Family Policy Group

With generous philanthropic support from Cheryl J. Lutz and the Youth Mental Health and Parenting Family Life Fund at the Hallie Ford Center, the Family Policy Group hosts the Lutz Family Policy Fellowship. The fellow receives partial GRA support and supervision from Family Policy Group faculty member(s).

Lutz Family Policy Fellows

2021-2022 Isabella Sciuto Ozenbaugh

Isabella studies how to support the development of self-regulation in young children through school-based interventions. She also studies how child care policies impact child development and how child care policies can be improved to benefit children, parents, and child care providers.

As a Lutz Family Policy Fellow, she anticipates

• Creating an family facts and figures report describing Oregon families living in poverty;
• Supporting and promoting participation in the Family Policy Group by organizing and facilitating group meetings;
• Supporting communication among the Family Policy Group through starting a blog and writing blog posts related to Family policy; and,
• Starting a research paper examining state spending on child care and child outcomes.

Isabella's bio

2020 – 2021 Linda Fenske

Linda studies how families support adolescent thriving and how we can best support parents of adolescents to flourish in their parental role.

As a Lutz Family Policy Fellow, she anticipates

• Writing a policy brief on adolescents in the family context;
• Collaborating this year’s Oregon Family Impact Seminar a white paper on early child care and education; and,
• Supporting and promoting the Family Policy Group’s work (organizing and facilitating group meetings, giving presentations on the group’s work, building the group’s online presence).

Linda’s bio

2019 – 2020 Brenda Barrett-Rivera

As the Lutz Family Policy Fellow, Brenda immersed herself in family policy education and experiences and built confidence as a family researcher. The opportunity to work alongside CPHHS faculty expanded her understanding of the many ways that research can help shape policies and programs that affect families.

During the fellowship, Brenda

• Organized and facilitated meetings;
• Started policy briefs on child care and housing;
• Contributed to the writing of grant proposal to study Oregon’s new paid family leave law; and,
• Co-developed child care / COVID policy timeline.

Brenda’s bio