence-based practice liaison.
I am a systems thinker with interdisciplinary training and expertise in parents, children, and families, and their interactions, development, and contexts. My education is in Human Development and Family Studies. In this field, I earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University, studying with preeminent scholars in prevention science, advanced statistics, positive youth development, and family systems.
I have nearly a decade of experience in evaluating community-implemented family strengthening- and child well-being-focused programs while based at Public Health Management Corporation, in Philadelphia. In that role, I served as lead evaluator or PI for multiple federally funded projects, including 1) program evaluations ranging from a randomized controlled trial and rigorous quasi-experimental evaluation to responsive process evaluation and quality improvement, and 2) coalition support rooted in developmental evaluation. In these and foundation-funded projects, I worked with dozens of program partners (e.g., CBOs, implementation teams), provided implementation support, and built community partnerships.
My evaluation work, while scientifically rigorous, has been guided by community partnership where service agencies identify their programming needs, and the grant funding we pursue together allows the agencies to provide high quality, innovative services, often including cross-sector partnerships. Working across multiple program teams, organizations, and sectors with a focus on quality improvement and outcome monitoring has provided me with a unique perspective that I carry forward thanks to many open, honest relationships with program directors that have propelled my career in the direction of implementation support.
Because my work is community-centered and -driven, I have years of experience with coalition leadership, garnering structured advice and feedback from community members via qualitative data collection, collegial collaboration with Peer Specialists and Lived Experience Experts, shared leadership with Intersectional Professionals, and ongoing partnership and collaboration with CBOs. I have worked with dozens of program models, implementation teams, and organizations.
The implementation support I provide is rooted in deep theoretical knowledge relating to program theory of change and accumulated experience of CBO workflow, staffing, and contexts, including child welfare systems, substance use treatment agencies and systems, and health and mental health systems. I am guided by partnership, equity, empathy, and self-reflection.
By stewarding the uptake and implementation of evidence-informed or evidence-based practices, I seek to improve outcomes for children and their family members for generational impact that addresses disparities.
My advocacy and strategic planning work aims to reimagine human service systems that lift up families with holistic support. I call Maryland home and have deep generational ties to Baltimore. Not far away, Pennsylvania has a special place in my heart, as the place my career started and where my children were born.
