Rebekah Selekman is a Senior Research Associate at MEF and is based in Princeton, NJ. She is a qualitative researcher with over 11 years of experience leading implementation studies for federal and state agencies, delivering technical assistance to improve delivery of family and income support programs, and disseminating research findings to diverse audiences. Much of her research focuses on evaluating and supporting child support, fatherhood, TANF, and child welfare programs. At MEF, she is part of the Next Generation of Child Support Employment Demonstration study, where she leads the provision of technical assistance to child support program grantees receiving federal funding to implement employment programs to unemployed or underemployed noncustodial parents. She also works on the REFRAME project, which aims to deepen understanding of the needs and experiences of Black fathers, families, couples, and youth served by Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) programs and identify research priorities and program strategies to ensure program services can effectively support their needs.
Prior to joining MEF, she was a Senior Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research, where she most recently led the implementation study of the congressionally mandated evaluation of child support cooperation requirements in SNAP. She also led to efforts to build a child support research agenda for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation; the Office of Child Support Services; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
Rebekah holds a PhD in Social Welfare from The University of Wisconsin-Madison. When she is not working, Rebekah enjoys reading, practicing and teaching yoga, and traveling with her husband and two rapidly growing boys.