Helpley is a research assistant in MDRC’s Youth Development, Criminal Justice, and Employment policy area, where they currently support a variety of justice-related projects, including the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt project and the Los Angeles County Reentry Integrated Services Project. Prior to joining MDRC, Helpley interned at the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, researching how to expand opportunity to low-wage workers through workforce development and create a more just criminal-legal system. Helpley graduated from New York University in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.