Editor note: Amy Stuczynski has been NP’s Data Analyst since early February. However, the Communications Director has failed to share this Q&A until now. He apologizes profusely.
What will you be doing at NP?
My role is to support NP in the collection, analysis, and reporting of data related to affordable housing and economic inclusion initiatives. I will be helping NP to tell data-driven stories about the needs that exist in Oregon and the promising approaches to improve economic opportunity for all. Much of my work will be assisting the IDA Initiative in measuring and understanding it’s reach, services and impact.
What area of expertise and interest do you have?
I am dedicated to addressing the needs of vulnerable individuals in our communities. I bring 15 years’ experience evaluating initiatives in the fields of education and child welfare. These initiatives often involved diverse arrays of program providers, consumers, and other partners. I enjoy working together with stakeholders to efficiently collect, share and use data.
What does opportunity mean to you?
To me, opportunity means having the access and resources to pursue physical, mental, social and emotional well-being for one’s self and one’s family.
What difference can quality, affordable housing and asset building make for individuals and communities?
They can make a huge difference. When people have safe and stable housing and are able to build assets, their trajectory in life improves. They are safer, healthier, and more engaged in their communities. They develop and grow businesses, generating economic activity. They attain college educations, promoting a lifelong increase in their earnings and a brighter future for themselves and their children. They are more confident and have hope for their futures.
Do you have a favorite quote?
There’s a familiar quote in one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s writings, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Those words challenge me: there is more work to do.
Choose one author, living or dead, that you’d like to have dinner with.
One writer that comes to mind is Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. I recently read her book “Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948”. It brought together her family’s story, the greater historical context of the time, and her deep diplomatic experience, all of which I found fascinating.