James Riccio, Ph.D., has spent his career in social policy research at MDRC (a New York City-based nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization), most recently as a Principal Research Fellow. He has served as the principal investigator, project director, or senior adviser on a wide range of program and policy evaluations. From 2004 to 2021, he directed MDRC’s Economic Mobility, Housing, and Communities policy area, overseeing a large portfolio of studies, including many large-scale randomized trials conducted in cities across the U.S. His research has focused on policy innovations related to employment, cash transfers, safety-net systems, subsidized housing, homelessness, community revitalization, and other policies and programs for disadvantaged groups. The studies have been funded by and involved close collaboration with federal government agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Labor (DOL), and Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as state and local government agencies and private philanthropies. From 2003-2011, Riccio directed a transatlantic, MDRC-UK research consortium to design and test a new workforce development initiative in England, Scotland, and Wales called the UK Employment Retention and Advancement Demonstration (UK ERA). He currently serves on research or policy advisory groups of several organizations, including the Research Council of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, The Community Builders (a national, nonprofit housing developer), the Methods Advisory Group of the UK Department of Work and Pensions, and the UK’s Independent Commission on Neighborhoods. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University.