And just like that, it’s 2023! We’ve experienced quite a few notable changes this year—a leadership transition, equitable cost-of-living adjustment policy changes, new life-work integration policies, and so much more. We have loved getting back on the road to bring working partners together from all over the country. In fact, we’ve made 142 trips to over 110 cities just this year. To mark these transitions, our Word of the Year—delivered for the first time by PRA President Sarah Desmarais—was change. We have had a change in our leadership, made changes to how and where we work, and made further enhancements to our policies to ensure equity among staff. These changes are helping us continue to further our mission of creating positive social change—and we’re excited to see their impact in 2023.
Some of our biggest news this year was the following:
- Named Sarah Desmarais, PhD, as Policy Research’s President, effective May 2022. Dr. Desmarais and outgoing President Pamela Clark Robbins have worked hand in hand throughout their transition. Dr. Desmarais is building on Policy Research’s success by creating a symbiotic relationship between the firm’s technical assistance and research portfolios.
- Welcomed Elan Hope, PhD, to Policy Research as the firm’s Program Area Director for Research and Evaluation. In her role, Dr. Hope develops and provides oversight on research projects and uses her area’s research findings to inform and strengthen Policy Research’s technical assistance efforts.
- Awarded the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) multi-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract in Domain I: Feasibility, Pilot, and Evaluation Projects and Domain V: Technical Assistance and Training Projects.
- Co-authored peer-reviewed articles on topics including pretrial risk assessment, youth activism and well-being, and diversity & inclusion. These articles appear in journals including Nature Human Behavior, Law & Human Behavior, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, American Journal of Community Psychology, and The Handbook of Issues in Criminal Justice Reform.
- Adopted a new, equity-focused approach to cost-of-living adjustments for staff, switching to administering a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage of an employee’s salary.
Want to learn more about our year in review—what the big highlights from each of our projects were, what we published, and more? Visit our webpage to see our project highlights, big news, and what we have on the horizon in 2023! It is shaping up to be another impactful year—and we can’t wait to work with you.
