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Megan Gallagher
Principal Research Associate
Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
Center on Education Data and Policy
Policymakers need reliable information about which strategies work best for which students, families, neighborhoods, and cities. I love that my work here at Urban strives to provide them with answers to their most pressing questions.

Megan Gallagher’s research focuses on how schools, housing, and community programs affect the lives of low-income children and families. She has conducted research on housing and education collaborations designed to boost educational outcomes, like the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative and Seattle’s Housing and Education Partnership. She has also conducted evaluations of Washington, DC, area–based education initiatives, such as the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative, Kindred, and TNI @ School.

Gallagher is skilled in quantitative and qualitative research methods. In addition to her research and evaluation work, she also conducts training and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations that are US Department of Education Promise Neighborhoods grantees. She recently completed a results leadership training to enhance her capacity to support grantees with data-driven decisionmaking. Before joining Urban in 2005, Gallagher studied the impacts of welfare programs on adult, child, and family well-being at Child Trends. While there, she conducted research on child well-being and employment among low-income mothers.

Research Areas
Education
Neighborhoods, cities, and metros
Children and youth
Social safety net
Greater DC
Tags
Neighborhoods and youth development