Lafrance Associates: 1242 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
|Contact|Map
The Company » Staff

Steven LaFrance, Principal

is the founder and Principal of LFA Group, a consulting firm dedicated to helping social profit organizations achieve their greatest possible impact. Over the course of 15 years, Steven has provided evaluation, research, and technical assistance services to hundreds of nonprofit organizations, foundations, and public agencies. Steven is a nationally recognized leader in the field of organizational effectiveness, with a focus on strategy development and the use of information to maximize social impact. Steven’s content expertise covers diverse issue areas including community health services, homelessness, early childhood care and education, youth development, juvenile justice, education, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, senior services, community economic development, and organizational development and effectiveness. Before consulting, Steven was a case manager for homeless youth, gaining a firsthand understanding of the challenging realities community-based organizations face. Steven received graduate training in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley and in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Nancy Latham, Director of Research and Evaluation

  joined LFA with an extensive background in social science research as well as a strong interest in public welfare and social equality. During her doctoral studies at UC Berkeley, she focused on social stratification along racial, class, and gender lines. There she also honed her skills in quantitative and qualitative research, and developed strong expertise in research design. She brings these skills to all of her projects, investing her energy in helping project teams to develop robust evaluation designs. The evaluations she directs help to provide clients with the feedback and information necessary for program improvement. At LFA she works in a wide range of issue areas including youth development; juvenile justice; education; the environment; and homelessness. Nancy is currently working on a variety of projects that focus on homelessness: a three-year evaluation of a program to rapidly re-house homeless families in Santa Clara County; a two-year evaluation of an Initiative that promotes changing how service providers prevent and end family homelessness throughout five Bay Area counties; and a two-year evaluation of an Initiative to house former foster youth at risk of homelessness. Nancy also has expertise in designing evaluations of policy advocacy, and is leading the evaluation of efforts focused on change of the system serving foster youth. For several of her projects, Nancy develops cost/benefit models designed to estimate the public sector or other institutional savings of a variety of social programs.

Sarah Barengo, Senior Associate

 is a founding LFA employee and brings to the company over 10 years of experience consulting with and working for nonprofits and social good. Sarah possesses a social service background with direct experience working for a range of community-based and public agencies. She has worked on over 30 evaluation projects at LFA since 2001, managing all but a handful. Currently, her work focuses primarily on the evaluation of two county-wide First 5 Commissions where she provides technical assistance and evaluation services to enhance understanding of the impact of these efforts on the health and well-being of children and their families. Sarah’s research and evaluation work has twice been selected for presentation at the American Evaluation Association’s national conference. Sarah holds a degree in Social Work with an emphasis in Women's Studies. Prior to her work in the field of research and evaluation, Sarah was an advocate for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Currently she volunteers with a nonprofit supportive housing collaborative, assisting them with a youth-led community needs assessment.

Gaylon Parsons, Senior Associate

 brings a diversity of experience to program evaluation, with particular strengths in qualitative data collection and analysis, planning, and project management. As an experienced consultant, Gaylon is skilled in clarifying objectives and designing projects to meet client requirements and needs. Gaylon’s focus and main interests in evaluation are early childhood education and education reform efforts. Early childhood education and child care is a multi-faceted issue area, one that intersects with school readiness, anti-poverty work, adult education and training, and family support. Gaylon’s current portfolio of projects includes management of the First 5 Solano local evaluation, school readiness evaluation leadership for First 5 Sonoma County, the San Mateo County Community Schools Initiative Evaluation, and the evaluation of the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning’s San Francisco Demonstration of Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs). Gaylon’s ongoing professional training includes participation in seminars offered by The Evaluators’ Institute in San Francisco each January. Recently, Gaylon was accepted in the highly selective Certificate in Advanced Studies in Evaluation program at Claremont Graduate University.

