In the early days of LEO, we knew how to build evidence. We also knew we wanted to make an impact. We just didn’t know how we’d do that part yet.
That might sound strange coming from a research lab. But it’s the truth. From the beginning, we were deeply committed to partnering with social service providers—listening to them, learning from them, and rigorously evaluating their programs. We knew that if we could build strong evidence alongside these partners, we could better understand what truly works to reduce poverty.
What was less clear was how that evidence would live beyond a publication. What role might and should we play in taking evidence to impact. How might we influence policy, how might we help programs grow, replicate, and reach more people.
One of our earliest projects, the Homelessness Prevention Call Center with Catholic Charities Chicago, offered a glimpse of what might be possible. We built the study in careful partnership with a provider. That work ultimately led to five academic publications, including one in Science. From there we worked with the partner to demonstrate the impact of the program which led to the state renewing funding for the program.
But more importantly, we were approached by leaders on the other side of the country interested in launching a similar prevention program. They wanted to understand what we had learned and how to do it well. And for the first time, we found ourselves not just sharing results, but helping shape what came next. We encouraged them to build the program with a randomized evaluation from the start, knowing that rigorous evidence would give it a strong foundation from which to scale.
Looking back, that moment was a blueprint. Not because we had all the answers, but because we began to see the full arc of the work: from building evidence, to sharing it, to informing decisions about what should grow.
It also taught us that timing matters.
If we had tried to build towards a large scale effort based on that first study, we wouldn’t have been ready. We needed time to build the right partnerships, to understand the programs, and to do the research well. That patience allowed the evidence to be strong enough to matter later. But at some point, patience has to give way to action. For years, we had conversations about scale. We talked with leaders in social finance, performance-based contracting, and impact investing. We talked to scaling experts and people who had failed to scale social programs. We explored questions about how to fund programs at scale, how to replicate what works, how to move from evidence to broader impact.
We could have kept learning forever. But about four years ago, we made a decision: it was time to start doing. That decision led to what is now our Policy and Impact team and to a new phase of LEO’s work. In many ways, this phase is a fulfillment of our research work- impacting more people with anti-poverty programs that work.
Our approach is simple and consistent with how we do our research. We ground ourselves in a simple principle: our partners must remain at the center. Any effort to scale or replicate a program has to start with them. They have to want it. They have to see the opportunity. And we have to bring something of value—whether that’s evidence, strategic support, or help navigating funding and policy landscapes.
In other words, we have to and can help de-risk the path forward.
We also recognized that we couldn’t do this alone. So we built a model that combines a small internal team with a network of exceptional partners—people and organizations with deep expertise in policy, scaling, and implementation. Groups like Results for America and Franchise for Good have brought perspectives and tools that simply didn’t exist within LEO before. Together, we’re building. Together we’re contributing to a broader understanding of what it takes to replicate evidence-based solutions effectively.
And we’re still learning.
Recently, we launched a second replication cohort working with three county-level programs, each at a different stage of growth. It’s an exciting step forward, but it’s also a reminder that this work is complex.
Scaling is not a formula. It requires adaptation, humility, and constant attention to the communities being served.
That’s what keeps me up at night—not in a way that feels heavy, but in a way that feels energizing.
Because this work matters.
For me, this is the reason I’m at LEO. The policy and impact work we’re doing now doesn’t feel separate from the research, it feels like the natural and necessary continuation of it. The fulfillment of the courage our providers show in building evidence and using it to inform how they best serve people in need. A way to ensure that the evidence we build doesn’t just sit on a shelf, but actually changes lives.
At LEO, we’ve spent years building a strong foundation of evidence. Now, we’re building a pathway for that evidence to travel further.
A pathway for impact.
We don’t have it all figured out. There are still open questions about how best to scale, how to sustain funding, how to ensure fidelity while adapting to new contexts. Those are the questions that continue to push us, to challenge us, to keep us learning.
But what I do know is this: we are no longer just building evidence. We are building the conditions for that evidence to matter at scale.