Featured Projects
Support Colorado Schools to Implement and Evaluate Innovative Practices
Lauren partnered with six education institutions to support them in effectively implementing and laying the groundwork for sustained implementation of innovative practices to address the learning challenges related to the economic, social, and health impacts of COVID-19. Serving as a thought partner and building trusting relationships, she used implementation science principles to support teams in bringing diverse voices to the table, identifying a shared line of site, celebrating wins and troubleshooting challenges, and implementing structures to support learning and evaluation.
Plan to Evaluate the Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Bill
Lauren partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to develop a comprehensive evaluation plan. We gathered and synthesized research evidence and implemented a robust stakeholder engagement process, which included state agencies, treatment providers, community organizations, law enforcement, harm reduction advocates, and directly impacted populations. By articulating partner assumptions and supporting the development of shared language and frameworks, we sought to support stakeholders in gaining a deeper understanding of the problem and identifying opportunities to work cohesively using a multi systems‐approach. The mixed methods evaluation design balanced rigorous methodology and practical feasibility with the aim of producing actionable results.
Build a Data-Driven Peer Learning Community to Address Racial Disparities
Lauren founded and led the Colorado Prosecutorial Dashboard Project, an innovative initiative that empowers District Attorneys’ Offices throughout Colorado to leverage data to enhance transparency, reduce racial disparities, and improve criminal case outcomes. This groundbreaking project is the first in the nation to create a statewide learning platform for prosecutorial data. She worked with 75+ practitioners to develop organizational capacity, structures, and cultures for data-driven decision-making and catalyzed constructive peer-to-peer dialogue on what it means to address racial disparities by focusing on systemic drivers and solutions.
Support Shared Vision and Judicial System Transformation in Los Angeles
While at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Lauren led a coalition of governmental, nonprofit, and community stakeholders to cultivate a county-wide vision to keep youth in school and out of the juvenile justice system. She synthesized data from a variety of sources—including research evidence, youth driven art, and partner perspectives—and worked with the coalition to cultivate shared values and action. We built relationships and advanced meaningful systems change, including the creation of youth serving structures and the passage of juvenile justice reform policy focused on community-based alternatives.
Advance Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Perinatal Health
While at the Colorado Lab, Lauren partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to identify opportunities to improve the use of research evidence in policymaking to drive equitable opportunities in perinatal health. We rooted this work in equity by employing a socio-ecological model, developing a more inclusive definition of evidence, centering the lived experience of community and family leaders, and conducting shared sense making with practitioners, policymakers, and advocates to develop a set of impactful and feasible recommendations.
Build a Learning Function for a Nonprofit Organization
While at VentureWell, Lauren led work to help the organization and strategy teams develop shared language, clarify their theory of change, and develop frameworks to codify and guide their work. She supported them in defining high priority learning questions and aligning their data collection processes and systems to ensure they provided actionable information. She engaged staff at all levels to implement practices and structures for reflection that helped them generate and test hypotheses—and, ultimately, translate what they were learning into action.