Overview
Alexis Grant (she/her) brings a decade of expertise in behavioral and social science research to WestEd. As a member of the Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities team, Grant leads participatory, mixed-methods evaluations for child- and youth-serving programs. She partners with clients to design equitable, tailored evaluation plans and engages partners—including youths, educators, and program implementers—to generate actionable insights that strengthen education and community initiatives.
Grant codirects the participatory evaluation of the Richmond Fund for Children and Youth, partnering with youth coevaluators to document the impact of a multimillion-dollar funding initiative supporting local youth-serving organizations. By collecting and analyzing surveys, grantee reports, and focus group data, Grant ensures that youth and community voices shape funding priorities and program improvement. Serving as a lead for school case studies for California’s Behavioral Health Student Services Act evaluation, Grant leads instrument development and data collection, gathering insights from school personnel, behavioral health professionals, students, and families to inform effective, integrated systems supporting youth well-being.
Prior to joining WestEd, Grant led evaluation and research efforts for regional public health initiatives and university collaborations focused on child and youth development, health equity, and community engagement. Her work addressed social determinants of health by building partnerships across education, health, and community sectors. These experiences deeply inform Grant’s commitment to participatory approaches, which ensure that those most impacted by policies and programs are central to the evaluation and improvement process—a motivation that guides her current project leadership and stakeholder engagement work at WestEd.
Education
- PhD in public health, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
- Certificate in educational research methodology, University of Illinois at Chicago
- MS in behavioral and social health sciences, Brown University School of Public Health
- BS in psychology, Howard University
- BS in English, Howard University
Select Publications
Grant, A., & Tirado-Strayer, N. (2025). Richmond Fund for Children and Youth evaluation report, FY 21–24. WestEd.
Hebert‐Beirne, J., Kim, S., Forst, L., Kapadia, G., Grant, A., Velonis, A., … & Stiehl, E. (2025). Building a more resilient, inclusive public health infrastructure: Insights from Chicago’s community‐based COVID‐19 corps. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 40(2), 499–506.
Grant, A. K., Felner, J. K., Castañeda, Y., Pratap, P., & Hebert-Beirne, J. (2024). Leveraging key informant interviews to inform intervention development: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project. Community Health Equity Research & Policy, 44(4).
Nakamoto, J., Grant, A., Baskerville, T., & Petrosino, A. (2024). Regression Discontinuity Design: A method to rigorously evaluate interventions to reduce crime and improve the justice system. WestEd.
Grant, A., & DaViera, A. (2023). Beyond good intentions: Principles for antiracist community-engaged research. In E. E. Anderson (Ed.), Ethical issues in community and patient engaged health research (pp. ##–##). Springer.
Grant, A., Hebert‐Beirne, J., Lofton, S., Floyd, B., Stiehl, E., & Kim, S. (2023). Actualising power sharing in community‐led initiatives: Insights from community‐based organisation leaders in Chicago, USA. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 38(6), 1757–1771.
Pedroza, V., Grant, A., Carter, C., Russo, S., Koumoutsakis, T., & Lam, A. (2023). Evaluation of Riverside County Probation Department’s Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act programs: 2022 evaluation report. WestEd.
Honors, Awards, and Affiliations
American Evaluation Association, Member
Phi Beta Kappa, Member