Cara Baldari is the Senior Policy Director for Family Economics and Legal Counsel at First Focus, a national bipartisan children’s advocacy center dedicated to making children and families the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. In this role, she aims to increase federal investment in economic supports that can make a dramatic difference in low-income family budgets and lift children and families out of poverty.

In her time at First Focus, she has worked a number of issues affecting children living in poverty, including child and family homelessness, child welfare policy, childhood asthma, child nutrition, and children’s health policy. Her role also included assisting in the project management of the State Policy Advocacy & Reform Center (SPARC), a national resource center aimed at improving outcomes for children and families involved with the child welfare system, and the Childhood Asthma Leadership Coalition (CALC), a national, multi-sector effort to improve policymaking around childhood asthma.

In addition, she co-authored America’s Report Card 2012: Children in the U.S., which was co-released with Save the Children and provides a holistic picture of unmet needs in five areas of a child’s life: economic security, early childhood education, K-12 education, permanence and stability, and health and safety.

Before coming to First Focus, her previous experiences focused on the areas of affordable housing and homelessness, which included her work advising and representing low-income clients in landlord tenant disputes in Pittsburgh, PA. Through this work, she witnessed firsthand the policy changes that are needed to prevent homelessness and better assist low-income families.

Cara received a BA in History and Political Science with a minor in Legal Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.