Gabriel Piña is a Senior Research Associate in MEF’s Income Support and Economic Mobility domain. He has over a decade of experience evaluating policies and programs in the housing, child development, economic mobility, and child welfare fields. Gabriel has extensive experience in quantitative analysis, particularly econometrics; quasi-experimental methods; impact evaluation; cost-benefit analysis; and mixed methods. At MEF, Gabriel works on projects related to economic mobility and early childhood programs. Among others, he leads the cost analysis for the Evaluation of Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative and for a U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development asset building project.
In his previous position at Child Trends, he led evaluations of the effects of emergency rental assistance programs on child food security among Black and Latino families and programs to provide affordable housing to families involved in the child welfare system. He has also led the design and analysis of multiple randomized control trials and quasi-experimental evaluations, including a study of informal STEM education.
Gabriel holds a PhD in Public Affairs from Indiana University and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota. His work has been published in journals such as Housing Policy Debate; Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Child Maltreatment, and Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. Outside of work, Gabriel enjoys playing tennis and video games, and spending time with his wife and two children.