Kate Steber is a research scientist in the early childhood research area at Child Trends. Kate’s expertise includes qualitative research, community-based program evaluation, and family and community engagement in research and evaluation work. Her research interests include family engagement and leadership, identifying and addressing health inequities, and supports for young children and their families.

Kate has nearly a decade of experience designing and implementing qualitative evaluation and research projects in numerous states and communities. For example, she currently serves as deputy principal investigator on an evaluation of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s early childhood initiative in Los Angeles and in the state of New Mexico. Kate also serves as a task lead evaluating North Carolina’s Preschool Development Grant, where she focuses on understanding the success of the state’s efforts to improve and expand family engagement and leadership efforts. As part of this work, Kate co-leads an effort to evaluate the implementation and impact of a set of funded activities to engage families as leaders. Previously, Kate has supported research and evaluation projects in numerous other states, including Georgia, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Jersey, and California.

Prior to coming to Child Trends, Kate had extensive experience working and partnering with numerous nonprofits and schools to support children and their families. For example, she worked as a case manager in a high school in Washington, DC in support of expectant and parenting students and coordinated a county-wide, community-driven teen pregnancy prevention project in Fayetteville, NC.

Kate holds a Master’s in Social Work and a Master’s in Public Health—with a focus on maternal and child health—from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.