We are thrilled to announce that we have a new staff member! Ally Watson will be our new Evaluation Data Analyst!
Ally joined Neighborhood Partnerships in August 2023 to support the evaluation of the Oregon IDA Initiative. She has 5 years of experience in data analysis and visualization, in fields as diverse as global health and economic history. She is thrilled to use her rigorous statistical training to evaluate the program and her visualization skills to create intelligible narratives from the data to aid advancing equitable asset building in her community and beyond.
Ally graduated from Reed College in 2019 with a BA in Linguistics, and from the Paris School of Economics in 2023 with an MSc in Public Policy and Development and is originally from Southern Ohio. Outside of NP, Ally could be most likely found enjoying the incredible ice cream or sushi scene of Portland or finding a cozy cafe to read in.
What area of expertise and interest do you have?
I have previously led research projects relating to unequal exchange in colonial supply chains and how language operates in multilingual communities. I have also worked on projects quantifying mortality by police violence and examining Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability program. Underlying these diverse topics is an interest in using interdisciplinary frameworks to unveil power structures and mathematical formalization and statistical modeling to empirically test social phenomena.
What difference can financial security make for individuals in communities?
In the absence of financial security, a host of non-economic insecurities fester, hindering both personal and collective development. At the individual level, financial security can facilitate building a thriving life as it goes beyond merely ensuring that immediate needs are met; it empowers individuals to pursue long-term goals. Overall, financial security contributes significantly to the vitality of the entire community.
Choose one author, living or dead, that you’d like to have dinner with.
I would love to listen to Ursula K. Le Guin talk about the descriptive power of science fiction while I prepare a nice fruit tart.
What are you looking forward to most about this position?
I am thrilled to join the brilliant and dedicated NP community and I am looking forward to learning more about housing and asset building policies in Oregon.