Dr. LaDonna Pavetti is a Senior Fellow, working in MEF’s Alexandria office. She has more than thirty years working in the human services field. Dr. Pavetti is a national expert on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, having worked on the program since its creation in 1996. She has conducted research on the implementation of TANF and has conducted detailed state-by-state analyses of spending, benefit levels and access to the program. She has provided extensive technical assistance to state and local agencies and state policy organizations and has been asked to testify before the U.S. Congress and state legislatures multiple times. Her initial experiences providing direct service to children, adolescents and adults with developmental and cognitive disabilities, individuals without housing, and families with very low incomes have had a lasting impact on how she approaches her work.
At MEF, she is a senior advisor on several projects focused on improving the design and delivery of TANF and related human service programs. For the TANF Outcomes Technical Assistance and Logistics (TOTAL) project, she is supporting staff who are providing ongoing coaching and technical assistance to states selected to pilot new outcome measures. For the TANF Policy Research and Analysis project, she is leading a longitudinal analysis of state strategies for getting more cash to families. For the Supporting Coordinated Benefits Delivery to Foster Whole-Family Approaches she is contributing to the development of resource agencies that can be used to develop better program linkages to address a family’s full range of needs and aspirations.
Prior to joining MEF, she spent 14 years as a Senior Fellow and Vice President at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and 12 years as a Senior Fellow and Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Dr. Pavetti has a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University, Master’s degrees in both social work and public policy from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in social work from Catholic University.