Partners & Projects

We partner with service providers who want to disrupt the anti-poverty space. They realize that decades of “business as usual” have not sufficiently turned the tide on poverty and have left us with scant understanding of what works to lift lives up. 

They are early adopters, generating innovative ideas about ways to end the cycle of poverty for American families. 

As poverty’s fiercest adversaries, they also have the courage to test their ideas—to power their service with research, build evidence, and share what works with more people who need it. They believe that rigorous research can be an end to poverty and a new beginning for millions of families who are ready to thrive.

We work with partners with whom we have a common value system. A LEO partner:

Believes in the people they serve.

• Programs reflect and are informed by the lived realities of their service recipients.
• Actively prioritize human dignity.
• Sees their clients as people of strength and gifting.

Stable, committed leadership.

• Leadership team demonstrates robust buy-in and support for evidence-building.
• Adaptable and creative—can rally staff, manage through transition, and navigate culture change
• Willing to assign and equip a Decision Maker and a Champion (who have been established in their roles at least one year) to represent them in partnership

Demonstrates the grit rigorous research requires.

• Able and willing to stick with the research process all the way through—research design, enrollment, outcome measurement, dissemination.
• Makes research a strategic priority that drives forward their mission and can speak to that effectively.
• Ready to invest resources (financial and time) to this partnership.

Nurtures a culture of learning. 

• Comfortable with risk.
• Determination to understand what works and why.
• Willing to go under the microscope and accept results.

All of our partners are navigating the complexities of poverty, leading to research projects in the areas of housing and homelessness, health, criminal justice, education, self-sufficiency, and other emerging areas.