Faith Lamb-Parker is the Director of Research, Culture and Equity. Simply Put's materials are created using a Community Design Workshop Model developed over her storied career.  Her evaluation of Simply Put: Civics' first project, WE COUNT! ensured Early Childhood Educators could competently and confidently take on the role of "Trusted Advisor," engaging families in complex but authentic conversations to support their informed participation in the 2020 Census.   

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Before joining simply put, she was a Senior Research Scientist at Bank Street College of Education. There she directed the Head Start National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness and  developed the Center for Culture, Race and Equity.

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Prior to 2011, Dr. Parker was Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, where she conducted research/ evaluation, taught child development and social policy, and directed the international and domestic practicum program.

 

A well-respected researcher with a specialty in early childhood, family engagement, community-based design and programming, she is considered a leader in the intersection of families, education, social justice, and racial equity.

 

Awarded multiple grants and contracts from the federal Department of HHS and private foundations, Dr. Parker has altogether led projects funded at over $300 million during her career. She has over 25 years of experience in community-based research, where she uses her skills as a mental health professional to develop and implement evidence-based programs for disenfranchised communities, families, and children. She was the scientific director for the first 11 Head Start National Conferences beginning in 1991 and conducted every 2 years, funded by DHHS/ACF/OPRE, to promote evidence-based practice and policy for young children and their families for over 20 years. She created a research-to-practice journal for the National Head Start Association, the NHSA Dialog, and has authored numerous articles and chapters on Head Start, child outcomes, parent involvement, and advocacy strategies for very young children and their families. Since 2001, Dr. Lamb-Parker has been teaching and training internationally. She co-developed the first ever masters-level program in child development in Bangladesh, and gave training and technical assistance to a number of Early Childhood Development NGOs in Liberia and South Africa. Dr. Lamb-Parker presents at national and international professional meetings on community-based participatory research, training, and advocacy focused on the health, mental health, and development of infants and young children and their caregivers in rural black town-ships in South Africa.