Navarro, a research associate in MDRC’s California office, has over 31 years of experience as an information services and operations liaison for over 60 sites, covering 21 evaluations and demonstrations of innovative programs to help low-income people become self-sufficient. In this capacity he has helped recruit prospective sites for these evaluations, and devised, implemented, and monitored the studies’ research procedures, especially those using random assignment-based designs. Navarro also bears responsibility for drafting and overseeing the contracts and interagency agreements with local and state government agencies that gain MDRC access to the administrative data needed for its evaluations. Navarro is currently the operations leader for the KentuckianaWorks, EmployIndy, and Muskegon Works! sites of the Workforce Investment Act Adult Services and Dislocated Workers Evaluation, a national study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. He is also the operations leader for the San Francisco sites of the Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration, another Department of Labor initiative, and the Subsidized Transitional Employment Demonstration, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services evaluation. In addition, he is the operations leader for the four Texas sites and two California sites in the national evaluation of the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, a voluntary case management and asset-building program that provides Section 8 voucher recipients with incentives to work. He is a data-acquisition specialist for the 10 states participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Evaluation, a national study of innovative education and training programs for SNAP recipients. He is also the operations lead for 5 of the 18 Education Opportunity Centers that are participating in the Text Ed Demonstration Project, which will develop and test a strategic text-messaging intervention in these centers and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. Navarro has a master’s degree in history from San Jose State University.
