Delara Aharpour

Delara Aharpour specializes in formative, qualitative, and implementation research with family support programs. She has in-depth experience providing evidence-based technical assistance and using rapid-cycle evaluation methods to improve programs for families with low income and their children.

Since joining Mathematica, Aharpour has worked on a range of projects in family support and employment. Currently, she is a site lead on several technical assistance projects, including a project with Agape Child & Family Services where she uses the Learn, Innovate, Improve framework; stakeholder partnerships; and race, equity, and inclusion principles to strengthen virtual delivery of Agape’s two-generation programming. On a recent project for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Aharpour led the researcher-practitioner partnership between Mathematica and the Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Employment Development to design and implement a transitional jobs program for unemployed and underemployed city residents in response to COVID-19. Aharpour also currently works on multiple large-scale implementation studies of programs designed to prevent or delay teen pregnancy, including a cross-site study of 43 federal grantees working to formatively refine their programs for implementation and evaluation.

Aharpour, who joined Mathematica in 2018, holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles.