The Team

Megan is the founder and president of Focus Strategies, a national consulting and technical assistance firm dedicated to assisting communities reduce and end homelessness. Since 2006, Focus Strategies has assisted several States and more than 50 communities on projects which typically include assessing the impact of homeless system investments; delivering recommendations on optimizing system and program design elements; analyzing data to identify disparities and providing technical assistance to address them; and supporting affordable housing developments from pre-development through operation. Megan frequently speaks with community and elected leadership about systems change efforts to reduce homelessness and regularly presents at national forums on solutions to homelessness. She holds an Executive Leadership credential from University of California at Davis and two Master’s Degrees in Social Work and Public Policy from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Tara is the Chief Operating Officer at Focus Strategies, where she leads efforts to streamline operations, shape company strategy, and strengthen leadership to advance the mission of ending homelessness through data-driven solutions. In her previous roles at Intevity, Fulcrum Analytics, and After, Inc., Tara focused on optimizing financial, administrative, and HR processes while building and nurturing high-performing consulting teams. Earlier in her career, she served as a data analytics and market research consultant at Fulcrum Analytics, working with clients in healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing. Tara holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a BA in Sociology from Colgate University.

As Principal Associate and co-founder of Focus Strategies, Katharine has 25 years experience in the fields of homelessness, special needs housing, and community development. With Focus, she co-leads program and system evaluations, helps develop community-wide plans for reducing homelessness, and assists in the creation and implementation of performance measures and system standards. She also provides technical assistance and training on coordinated entry, prevention, rapid re-housing, and related topics. During 2013, Katharine served as a Policy Director for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness where her portfolio included family homelessness, performance measurement, and research. Prior to consulting, she worked for the Alameda County Housing and Community Development Department overseeing Federal and State housing and homeless programs, including serving as Deputy Director. Katharine holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from UC Berkeley.

As Associate Director, Matt manages the Analytics and Systems consulting teams, providing a unified approach to service delivery and offering mentorship and guidance to consulting staff. He is responsible for overseeing a significant portfolio of client projects, including managing timelines, budgets, and resource allocation to ensure projects are delivered on time and within scope. Matt centers diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, leading efforts to ensure that internal culture and client engagements reflect a commitment to creating equitable and inclusive spaces.

Previously, Matt served as Manager of Analytics and Evaluation, leading analytics projects for communities using data driven strategies in their work to reduce homelessness. He has led system and program evaluations, community processes, and other strategic initiatives to support communities in making system improvements and policy changes.

Before joining Focus, Matt worked in affordable housing and homeless healthcare for twelve years. He served in a variety of roles including street and hospital outreach, case management, quality improvement, data strategy, and analytics. His interests include strategic leadership, system design, and data-driven decision making. Matt holds at master’s degree in religion, ethics, and politics from Harvard.

As Manager of Analytics and Evaluation, Diego oversees analytics projects for communities in their work to reduce homelessness using data driven strategies. He conducts program evaluations and equity analysis and uses this information to make recommendations for system improvements and policy changes. In his projects, Diego incorporates the voices of people with lived expertise into strategies and decision-making.

Prior to joining Focus Strategies, Diego led a Research and Evaluation department in creating structures for reporting data to government agencies, evaluating programs to improve the delivery of social services, and using data to better understand the intersectionality of homelessness, substance use, and mental health. Diego received a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles.

As Lead Senior Consultant at Focus Strategies, Marc works with client communities to analyze and develop strategies to improve their homeless response systems. His areas of expertise include governance; community engagement; models of outreach, shelter, and housing; and the application of an equity lens to system and program design. Marc is an attorney experienced in civil rights litigation on behalf of people experiencing homelessness, land use, and real estate law. As a project manager, Marc oversees leads project design and implementation activities and is responsible for delivering expert analysis and results on time and on budget.

Marc has three decades of experience working to address homelessness at the local level. He has worked as a case manager, program manager, policy advocate, legal services attorney, and as the executive director of a large non-profit street outreach and housing program. Most recently, Marc served as the first director of a newly created office in Multnomah County, Oregon that serves as the lead agency for the Continuum of Care, the contracting entity for County and City of Portland homeless response system funding, and the entity responsible for implementing one of the country’s largest per-capita funding measures dedicated to supportive housing and homeless services. In that role, Marc led the expansion and transformation of the community’s emergency shelter system and a rapid expansion of permanent supportive housing, as well as the response to the COVID 19 pandemic. Marc has a BA in Political Science from Swarthmore College, an MA in Sociology from the University of Chicago, and a JD from the University of Chicago.

