Cara Karter, Research Associate, mRelief
What does your work look like, and what have you been working on lately?
I am primarily responsible for advancing evaluation and research to improve mRelief’s effectiveness and ensure that mRelief's products reflect current state and federal policy. My work varies a lot, which is ideal for me. I run database queries and conduct quick and dirty literature reviews to ensure that our leadership has access to the data and evidence they need to make decisions. I frequently collaborate with our partnerships team to write proposals and reports and with our product team to design dashboards and new product features. I also have the freedom to design and manage self-directed research and evaluation projects. Recently I have been working on wrapping up a qualitative study that shares perspectives from SNAP outreach workers and applicants in Illinois about the enrollment process. I have also been doing smaller research projects, which I frequently share results from on mRelief's blog - these include insights into the average length of SNAP applications and various other topics related to the SNAP program.
How has your career path unfolded?
I studied Social and Economic Development Policy as an undergrad and did lots of internships in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector. Those internships really helped me narrow down what I did not want to do with my career (fundraising, lobbying, and program management were not for me!). The one really formative experience for me while I was still in school was my time volunteering in my university's Engineers Without Borders chapter. As the only non-engineer in the organization, I was tasked with conducting a community survey and laying out our monitoring and evaluation plan which I found fascinating. I quickly decided that program evaluation was my career and started to learn all I could to try to break into the field. I landed at a research center at the University of Chicago right out of undergrad and have been navigating human services research in various roles for the past six years since.
How did you get into the field of Public Interest Technology (PIT)?
I was looking for a new opportunity that would be less academic and more applied. I was also considering opportunities outside of the nonprofit sector for the first time in my career. Having done my undergrad at Illinois Institute of Technology and being married to a software engineer, I also have a much better understanding of technology than many of my peers. I put my LinkedIn on Open to Work, mRelief reached out to me, and it was a perfect fit.
If students are interested in pursuing a career in PIT, where might they start?
The organization I work for now, mRelief, began as a Chi Hack Night project - which is the local civic tech meet up group in Chicago. I would encourage students interested in PIT to participate in civic tech or PIT meet ups in their communities to build their networks and get to know the field. I also strongly endorse reaching out to people working in roles they are interested in growing into. That has been invaluable to my career growth.