Kate Locke

Harnessing the power of evaluation to advance learning and strengthen impact

“Never a failure, always a lesson.”—Robyn Rihanna Fenty

Kate’s approach to her work at TCC is informed by her background in qualitative and quantitative research as well as her experiences working and volunteering with underserved populations since she was in her early teens. Kate has a unique ability to use data to create a compelling story of purpose, progress, and positive impact. With the perspective that evaluation is an opportunity to give weight to voices that may not be heard, Kate works with nonprofit and funder clients to uplift their stories, advance their goals, and learn from what worked and what didn’t go according to plan.

Her work includes numerous evaluations of advocacy efforts as well as capacity building initiatives, health and human services, and funder collaborations.

At TCC Group:

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action: Since 2012, Kate has led TCC’s work providing formative and outcomes evaluation of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) initiative to mobilize statewide coalitions to empower nurses to advance the health of Americans. Consisting of numerous case studies, surveys, interviews, and observations, the team’s evaluation findings contributed to an Institute of Medicine report that provided recommendations for the campaign and the field of nursing moving forward.
• Kansas Advocacy Evaluation Initiative: Working to deepen the potential of nonprofit organizations in Kansas and Missouri to effectively evaluate their health advocacy and public policy strategies, Kate drove the development of a robust advocacy evaluation capacity project that included customized logic models, data collection tools, building the capacity of local technical assistance providers, and a series of training workshops. By establishing a structured evaluation framework, Kate and the team effectively strengthened the ability of over two dozen organizations to consistently set expectations and goals for advocacy efforts, monitor their progress, and share their learning with fellow advocates, funders, and stakeholders.
• William Penn Foundation: Kate serves as an embedded evaluator on two large advocacy campaigns launched in Pennsylvania: The Campaign for Fair Education Funding (CFEF) and The Pre-K for PA Campaign. Along with her colleagues, Kate seeks to enhance internal data tracking while providing an external look at progress and internal campaign functioning. Insights from the evaluation done by Kate and the team have been instrumental in helping members navigate campaign dynamics and approach.

Before TCC Group:

• Mazzoni Center: Kate directed HIV Prevention and Outreach interventions for the largest healthcare provider in the Philadelphia region specifically supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Targeting outreach efforts toward high-risk populations including injection drug users and sex industry workers, Kate managed grant programs focused on getting people into or back into care. She also served on the agency’s management team as the organization grew to serve over 35,000 individuals annually.
• Health Policy and Evaluation group at NORC at the University of Chicago in Washington, DC: As part of the Health Policy and Evaluation team, Kate was responsible for survey and interview protocol development, data collection and analysis, literature reviews, proposal writing, report writing, and meeting planning. Her clients included the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Agency for Health Research and Quality, and the Interstitial Cystitis Association.

Education:

• Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
  • MPH, Epidemiologic & Biostatistical Methods for Public Health & Clinical Research
• Bryn Mawr College
  • BA, Sociology

Board Service:

• Institutional Review Board for Philadelphia FIGHT, a comprehensive AIDS services organization