Senior Staff

Andrea Anderson-Hamilton, Ph.D., Director of Planning

Andrea Anderson-Hamilton, a nationally recognized expert in the Theory of Change approach to planning and evaluation, has recently joined ActKnowledge. As Director of Planning, Andrea is responsible for training and providing technical assistance to clients and collaborators interested in utilizing Theory of Change tools as part of planning, evaluation, and organizational development.  Before joining ActKnowledge, Andrea was the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Pratt Center for Community Development in Brooklyn.  At Pratt, she worked on policy research related to providing access to economic opportunity for the 500,000 residents of public housing in New York City, and on a citywide study of immigrant housing issues.  From 1999 to 2007 Andrea served as a research associate at the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, where she focused on developing the theory of change approach to planning and evaluation, and collaborated frequently with ActKnowledge. In addition to providing training and technical assistance, Andrea published Theory of Change as a Tool for Strategic Planning: A Report on Early Experiences (2004)  and The Community Builder's Approach to Theory of Change: A Practical Guide to Theory Development (2005).  Dr. Anderson has a Ph.D. in Evaluation and Planning from Cornell University and a Masters Degree in Family and Community Development from the University of Maryland. Originally from Baltimore, Andrea now lives in Harlem with her husband, Victor Hamilton.

Heléne Clark, Ph.D., Founder and Director
An urban geographer and environmental psychologist, Heléne Clark works with organizations engaged in social change to build their capacity to develop clear goals, gather knowledge about results, and expand the impact of critical social interventions.  Dr. Clark and Robert Engle founded ActKnowledge to provide rigorous research, planning and organizational development skills to the social sector. She has been the lead evaluator on numerous initiatives and served as advisor to many other evaluations around the U.S.  She incorporated the “Theory of Change” methodology into ActKnowledge’s work, and has led ActKnowledge to be the pre-eminent developer, facilitator and trainer of this method.  Her international work includes the development of not-for-profit organizations in Moscow, social housing in Brazil and various projects in the United Kingdom.  Heléne has served on the Board of Directors of Housing Conservation Coordinators in New York City for eight years. Prior to founding ActKnowledge, Dr. Clark was Associate Director of the Center for Human Environments, and taught courses in urban and economic geography, environmental psychology, housing policy and research methods.  She has published widely on housing and community development policy topics, as well as education and youth development.

Connie Hall, Executive Administrator
With more than 20 years of varied experience in “creating order out of chaos,” Connie Hall has been maintaining order at ActKnowledge almost since its inception in October 2000. Ms. Hall performs a variety of administrative duties associated with ActKnowledge’s day-to-day operations, provides support for all staff members, and manages the company’s finances, payroll, and employee benefits. Connie created and manages our Internship program, serving as mentor to fortunate high school students.  She also provides technical support on computer software applications.  In her previous experience Ms. Hall served as Director of Operations at a software development firm and held various administrative positions in the popular music industry including a substantial term as minister-without-portfolio at CBGB, the famous downtown Manhattan music club.

Kira Krenichyn, Ph.D., Director of Research
A graduate of the Environmental Psychology doctoral program at the City University of New York, Kira Krenichyn works to understand how urban environments can support health, well-being, and psychological development.  As Director of Research, Dr. Krenichyn has lead responsibility for designing, organizing, and running ActKnowledge’s program evaluation work. In her four years at ActKnowledge, Kira has drawn on ActKnowledge’s Theory of Change methodology to design and conduct evaluations of programs and complex initiatives that require outcomes analysis and contextual and implementation investigations.  Kira currently directs evaluation research on several middle school and high school youth development programs in New York and New Jersey for long-term ActKnowledge clients such as Children’s Aid Society and the YMCA. She has recently contributed to Theory of Change projects for organizations such as Girl Scouts USA and Women for Women International.  In other research, Dr. Krenichyn has investigated play and recreation spaces for children and youth, the effects of comprehensive community initiatives, and tenant ownership programs in New York City.  Kira has also taught at City University of New York campuses and at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment.  Her publications and presentations address the physical and social influences of outdoor, housing, and school environments.

Dana H. Taplin, Ph.D., Managing Director
Dana Taplin, an urban planner and environmental psychologist, brings an interest in applied social research to ActKnowledge’s practice in Theory of Change.  Dana and ActKnowledge partner Christopher Barber are currently working with the Lumina Foundation for Education to develop an ambitious theory of change for the higher education system in the United States and the Lumina Foundation’s work toward that end.  Dr. Taplin’s research interest is in parks and other public community spaces as human environments.  He is working to expand ActKnowledge’s practice into research on public space and environment and is currently directing an evaluative study of schoolyard playgrounds for the Trust for Public Land’s City Spaces program.  Dana is skilled in the use of ethnographic research methods to understand how culture, social relations, and experiential values may be embodied in physical space.  His previous research includes an ethnographic overview and assessment of the Fire Island, N.Y., National Seashore, and a community impact study of Battery Park City in Manhattan ten months after the attacks of 9/11/01.  Dr. Taplin is second author, with Setha Low and Suzanne Scheld, of Rethinking Urban Parks: Public Space and Cultural Diversity, published in November 2005 by the University of Texas Press.  Dr. Taplin is an Adjunct Associate Professor in environmental studies at Pace University and also taught for several years in the Interior Design program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Research Associates

Desiree Fields is a Research Assistant and a doctoral student in Environmental Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Before joining the organization, Desiree worked in residential mental health programs for homeless adults and now studies the impact of place on community integration and civic engagement of formerly homeless adults with psychiatric disabilities. Her work for ActKnowledge focuses on the areas of data interpretation and public relations.

Kimberly Libman is a Research Assistant and a doctoral student in Environmental Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has worked with young people for nearly a decade in formal and non-formal educational setting as well as in her own research. At ActKnowledge, Kim works with young people and their parents in youth development projects.

Frequent Collaborators

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