Category: Alumni

Title: Disrupting Generational Poverty through Equity Audits

All Hands on Deck Approach

For Fatiregun, an “all hands on deck” approach requires cross-generation and community collaboration.

Working with local governments is strategic, Fatiregun explains, because they are often on the frontlines working with people who depend on government programs like housing vouchers and emergency food supplies.

In its audits, Thrive! prioritizes additive interventions that support both parents and children in low-income families to interrupt poverty cycles. This two-generation approach is also strategic because it provides support and tools to empower low-income families to thrive, much like the organization’s name suggests.

Following the audit, Thrive! offers recommendations and helps governments with implementation and community engagement strategies to ensure government programs are collaborative and maximize impact for as many people as possible.

“It won’t solve all of the racial inequities that we have in this country, but to the extent that we can move Black and Brown people out of poverty, it will go a long way,” Fatiregun says.

Springboard for Success

Fatiregun credits her experience at the McCourt School as a springboard for her career path in program evaluation and philanthropy.

After earning an A.B. in Sociology and African American Studies from Harvard College, Fatiregun enrolled in the McCourt School’s Master of Public Policy (MPP) program because of its reputation for statistical rigor. The program helped her connect the methodologies she learned in undergraduate school to practical public policy applications and program evaluation. Fatiregun highlights her involvement with McCourt’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership (CPNL) as another formative experience.

“I’m not overstating at all how impactful that experience was to shaping my entire career trajectory,” Fatiregun said. “I developed a real passion for evidence and for understanding how funders can put their best foot forward as stewards of wealth without being paternalistic.”