Kate Hemady, PhD
My education is in Human Development and Family Studies, through which I built interdisciplinary expertise in parents, children, and families, and their interactions, development, and contexts. 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.
In that work, I came to realize that I provided program development, technical assistance, capacity-building, change management, and many other services in the course of “evaluation” that should be available to non-profits EVEN IF there is no plan for evaluation, and EVEN IF there is no grant funding.
Now, as a consultant, I take on the combined role of subject matter expert, program monitor, technical assistance provider, quality assurance chief, transformation officer or change manager, and evidence-based practice liaison. My goal is not to test an organization’s performance or to make an organization conform its programming to academic standards, which are often narrowly considered. My mission is to empower community-based organizations (CBOs) to meet their community’s needs with proven best practices for greater effectiveness and sustainability. That can mean a light touch like collecting input and recommending training to shift staff approach or mindset, or a multi-year process of deeply integrating an evidence-based program (EBP) into an organization’s service offerings or, when needed, tailoring an EBP into the specific contexts of CBOs and agencies or for a new audience.
I think flexibly and broadly to ensure what an organization offers to their clients is what’s needed in the community. I consider organizational and external factors like staff skills and values, organizational mission, funder and system requirements, referrals, cross-sector communication and the like. I provide both technical and human-level support, temporarily scaling up an organization’s capacity while building long-term internal capacity.
My career followed a decidedly non-academic path and has been guided by community partnership. Even in my evaluation work, service agencies identified their programming needs, and our work focused on enabling innovative services, often including cross-sector partnerships. The consultation I now 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 seek to improve outcomes for children and their family members for generational impact that promotes equity.
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.