Andrew Robinson, Senior Associate

 has been with LFA since its incorporation, having worked as a consultant since 1998. Andrew joined LFA after several years of leading a program to support and develop boards of directors in San Mateo, CA. Andrew’s work is motivated by his desire to provide organizations that are committed to justice and ‘doing good’ with reliable data to support program planning, development, and refinement, as well as to offer innovative solutions to challenges in the nonprofit sector. Andrew is experienced in research and evaluation project management, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and process facilitation. His current work ranges from a technical evaluation of the YMCA's effort to increase fitness levels and nutritional knowledge amongst San Francisco elementary school students to a primary research investigation for the Skoll Foundation on the critical capacities within nonprofits that successfully trigger and support organizational scaling. He has twice presented his LFA work at the American Evaluation Association’s national conference. His direct experience in the nonprofit sector includes working for national service and civic engagement organizations. Andrew also taught GED to men on parole for two years.

Jennifer Taylor (JT), MPP, MPH, Associate Consultant

multi-sector experience spans the fields of health care, HIV prevention and care services, education, social services, youth development, subsidized housing, homelessness, foster care, LGBT health and civil rights, mental health, and substance abuse. She began consulting after several years of work in non-profit and government agencies in Washington, DC, and the San Francisco Bay Area, gaining experience in strategic planning, grant writing, applied research, and evaluation. JT’s consulting work benefits from her direct nonprofit experience, her graduate training in research methodology and analysis, and her strong belief in the value of the citizen sectors. Her work in the nonprofit and public sectors included a focus on improving cultural competence and reducing health disparities and other inequities based on race, gender identity and sexual orientation, and she enjoys consulting with organizations who are committed to these social justice goals. At LFA, JT is currently managing an evaluation of the national partnership led by the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center and the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum to provide capacity-building assistance to HIV/AIDS service organizations that serve A&PI populations. She also manages the evaluation of the California LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership, and provides technical assistance to HIV prevention providers in San Francisco to build their data collection and evaluation capacity. She has contributed to the evaluations of the Civil Marriage Collaborative, Health Initiatives for Youth Agency-Wide Evaluation, and other multi-year evaluations at LFA. JT holds Masters degrees in Public Health and Public Policy and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Outside LFA, JT volunteers at the National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy and Rebuilding Together.

Emily Boer Drake, Associate Consultant

joined LFA in 2006 with experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Prior to LFA she was a management consultant at Technical Development Corporation (TDC) in Boston where she focused on providing strategic planning services and technical assistance to a variety of clients throughout New England. Her work included strategic planning for Boston’s largest performing arts organization, a merger feasibility analysis for two museums, sustainability planning for after-school programs, managing the grant making process for a new initiative in the Boston Public Schools, and analyzing data for a study on the use of long-term debt in local nonprofit organizations. Emily also worked at the Central New York Community Foundation, where she reviewed proposals and coordinated school-based initiatives in Syracuse, NY. Her work at LFA has included managing an evaluation of an environmental education program for elementary students, researching best practices in the area of job training and education for disadvantaged youth, reporting on a multi-year evaluation for the California Nurses Foundation, and serving as project manager for several projects in the area of homelessness. She is a founding board member of Fitness Forward, a nonprofit that facilitates healthy lifestyles amongst youth via school-based programming. Emily has a BA in Art History and Psychology from Williams College and a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

India Alarcon, Research Assistant

 comes to LFA with a background in economic development, political science and a strong interest in social justice and community engagement. While completing her BS in Economics, India conducted a study focusing on the high hospitalization rates of children with asthma living in California’s Central Valley, using both qualitative and quantitative data to determine the correlation between hospitalization rates and the Valley’s air quality. At LFA India provides administrative support to several project teams, conducts on-line research, processes and analyzes data, designs data collection instruments, and serves as an assistant to Steven LaFrance. She is skilled in programs such as SPSS, Access, Word and Excel. India is currently working on multi-year evaluations with First 5 Solano County Children and Families Commission, San Francisco YMCA Urban Services, San Mateo County Health Department’s Federal Adolescent Family Life Program, and the LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership. Other projects include the Delancey Street Foundation’s Life Learning Academy, the Center for Venture Philanthropy’s Environmental Solutions Forum, the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley Study of Corporate Philanthropy, and Stanford University’s Center for Social Innovation.

