Deborah Roderick Stark
Bio:
Deborah Roderick Stark is a nationally recognized expert in child, family, and community well-being. Her work focuses on the intersections between practice, policy, and research to advance access, quality, and equity in early childhood learning and development, family engagement, maternal and child health, and infant mental health. She has 30+ years of experience working with foundations, public agencies, research centers, the nonprofit community, and legislators.
Deborah received her BA from Wellesley College and her MSW from the University of California at Berkeley. She lives outside Annapolis, MD and has three grown children."
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Recent projects:
National Association of Family, School and Community Engagement: Co-Founder and current Board Member of a professional association for those working to advance family engagement in children’s learning for the purpose of enhanced educational achievement. The work included pitching the concept to foundations; developing the vision, mission, and goals of the organization; writing the founding charter; supporting development of the business plan including membership, member benefits, organizational deliverables; and working with a contractor to create the website. Hired and continue to supervise the Executive Director. Served a term as Treasurer of the Board and developed internal financial policies, and secured an auditor and external accounting firm. The non-profit started with a $500,000 budget in 2015 and now operates with a $2.8m budget for 2024.
National Home Visiting Network: Co-facilitator responsible for organizing and facilitating a network of nationally recognized leaders from early childhood home visiting practice, research, and policy with the goal of magnifying the reach and effectiveness of early childhood home visiting and improving collaboration within the field. Advocated for the addition of parents to the Network and responsible for orienting, mentoring, and supporting parents to participate at their fullest. Writer of all Network documents.
Tribal Home Visiting: Selected by the federal technical assistance center for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Tribal Home Visiting to write ten best-practice issue briefs that are used by federally funded programs to enhance their efforts.
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Selected by ZERO TO THREE to provide more than a decade of support to their infant and early childhood mental health policy division. Author of multiple proceeding documents, state profiles, and briefing papers.
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Recent publications:
Stark, D.R. (2024). Centering Babies and the Adults Who Care for Them: States Explore Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing and Policy. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE. https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/centering-babies-and-the-adults-who-care-for-them-states-explore-infant-and-early-childhood-mental-health-financing-and-policy/
Stark, D.R. (2024). Navigating Seasons of Change: Supporting the Mental Health and Well-Being of Families. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ecd/Navigating%20Seasons%20of%20Change-Supporting%20the%20Mental%20Health%20031224.pdf
Stark, D.R. and Westheimer, M. (2024). An Equity Accelerator Strategy: Parents developing careers in an early childhood home visiting program. Journal of Family Diversity in Education.https://doi.org/10.53956/jfde.2024.187
Stark, D.R., Cherry, R., Loveless, N., and Vincent, J. (2023). Parents at the Table: The National Home Visiting Network Welcomes Parent Leaders and Benefits from their Perspectives. National Home Visiting Network.https://www.hvnetwork.org/_files/ugd/bc26e2_a2437a74f1b8456896036dc4e2b074f0.pdf
Stark, D.R. (2023). Purposefully Investing in the Tribal Home Visiting Workforce. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ecd/Purposefully-Investing-in-the-Tribal-Home-Visiting-Workforce-5-3-23-%283%29.pdf
Stark, D.R. (2023). Building Relationships with Families Through the Tribal Home Visiting Program. In: Family and Community Partnerships: Promising Practices for Teachers and Teacher Educators. Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Stark, D.R. (2022). Breaking the Silence and Bringing Good Noise: Parents and Advocates Come Together to Center Lived Experiences. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE.
Stark D.R. (2022). Precious Moments: Tribal Home Visiting Programs Support Families During Pregnancy and Post-Partum. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services.
Stark, D.R. (2022). Pathways to Prosperity: Report from a Convening on Economic Security for Families with Infants and Toddlers. Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE and the Center for Law and Social Policy.
