Chapin Hall

Anna Gurolnick has worked with Chapin Hall as a Research Assistant since 2020. Her work has been primarily focused on education, evaluating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) frameworks and competencies used in K-12 classrooms using qualitative and quantitative data analytics and visualizations. She also worked with a team on a needs assessment for Metro Chicago’s development of a 211 system through geospatial analysis and community provider focus group listening sessions. Gurolnick provided support for Chapin Hall’s work with Start Early to increase prevention and strengthen collaboration between home visiting and child welfare service providers. She is driven to bridge the gaps between direct practice and policy development, implementation, and research with the realm of youth-serving systems in a way that centers social justice, community collaboration and empowerment, and equitable opportunities for all.

Gurolnick previously worked with Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine’s Center for Community Health, where she supported a research lab analyzing life outcomes for rural lung cancer survivors and their caregivers. She also worked at Metropolitan Family Services (Metropolitan Peace Initiatives division) with their Behavioral Health Team in the realm of violence prevention and the promotion of community safety and healing and with the Illinois Justice Project on statewide criminal legal system advocacy and policy reform focused on reentry services for incarcerated persons and juvenile justice.

Gurolnick is a Chicago native and full-time dual degree graduate student at the University of Chicago where she will graduate in 2024 with a Master of Arts (MA) in in Social Work, Policy, and Practice and a Master of Public Policy (MPP). She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colorado College.