Kate Westaby (’12) is transforming research into action across Wisconsin and beyond. Through partnerships with the Medical College of Wisconsin, UW-Madison, the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Urban Institute, she is helping develop a statewide toolkit that will give school districts across Wisconsin practical resources to better support young families. Her work has also secured more than $900,00 in grant funding, strengthened collaborations among education, health care and community organizations and elevated community voices to create solutions with lasting impact.
As founder of the Young Parent Collective and a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, Westaby believes research should do more than identify challenges. By combining rigorous evaluation with lived experience, she is helping organizations make better decisions, build stronger partnerships and expand opportunities for families across the state.
Growing up in Stanley, Wisconsin, Westaby became a mother while still in high school. Although she always planned to attend college, she remembers seeing statistics that suggested very few young mothers would earn a college degree. Rather than serving as motivation, the numbers felt discouraging and predictive of her future. "I didn't know if I could do it," she said. "It felt like people were telling me what my future would be."
She enrolled in UW-Stout Polytechnic's master's program in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. While there, faculty encouraged her to add a concentration in Evaluation Research. Westaby wasn't sure she would need it, but she trusted their advice, a decision that would change the trajectory of her career.
Through that concentration, the applied research methods, program evaluation skills and hands-on experiences she gained became the foundation for the work she leads today. "The toolbox that Stout gave me means that I can be versatile in which tools I deploy and how I use them to build impact, build relationships and engage people," she said.
Westaby also credits faculty mentor Kiki Gorbatenko for helping shape her journey. Long after graduation, Gorbatenko continued encouraging her professional growth, even writing a recommendation letter that helped Westaby pursue doctoral studies.
After graduation, Westaby spent seven years working in evaluation before earning her doctorate. As she considered where to focus her research, she returned to her own experiences and realized they represented an opportunity to create meaningful change for others.
Today, that work has grown into statewide and national collaborations that connect researchers, schools, health care organizations and community partners to improve educational access, strengthen family supports and expand opportunities for young parents. Through the Young Parent Collective, she helps develop practical resources, facilitate community-driven research and create leadership opportunities that allow young parents to contribute as researchers, consultants and advocates.
Rather than studying communities from the outside, Westaby builds research alongside the people most affected by the issues. Their experiences shape the questions, guide the findings and inform recommendations that organizations can put into practice.
That approach has produced measurable results. Westaby has helped secure grant funding to expand community partnerships, is leading the development of a statewide toolkit that will help school districts across Wisconsin better support young parents and has contributed to national research that informs how education and community organizations serve families. By bringing those closest to the challenges into the research process, she's ensuring the resulting solutions are practical, sustainable and rooted in real experiences.
"The most rewarding part is seeing people recognize their own strengths," she said. "When people are invited into the work and know their experiences matter, it changes how they see themselves and what they believe is possible."
For Westaby, creating change starts with listening. Her advice to current students and fellow alumni is simple: "Listen to your community."
It's a lesson she learned through experience, strengthened at UW-Stout Polytechnic and continues to carry into every partnership she builds. By combining research with empathy, collaboration and applied learning, Westaby is helping communities create solutions that make a lasting difference.
