Kate Karpilow, PhD
Kate Karpilow, PhD, is executive director of the California Center for Research on Women and Families at PHI, where she brings more than 25 years of experience developing and directing research and policy projects.
Karpilow is founder and director of the California Working Families Policy Summit, launched in 1998. The summit serves as a high-level forum to develop and refine public policy recommendations on health and social service issues affecting working families, including welfare, nutrition, food stamps, paid sick days, health care and health reform.
From 2000 to 2005, Karpilow directed Linkages, a multi-million-dollar initiative that pioneered tools for counties to better serve high-risk families receiving welfare and child welfare services. California was awarded a federal grant to continue Linkages as a national demonstration project.
Karpilow served as executive director of the California Elected Women's Association for Education and Research, expanding its membership and developing its public policy research and development capacity. She launched the California Women's Health Project, which focused on health reform, breast cancer, mental health and violence against women, and the California Children's Project, which developed policy recommendations on children's health, violence against children and foster care.
Karpilow received her doctorate from Harvard University.
2013 Women’s Policy Summit Conference Sponsorship
The 2013 Women’s Policy Summit and webinars will provide a high-visibility policy conference to increase focus on women’s issues, including women’s health. Conference tracks include women’s health, preventing poverty and building economic security, and women and power.
California Working Families Policy Project
The California Working Families Policy Project includes the California Working Families Policy Summit, a high-level forum to develop and refine public policy recommendations on an array of health and social service issues that affect working families. The project also includes the Working Families Web Forum which, in partnership with HealthyCal.org, publishes columns and articles on policy issues affecting California's working families.
Linkages
From November 2000 through March 2005, CCRWF directed the CalWORKs/Child Welfare Partnership Project, known as Linkages, an effort that aimed to increase knowledge about and implementation of practices to integrate child welfare and public assistance programs in California. The Project was supported by the Stuart Foundation, launched in partnership with the California Department of Social Services, and piloted in 13 California counties.
Primer Series for Policymakers and Program Leaders
The California Center for Research on Women and Families produces public policy primers that provide a comprehensive overview of the federal and state bureaucracies, laws, programs and key issues for complex social service systems, including child welfare, welfare, and nutrition.
Support for the Women's Policy Summit: Advancing Women's Health, Wealth and Power
This support helps fund the Women's Policy Summit, a statewide policy development process and conference hosted in Sacramento by the California Center for Research on Women and Families. At the Summit, attended by hundreds of California leaders, advocates release their legislative priorities and recommendations to improve the health and well-being of California’s diverse communities of women and girls.
Understanding CalWORKS: A Primer for Service Providers and Policymakers (2010)
This primer provides an in-depth orientation to California's welfare program - the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act, known as CalWORKs. CalWORKs provides eligible needy families with time-limited cash assistance grants and welfare-to-work services.
| DownloadUnderstanding Nutrition: A Primer on Programs and Policies in California (2009)
This primer orients policymakers and others to the federal and state agencies, programs, and laws established to address nutrition-related issues, including overweight and obesity, hunger, diet, and physical activity.
| DownloadUnderstanding the Child Welfare System in California: A Primer for Service Providers and Policymakers (2009)
This primer gives local and state leaders and service providers a concise overview of the public institutions, laws, funding streams, and key issues that one must understand to successfully navigate, serve, and improve California's child welfare system.
| DownloadCode Blue: Health Services for Children in Foster Care (2008)
The report outlines the recommendations from a task force of more than 30 of the state's top experts on California's foster care system on how to improve the delivery of health services to children in foster care.
| Download