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Center for Women's Welfare Staff

Lisa Manzer
MPA | Director
lmanzer@uw.edu

Lisa Manzer is Director of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington. Committed to economic justice and supporting low-income families, Lisa has dedicated over two decades to the development and implementation of the Self-Sufficiency Standard. Lisa has collaborated with partners across the United States to produce comprehensive reports on the impact of housing, child care, health care, guaranteed basic income, and tax policies on working families. Prior to her current role, Lisa worked as a policy analyst in the Strategic Assessment Office of the Washington State Department of Transportation and led data collection efforts at the University of Washington’s Social Development Research Group. She earned a Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration in poverty policy from Evergreen State College.

Diana Pearce 
PhD | Founder Emerita 
pearce@uw.edu
*VITA

Dr. Pearce is the Founder Emerita for the Center for Women’s Welfare and was formerly on the faculty of the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. She received her MSW and Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Work from the University of Michigan. She has held academic positions at the Universities of Michigan and Illinois, and American University. Dr. Pearce has been a Fulbright Professor twice, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (1996-7) and in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (2006). She has been a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Stanford University and at George Washington University. Dr. Pearce founded and directed the Women and Poverty Project at Wider Opportunities for Women in Washington, D.C, and was a member of the founding Steering Committee of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Widely recognized for coining the phrase, “the feminization of poverty”, Dr. Pearce has written and spoken widely on women’s poverty and economic inequality—including low-wage and part-time employment, unemployment insurance, homelessness, and welfare reform—and has testified before Congress and the President’s Working Group on Welfare Reform. She also has done research and been an expert witness in the areas of school and housing segregation/ desegregation. Dr. Pearce has helped found and lead several coalitions, including the Women and Housing Task Force, the Women, Work and Welfare Coalition, the Women and Job Training Coalition, the Ad Hoc Task Force on Housing/Homeless Issues in Welfare Reform, and the Practitioners’ Panel on Welfare Reform.

Annie Kucklick 
MSW | Research Coordinator
akuckl@uw.edu

Annie Kucklick is a social worker and researcher focused on economic mobility. She is the lead author on the Center for Women’s Welfare’s published reports and oversees report production and data gathering. She steers engagement with national and state partners, including presentations on the Standard, press release consultation, and new partner development. Prior to her position with the Self-Sufficiency Standard, Annie supported the economic justice project at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, ran multiple local campaigns in the Seattle area, and investigated corporate abuse in conflict zones. In 2013, she worked as a research fellow with the Karen Human Rights Group along the Thai-Burma border. Annie received a Master of Social Work  — Administration and Policy Practice from the University of Washington in 2020.

Sarah Brolliar 
MPH | Research Coordinator
s2stewar@uw.edu

Sarah Brolliar is a researcher who seeks after meaningful work to improves lives in a variety of fields. Having earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Washington, Sarah brings graduate research experience from the University of Washington’s Health Promotion Research Center and the Harborview Injury Prevention Research Center. Prior to joining the Self-Sufficiency Standard team, she served as a senior research coordinator with University of Washington’s Department of Emergency Medicine, covering projects focused on team leadership training in medical education and its impact on patient outcomes. Sarah brings a fresh perspective on how to present data and illuminate the stories behind it. She will assist in creating a sustainable data repository for the Self-Sufficiency Standard for long-term use. When not at work, Sarah can be found working with teenagers and young adults in the outdoors with her husband and dogs.

Devon Bushnell 
 BA | Program Operations Specialist
devonb@uw.edu

Devon has worked for the CWW in fiscal and grant management since 2018 and has returned after a hiatus, as the Program Operations Specialist. She has worked in research administration for the School of Social Work since 2002. Devon has a BA from Western Washington University and enjoys activities with her son, baking and home decorating.

Alyssa Mast
 BA | Student Assistant
amast@uw.edu

Alyssa assists in the development of reports and data collection for the Self-Sufficiency Standard. She also helps proofread reports, review data collection efforts, and draft public education tools on topics influencing the Standard. Alyssa is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration at the University of Washington with an intended emphasis in social policy.