About

Welcome to KateKarpilow.com, also known as Women’s Policy Perspectives. I write about the lives of women, girls and working families.

Insights, biases and inspirations come from nearly 30 years of work in public policy and politics.

Most recently, I directed the California Center for Research on Women and Families (CCRWF), based at the Public Health Institute. Before that, and prior to a stint in consulting, I led the California Elected Women’s Association for Education and Research – now known as California Women Lead.

I’m a big believer that your best work is yet to come, but here’s what’s been accomplished so far:

  • Founded and hosted a dozen Working Families and Women’s Policy Summits that helped launch legislation and promote leading advocates in California.
  • Proposed and supported legislation to address the backlog of untested rape kits.
  • With partners, founded the Title IX Coalition and developed the Title IX Check List.
  • Launched Pathways to Policy, a mentoring initiative for women in their 20s, helping to open doors to careers in government while emphasizing the importance of championing a women’s policy agenda.
  • Co-founded the California Summer Meal Coalition, now based at the Institute for Local Government.
  • Produced, with partners, the first short video documenting the history of reproductive rights and justice in California.
  • Established, through a major grant from The Stuart Foundation, Linkages, a national model of welfare/child welfare integration, now managed by leaders at the Child and Family Policy Institute of California.
  • Co-authored and published widely read policy primers on welfare, child welfare, nutrition and child care.
  • Co-authored Code Blue, a blueprint to secure improved health care coverage for foster children.
  • Founded the California Women’s Appointment Project, and co-authored California Women Get on Board, the first statewide research documenting the appointment of women from all racial and ethnic backgrounds to state and local boards and commissions.
  • Founded the California Women’s Health Project, which, for the first time, compiled comprehensive research on the health of women of all racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Other details about my background: I’ve worked in both state and local government and have a PhD in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard University and a BA from the University of California, Davis.

For more information, you can view my profile at LinkedIn.