Dana directs CCPI project teams that draw on tools of policy analysis, research and evaluation to inform and effect data-informed policy change. She and her team collaborate with community partners, education practitioners, state agency staff, policymakers, foundations and national research partners to support efforts to improve outcomes for New Mexico children and families. She currently serves as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI for four nationally-funded studies of equitable family access to publicly-funded child care and nutrition programs, including a major study of New Mexico’s child care expansion policies. She also serves as PI for a multi-university team of researchers evaluating the impact of a major foundation’s investments in New Mexico, and as PI for accountability reporting for the NM Early Childhood Education and Care Department. Past projects have included evaluation of federally-funded professional development efforts for early childhood staff and evaluation of Department of Labor grants to develop workforce training for low-skilled workers across a coordinated consortium of two-year colleges statewide.

Prior to joining CCPI in 2012, Dana worked for more than fifteen years as a freelance researcher, writer and editor in a variety of academic and nonprofit settings, including for the University of New Mexico and the U.S. Department of Education. Before moving to New Mexico, Dana was project associate at the Center for Ethics and Social Policy in Berkeley, CA, where she helped design and facilitate projects to foster cross-sectoral collaborations on social and economic public policy initiatives. Dana earned her Master of Divinity degree at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, with a program emphasis on education and social change. She has also worked as an elementary classroom teacher and writing specialist in Albuquerque Public Schools, and in the children’s book publishing industry in New York.