Jennifer Herard-Tsiagbey

Jennifer Herard-Tsiagbey’s work focuses on programs that support families, youth, and young adults, including universal income, coaching, case management, and employment programs. She is an expert in designing and implementing data collection activities and systems, especially for vulnerable populations such as young people experiencing homelessness.

Herard-Tsiagbey is the survey director for the Supporting Evaluations of Youth At-Risk of Homelessness project for the Administration for Children and Families. This national study expands the evidence base on interventions designed to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults involved in the child welfare system. On this project, she leads data collection activities that include study enrollment and a baseline survey, a six-month follow-up survey, and a 12-month follow-up survey for youth and young adults ages 14 to 23.

Herard-Tsiagbey is also the project director for Cash Transfer for Youth Empowerment and San Francisco Cash Transfers, two guaranteed-income pilot projects for Chapin Hall. These two studies include a randomized control trial of young people ages 18 to 24 who are experiencing homelessness in New York City and San Francisco. Both studies follow a treatment group of youth receiving monthly cash transfers and a control group, surveying both groups monthly for 30 months. On these projects, Herard-Tsiagbey leads a team that has developed innovative and equitable ways to engage young people experiencing homelessness in longitudinal data collection.

Herard-Tsiagbey serves as the deputy evaluation lead for the Next Generation of Enhanced Employment Strategies (NextGen) study of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) for adults with justice involvement. NextGen is a national study conducted for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation to identify and study innovative employment programs for people facing complex employment challenges. On NextGen, Herard-Tsiagbey oversaw the development and implementation of Mathematica’s random assignment system, RAPTER, for all participating sites. She also provides evaluation technical assistance to mental health centers that are participating in NextGen’s study of IPS for adults with justice involvement and recruiting adults with justice involvement.    

Before joining Mathematica in 2012, Herard-Tsiagbey provided direct services at several nonprofit organizations including the Harlem Children’s Zone. She uses those experiences on the ground to guide her work at Mathematica. She holds an M.A. in international and transcultural education from Columbia University.