Thriving Together

Experience the Event

Presented by

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 3:00 pm

Uncover key findings on economic mobility from Opportunity Insights, as they introduce their innovative data tool, The Opportunity Atlas, that demonstrates how opportunity varies across the United States and how it has changed in recent years. Discover how to access economic mobility data specific to your local area, be empowered to drive community-led solutions, and be inspired by how local governments and community partners can harness this data to foster opportunity. Learn, connect, and take action toward a more equitable future!

Featured Speakers:

• Carrie Cihak, King County Evidence & Impact Officer
• Vincent Quan, Co-Executive Director, J-PAL
• David Forte, Director of Research Translation and Strategic Initiatives, Opportunity Insights
• Elsa Batres-Boni, Director, Communities of Opportunity
• Aaron Garcia, Executive Director, White Center Community Development Association

Partner with LEO

The Evidence Matters series is sponsored on ThinkND by the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). Poverty is stubborn and requires the utmost collaboration of thought and action to drive change. People of goodwill must bring their unique strengths and positions together to solve this problem. At LEO, we believe knowledge has to be combined with action. But poverty can’t be solved by just one person, or even one sector. That’s why we bring together innovative social service provider partners, top-tier academics, philanthropists, policymakers, and others to tackle poverty.

Change is possible. And with your action, we can get one step closer to reducing poverty in our country, together. 

Your job is to act. What will you do?

For more information, please visit LEO’s website.

Meet the Speaker: Elsa Batres-Boni

Elsa Batres-Boni is the Director of Communities of Opportunity with over 15 years of community organizing experience in Seattle, King County, and Washington state. She has worked with OneAmerica, Casa Latina, Social Justice Fund, and the Washington Census Alliance. Before joining COO in 2023, she worked with the City of Seattle’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and the Department of Neighborhoods, leading the Civic Engagement team.

Elsa is an engaged and community-oriented mom of a pre-tween child. Outside of her professional pursuits, Elsa finds joy in cooking, sharing, and relishing food and is also an enthusiastic gardener, spending her time daydreaming about the perfect seasonal garden or immersing herself in the physicality of tending plants and moving earth at her Rainier Valley home.

Meet the Speaker: Carrie Cihak

Carrie S. Cihak is the King County Evidence & Impact Officer. In this role, Carrie develops external partnerships that expand research and evaluation capacity to help county agencies advance equity and augment the positive impact of King County’s work. Carrie also develops partnerships to highlight successful practices and lessons that may be of value to other departments and jurisdictions.

Carrie has worked at King County for more than 20 years. Before joining DES, Carrie built research partnerships and evidence-building practices at King County Metro. Other positions included serving as Executive Constantine’s Policy Director and working on the County Council’s central staff. 

Before joining King County, Carrie worked for The White House Council of Economic Advisers, taught economics at The College of William & Mary, and worked in the public education system in Japan. Carrie has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in economics from Boston University.

Outside of work, Carrie is happiest when making pie, knits, new friends, and good trouble. Carrie and partner, George, live in central Seattle with three cats adopted from Regional Animal Services of King County.

Meet the Speaker: David Forte

David Forte is the Director of Research Translation and Strategic Initiatives at Opportunity Insights. In this role, David focuses on building out strategic activities that bring OI research into practice. David comes to OI from prior work in housing policy, including leading impact and evaluation efforts at the King County Housing Authority, and more recently, consulting on data analysis and evaluation with public agencies across the United States working to end homelessness. He also has experience as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School and in program evaluation and fund development roles with nonprofit organizations in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA.

David holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Texas A&M University.

Meet the Speaker: Aaron Garcia

Greetings, I’m Aaron Garcia. My personal journey as an immigrant and person of color has ingrained in me a deep-rooted understanding of systemic racism and its consequential discrimination. This awareness fuels my passion for advocating racial justice and championing equity, particularly in the realm of education.

As the Executive Director of the White Center Community Development Association, I leverage my position to work with our community, leading campaigns that advocate for policies fostering a more inclusive and fair society. My dedication to this cause extends beyond my professional life, finding manifestation in my voluntary role as a coach for Evergreen High School athletic programs. This role continually reinforces my belief in empowering our youth, the drivers of our future.

In my endeavors with the Highline School Board and TRiO Talent Search College Access program the Highline School Board, my commitment towards promoting educational equity and dismantling systemic racism remains unwavering. I firmly believe in transforming adversity into opportunity, and creating avenues for equitable education and community growth.

Join me in weaving a future tapestry of brighter prospects and equal opportunities for everyone. Let’s collaborate and enact the change we want to see in our world.

Meet the Speaker: Vincent Quan

Vincent Quan is co-executive director of J-PAL North America. Together with Laura Feeney, his co-executive director, Vincent leads the office’s efforts to reduce poverty by ensuring policy is informed by rigorous evidence in the North America region. Vincent provides strategic direction to the policy and training teams and oversees partnership development and outreach for the office. He works closely with policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and donors to promote evidence generation and increase the use of evidence in policy making.

Prior to his role as co-executive director, Vincent led the policy team at J-PAL North America. He has extensive experience translating the results from randomized evaluations into action, promoting a culture of evidence-informed policy across the region. Vincent oversaw J-PAL North America’s efforts to cultivate lasting relationships with partners across the evidence-based policymaking ecosystem, including government policymakers, philanthropic leaders, and nonprofit heads. He also launched multiple new initiatives, including the Education Technology and Opportunity Initiative and the Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Initiative, to generate important studies to identify effective solutions to address poverty. Under Vincent’s leadership, research catalyzed by J-PAL North America directly informed policy across all levels of government, including federal recommendations and state policies on education.

Before joining J-PAL, Vincent worked at the Prison Law Office, where he conducted research to improve conditions of confinement in prisons across California, and at the Legal Aid Society in New York City, where he assisted low-income residents in navigating the criminal court system. He holds a master’s in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a BA in history from UC Berkeley.