Rachel Cuevas, Research Assistant

has a strong interest in using applied research to promote education and social justice in the community. She brings to LFA expertise in social science research, particularly within the areas of early childhood, youth development, and education. Before joining the LFA team in 2005, Rachel spent her senior year of college designing a study on the pro-social behavior of young children in which she gained professional experience in quantitative research. She has worked as a peer mentor for youth, an early childhood assistant teacher in both public and private school classrooms, and as a research assistant in infant studies at the Institute of Human Development at UC Berkeley. At LFA, Rachel assists on several projects, helping to develop survey instruments, facilitate focus groups, manage data collection and analyses, draft reports, and lend administrative support to project managers. She is currently working on multi-year evaluations for the San Francisco Education Fund, the First 5 Children and Families Commission for Sonoma and Solano Counties, and the Full-Service Community Schools Replication Initiative. Other projects include an evaluation of the California Nurses Foundation’s Nurse Mentor Demonstration Project, the Foster Youth Housing Initiative, and the Redwood City 2020 After-School Education and Safety grant.

Tanya Barretto, Research Assistant

  comes to LFA with extensive experience in social science research and a passion to strengthen and empower underserved communities through social justice and educational equity. Prior to joining LFA, she served as a Program Assistant for an applied health policy research program of the University of California, Office of the President. While completing her BA in Anthropology at UC Berkeley, Tanya collaborated with a professor in an ethnographic longitudinal study by documenting language and literacy practices of Spanish-speaking students enrolled in religious instructions. She has also worked as an academic counselor, early childhood teacher assistant, peer mentor, team leader, and workshop facilitator. At LFA, Tanya helps develop and translate evaluation instruments, processes and analyzes data, and provides project managers with administrative support. She is currently working on multi-year evaluations for First 5 Sonoma County Children and Families Commission. Other projects include The California Wellness Foundation, No Violence Alliance, Estrella Family Services, San Mateo County Community Schools, and the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Families.

Lauren Lizardo, Operations Manager

  joined Steven at the inception of LFA in 2000, sharing a common vision of creating healthier, happier communities. After four years in the role of Associate Consultant, she is now LFA’s Operations Manager. She manages LFA's day-to-day financials, acts as the company help desk, and implements internal projects to increase LFA’s efficiency. Her new responsibilities benefit from her rich administrative and technical skills. Although now in charge of operations, Lauren still consults on projects needing technological expertise. She has developed and administered networked data systems for the public sector and community-based organizations including Shelter Network of San Mateo County, San Mateo County WIC, and the City of Daly City. She is experienced in collaborating with other IT professionals and is well-versed in both MS Access and SPSS. Lauren has volunteered for children’s literacy programs, the Filipino-American community, and is an active hospice volunteer. She is especially dedicated to elder health and end-of-life care.

Maggie Guerra, Operations Assistant

joined LFA with a diverse background including experience in grassroots organizing, small business and counseling. She brings a longstanding interest in social justice and human rights and has previously worked in the nonprofit sector. While receiving her BA in Law, Societies & Justice at the University of Washington she helped a small Seattle human rights organization build their website and communications skills, and also has experience on multiple campaigns regarding basic human rights and labor issues. Maggie now aids Lauren with LFA’s daily operations and efficiency, and acts as an assistant to Steven and Nancy. In addition to being the backbone to Steven, Nancy, and Lauren, she also provides support to project work including background research and report editing. Maggie is still involved in her human rights work, especially as a founder of a Seattle based non-profit working for transnational youth empowerment and labor rights awareness..


|
© 2002 -2008 LaFrance Associates, LLC