Leah Rooney, MPA (She/Her)

Program Manager, Child Well-being

Leah Rooney is a nonprofit and public administration professional with more than a decade of experience supporting children’s development, education, and well-being. She is passionate about helping kids and families thrive, and motivated by opportunities to learn and contribute to policy and systems
change.

Leah’s past roles span policy research, program management and evaluation, event planning, communications, and cross-sector partnership building. As a graduate student researcher with the First 5 Center for Children's Policy, Leah investigated how early childhood systems of care in California can be
more responsive to Native American families. Prior to graduate school, Leah supported evaluation, research, and policy efforts at First 5 Contra Costa Children and Families Commission. She also managed therapeutic arts and social programs for neurodiverse and cognitively disabled teens and young adults in the Washington, DC region.

Leah Rooney earned an MPA with a concentration in Public Policy Analysis from the University of Colorado Denver, and a BA from the University of California, Davis. She is a fourth-generation Californian, and a first-
generation college graduate. When not reading or writing, you can find her gardening with her husband or chasing after their two little boys.