Devanae Allen

Background

About Devanae Allen

My passion for social science reasearch as a tool to enhance the lives of marginalized communities has led me to begin my career at OMNI Institute as a Research Fellow. At OMNI, I assist projects focusing on homelessness, behavioral health, substance use prevention and treatment, equity, as well as community health assessments. I provide project and analytical support on multiple Boulder County projects that address community mental and behavioral health needs at the intersection of multiple systems including Pathways to Housing Stability, Boulder County Co-Responder, Project Recovery, Boulder County Community Health Assessment and Boulder County Behavioral Health Systems Navigation. With these projects, I support data cleaning, management, and analysis, mixed methods analysis, data visualization, report writing, notetaking, gathering and organizing secondary data, completing extensive literature reviews, project management responsibilites, and engaging with clients, key stakeholders, and community members. In addition to Boulder County-specific projects, I currently provide support across multiple projects outside of Colorado including the Alabama Department of Mental Health's Substance Abuse Block Grant and Strategic Prevention Framework, DeKalb County Board of Health's 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment, JBS Evidence Based Practice Scan, and JBS New Jersey Evidence Based Practice Initative. I have previously supported the National Association of Addicition Treatment Providers 2022 Salary Survey, Salt Lake County Health Department's Health Equity Culture and Capacity Building and The Arizona Partnership for Immunization. As apart of these projects, I helped created surveys, conduct focus groups, and qualitative coding in addition to the skills previously listed. Prior to working at OMNI, I completed my BA in Psychology and Sociology at the University of Denver, where I successfully completed and defended my senior thesis, “Media Coverage of Police Brutality: An Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of the Derek Chauvin Trial,” a content analysis examing how the information during the Derek Chauvin trial of the murder of George Floyd was potrayed across national and local newspaper sources. And, I worked as an undergradute research assistant under Dr. Casey Stockstill in the Sociology & Criminology Department interviewing Denver pre-school teachers and analyzing the inequities they and their students face as a result of their location, funding, family incomes, and other determinants.