Erica Bouris

Background

About Erica Bouris

I have worked within the non-profit, government, and higher education sector for over 20 years and currently serve as a Senior Director at Jobs for the Future, leading a portfolio of work focused on good jobs and inclusive economic opportunity. Trained in political science and economics (University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies Ph.D, University of Denver MBA), I quickly found my niche helping the public, private, and non-profit sector work together to develop, implement, manage, fund, and evaluate programs that serve marginalized local, national and international communities. I am committed to programs that help families - particularly those facing poverty and hardship - develop the knowledge, skills, and assets necessary to be active, self-sufficient members of our community. I am professionally most satisfied when I am actively designing programs, bringing partners together to collaborate and solve pressing social and economic problems, and ensuring that these programs are implemented with a rigorous eye toward measuring and understanding impact. I have experience in capacity-building, technical advising, and evaluative roles as well as direct program management, having managed teams ranging from 5-90 people, including building teams from the ground up. I bring strong skills in resourcing initiatives and have written dozens of successful grants for funding through the DOL, HHS, VA, Dept. of State, DOE, DOJ, SBA, and HUD. I enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for great program design, evaluation, and applied research. In recent years, I have taught on these topics for several universities, multiple agencies within the U.S. federal government, and as a consultant for non-profit agencies. I have also cherished the opportunities I have had to help build a culture of data within programs and organizations as it truly is the foundation to strengthening and sustaining how public and private sector partners can strengthen communities. My writing has been published in numerous mainstream media outlets and I have authored several technical reports on a range of topics related to workforce development and financial inclusion. A book, Complex Political Victims, was published by Kumarian Press in 2007.