Matt brings over 12 years of experience conducting measurement, research, and evaluation activities in the public and nonprofit sectors, with a focus on homelessness and K12 education. As a Senior Analytics Consultant at Focus Strategies, Matt leads the development and implementation data analysis and program evaluation projects for communities working to reduce homelessness; conducts research, analysis, and interpretation of data from multiple disciplines; and synthesizes data analysis and research findings with contextual and best practice information into to offer recommendations for practice.

Prior to joining Focus, Matt led the Research and Evaluation department at an organization working to address homelessness in Washington State with a focus on children and families. Matt has also worked at a research institute that uses research and evidence-based policy to support systems improvement and has served as non-partisan staff for the Washington State Senate. He is passionate about using data and research to drive system improvements and centering equity in his work. Matt holds a BA in Political Science from Western Washington University and a MPA from Evergreen State College.

As a Senior Consultant at Focus Strategies, Chela oversees and contributes to a variety of consulting and technical assistance projects focused on improving community’s efforts to end homelessness. She works with clients to evaluate their homeless systems, identify improvements, and support best practices.

Before joining Focus Strategies, Chela worked as a Systems Improvement Advisor at Community Solutions supporting their Zero for All communities focused on ending homelessness for all populations. Prior to that, Chela spent more than a decade working in Phoenix/ Maricopa County designing and implementing housing programs. Chela also designed and implemented the coordinated entry system for families in Maricopa County. Chela has a Master of Nonprofit Studies from Arizona State University.

As a Senior Consultant at Focus Strategies, Hana leads collaborative efforts to support client communities to evaluate their homeless response systems, identify improvements, and support best practices. She manages a variety of consulting and technical assistance projects and develops strategic recommendations to support more effective responses to homelessness.
Hana collaborates with community stakeholders to drive systems change, ensuring that the voices of those with lived experience are at the center of policy development and decision-making processes.

Prior to joining Focus, she was CoC Director at the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, where she worked to improve homelessness response systems in metropolitan Albuquerque and in the New Mexico Balance of State. Her accomplishments included improving CoC processes for decision-making and applying for HUD funding, supporting the 2020 Census to improve inclusion of neighbors experiencing homelessness in the count, and facilitating capacity building for organizations across the state through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. Hana holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of New Mexico. She expects to receive a Master’s in Business Administration from New Mexico Highlands University in 2025.

Kat Jacobs-Crotta is an accomplished Project Manager with expertise in managing complex, cross-sector projects in homeless service provision, housing, technology, research, and education since 2017. She holds a Master of Social Work and is a certified Project Management Professional and Licensed Clinical Social Worker. As a project manager at Focus Strategies, Kat oversees the planning and implementation of community projects aimed at optimizing housing systems and supporting homeless response systems across the United States. She leads efforts to centralize, refine, and improve project management infrastructure across the firm’s workstreams to ensure consistent, efficient, and effective elite level project delivery practices.

Kat has been involved in the homeless service sector since 2014, with experience in direct services, CoC governance, consulting, policy analysis and development, and program evaluation and management. Prior to joining Focus Strategies, Kat managed multiple large-scale housing system projects focused on optimizing homeless response systems across communities. Her work included the coordinated entry program of the City of Tucson, where she contributed to a 276% increase in permanent housing attainment for people experiencing chronic homelessness and a 12-business day decrease in coordinated entry assessment wait times.

Rebecca is responsible for leading and supporting homelessness response system improvement initiatives in communities throughout the United States. She manages technical assistance engagements, designs and implements stakeholder engagement processes, and develops analytical and policy content for reports and other publications. Prior to joining Focus, Rebecca managed programs that directly serve individuals experiencing homelessness. She oversaw the operations of shelter programs, served on Continuums of Care committees, and developed permanent supportive housing programming in the Greater Boston Area. She was the first Director of Resident Services at Newton Housing Authority where she strategically developed supportive services and eviction prevention programming for formerly unsheltered individuals living with complex mental health service needs. Rebecca has expertise in applying for HUD funding, strategic planning and goal setting, housing-first and permanent supportive housing models, trauma-informed care, DEI-centered programming, and engaging with direct-service organizations. Rebecca holds a BA in psychology and anthropology from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and an MSW from Boston College with a concentration in Older Adults and Latine/Latinx populations.

Alex is an experienced mixed-methods researcher, evaluator, and consultant that is committed to solving practical, real-world problems and creating a more equitable society for disadvantaged groups. As an Analytics Consultant at Focus, Alex leads and supports data analysis, equity assessment, and program evaluation projects for agencies seeking to reduce homelessness in their communities. Through detail-oriented data analysis, close collaboration with coworkers as well as clients, and an appetite for learning new things, Alex strives to use his analytic, written, and interpersonal skills to tackle complex projects on time and on budget.
 
