Blogs
Connecting the Dots: Holistic Help for Women and Children Experiencing Homelessness
My role: Interviewer, Author
Thousands of families with children in the US experience homelessness on any given night. Single mothers head more than three-quarters of those families. The impacts of homelessness on mothers and children can be severe. But solutions exist. A life-changing program I learned about at the 2026 Housing Is Summit inspired this blog.
Solving Food Insecurity in Early Childhood: Make Systems “Talk to Each Other”
My role: Interviewer, Author
When a funder asked us to raise the visibility of the impact on families with young children experiencing homelessness, I responded with this blog. The inspiration was a webinar I attended on the Whole Child, Whole Family, Whole Systems approach as the foundation of our early childhood infrastructure. But it was Laurie Little Dog’s firsthand account of struggling to feed her children—a crisis fueled by structural racism and fragmented systems—that underscored its necessity. Even as public benefits shrink, meaningful solutions are within reach.
Homeless Mothers and Children: Crushing Impacts, Comprehensive Solutions
My role: Interviewer, Author
Hearing Cynthia Garcia speak at the 2025 BUILD Initiative conference was a turning point for me. Her immense strength throughout dark times sparked my desire to understand the broader crisis of family homelessness. Today, an astounding 1.2 million women and 450,000 infants and toddlers in the U.S. lack a safe, stable place to live. By weaving Cynthia’s personal narrative (gathered in greater detail in an interview with her) together with expert opinion, I examine the root causes of family homelessness and highlight the most effective paths toward lasting solutions.
Immigration Enforcement: Trauma at an Early Age
My role: Ghostwriter, Editor
When ICE agents violently apprehended a teacher at the day care center Susanne Beilmann’s children’s attend, the chaotic enforcement tactics and widespread community fear resulting from the administration’s mass deportation agenda came to her doorstep. Susanne had a harrowing story to tell and, as an early education professional, suggestions for mitigating the harm immigration enforcement can cause young children. But organizing and supporting her ideas was taking more time than she had. Based on her own outline and first draft, I suggested a new way to organize the blog and pointed out what she could delete and expand on.
Ensuring Children in Foster Care get the Supports They Need: Innovating Our Way to Solutions
My role: Ghostwriter
I wrote this blog to fulfill a funder deliverable, using a webinar transcript to capture key themes and innovations.
Improving Outcomes for Children in the Child Welfare System: Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation is Key
My role: Ghostwriter
In 2025, BUILD Initiative hosted a child welfare webinar series. I ghostwrote this blog to highlight key strategies in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. The blog allowed the Child Welfare team to extend the strategies shared during the webinar to a broader audience.
The US Census Bureau Misclassified the Hmong. Our Community Suffers as a Result
My role: Interviewer, Ghostwriter
In 2020, the US Census Bureau misclassified Hmong Americans as East Asian, which prompted ongoing advocacy and petitions from community leaders urging the Bureau to reclassify them back to Southeast Asian. I ghostwrote this blog after interviewing four experts on the impacts of the misclassification.
Reducing Disparities for Latino Children and Families: A National Latino Infant Policy Agenda Provides Solutions
My role: Author
I wrote this blog in response to a briefing I attended on the Hill.
Editing
Format: Whitepaper | My role: Editor
Content experts approach me with a variety of editing and writing requests.
Early Learning and the Every Student Succeeds Act
Here, in addition copyediting, I wrote a summary of the document’s main themes, to be included in the document itself.
National Scan of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems
People Serving People
Newsletters
Publicizing a Learning Community Focused on Family Homelessness
My role: Author
BUILD Initiative has traditionally limited what it communicates to a national audience about the work it does internally with state leaders. This is one of the first descriptions of the organization’s internal work that has been shared at a national level.
BUILD Team Member Spotlight
My role: Author
I wrote this by piecing together information gathered from two PowerPoint decks on a conference panel Dr. Cynthia Tate, Director, Child Welfare and Cross-systems Collaboration, BUILD Initiative moderated. I added the first paragraph on my own, to ground it. And I added the last sentence, to show that Dr. Tate has ongoing engagement in this work.
NAFCC Conference Promotion
My role: Editor
The editing of this piece took place entirely through email.
Professional Profiles on Early Childhood Leaders
My role: Interviewer, Researcher, Author
I interviewed each leader to spotlight defining early childhood achievements throughout their careers, capturing not just what they accomplished but why it mattered for children and families.
Social Media Content
Format: LinkedIn, Facebook
My role: Author
In these examples, I produced content for regularly scheduled social media, working in partnership with a social media manager. The social content focused on both current events as well as marketing BUILD’s latest blog.