Prior to joining Focus Strategies, Alex partnered with academic researchers and non-profit organizations in the education sector in their efforts to advance racial equity practices internally as well as externally. Alex holds a B.A. in Psychology from Morehouse College and a MPhil in Psychology and Social Intervention from New York University. He expects to receive his PhD in Psychology and Social Intervention with a concentration in Quantitative Research Methods from New York University in 2024.

Allison is responsible for leading and supporting homelessness response system improvement initiatives in communities throughout the United States. She manages technical assistance engagements, designs and implements stakeholder engagement processes, and develops analytical and policy content for reports and other publications. Prior to joining Focus, Allison was the Director of Permanent Housing at the lead agency for Austin, Texas’ Continuum of Care where she built out community coordination and standardization for permanent housing interventions within Coordinated Entry. She has years of expertise in Coordinated Entry system design, implementation, and evaluation, Housing First, Rapid Rehousing and Permanent Supportive Housing program models, and CoC governance and community engagement. Allison holds a B.A. in Sociology & Hispanic Studies from Macalester College.

Claire is an experienced researcher and evaluator committed to making data accessible to diverse audiences and centering the voices of people with lived experience in her work. As an Analytics Consultant, Claire leads and supports data collection and analysis using an equity lens; conducts research across multiple disciplines; and integrates research findings into recommendations for process, practice, and system improvements for communities working to reduce homelessness.

Prior to joining Focus Strategies, Claire led the research and evaluation department at a Continuum of Care lead agency in Texas. She spearheaded their efforts to put data into the hands of decision makers and to leverage data to drive continuous improvement in the local homelessness response system. Claire holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Trinity University and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas.

Mandy brings over 10 years of experience in creative system-level development of homelessness response systems to reduce and prevent homelessness. Prior to joining Focus Strategies, Mandy led homelessness initiatives for the City of Hillsboro, Oregon, a community that is uniquely composed of some rural areas while also falling within the urban Portland Metro area. This work included community wide stakeholder engagements, strategic program and policy planning, and project management of large-scale system initiatives. She also served as the Housing Director at the lead homelessness response agency in Yamhill County, OR, overseeing a spectrum of homelessness response programming. In this role, Mandy accomplished significant system wide development benchmarks including design and creation of the coordination entry system, significant reductions in veteran homelessness county-wide, and implementation of the first programs in the county dedicated to those experiencing chronic homelessness.

As a consultant, Mandy leads and supports homelessness response system improvements with communities including conducting equity-driven community research and system analysis, engagement and facilitation of stakeholders towards shared goals, and developing content for reports and other publications.

Mandy holds a Bachelor of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from George Fox University in Newberg, OR. She also has a Master of Social Work degree with a concentration in community health from Jane Addams College of Social Work at University of Illinois Chicago.

Manal Aboargob is a social psychologist and researcher committed to leveraging data and research to address systemic inequities. As a Guest Analytics Consultant through the Graduate Education Diversity Internship program, Manal supports data analysis in equity-focused research projects. Manal also conducts academic research on the impacts of experiencing discrimination on mental health and collective action. Her expertise includes survey and experimental design, as well as longitudinal data analysis. Manal holds a bachelor’s in psychology, a Master’s in Experimental Psychology and is currently completing her PhD in Social Psychology at The University of Texas at El Paso, with a certification in Quantitative Psychology.

Nina is responsible for administrative support to the company’s president, office management, and project-specific support to the Focus Strategies team. She prepares reports and documents for publication, handles information requests and coordinates staff calendars, makes all business-related travel arrangements, and manages client insurance requirements.

In addition to administrative responsibilities and day to day office operations, Nina is involved in analysis and negotiation of contract terms and ensures Focus Strategies project management is informed of terms and expectations. Nina’s background and experience lies in office management and business operations. Prior to joining Focus, she worked as an Operations Manager for an Import and Mail Order Retail Business as well as an Office Manager for a multi-lawyer Law Firm. Nina received her Masters in Economics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

As an Administrative Analyst, Shae provides high-level administrative support to the organization and project-specific support to the Focus Strategies housing team. Shae is responsible for scheduling, managing staff calendars, preparing reports and documents for publication, and working on accounts receivable and payable. Shae has three years of compliance experience in both the legal industry and in Human Resources, as well as experience in management and non-profit fundraising. As a Compliance Specialist, Shae aided in tracking, hosting, and planning large-scale Continued Learning Education Events for both law and healthcare professionals throughout CA and NY. As a fundraiser, Shae has raised thousands of dollars for organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund, the Human Rights Campaign, the Los Angeles Youth Network (now known as Youth Emerging Stronger), and others. Shae holds a bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of California Los Angeles and is a Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society alumni member.