Susan Savage, Ph.D., Research Director Child Care Resource Center

Dr. Susan Savage has skillfully led research and evaluation projects for over 25 years and is currently the Director of Research at the Child Care Resource Center, a large non-profit child and family organization serving Northern Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. Her broad knowledge and skillset are evident in the local, countywide and statewide evaluations conducted across a diverse set of topics including child development and school readiness, impact of child care subsidies, workforce development and quality improvement, child welfare, homelessness, home visiting, obesity prevention, and disaster preparedness/pandemic awareness in child care settings. This broad knowledge base is evident in the variety of committees and workgroups she has participated in, including: National Expert Panel on Home-Based Child Care, the California Early Childhood Integrated Data System Workgroup, Addressing Obesity in Child Care Settings Advisory Committee, CA-QRIS Evaluation Workgroup, First 5 LA ECE Workforce Registry Advisory Committee, Council of Chief State School Officers-National Governor’s Association Workforce Workgroup, the Riordan Leadership Institute, and many others. She is skilled at leading groups in developing action-based research that leads to the development of programs, one of which is a child care program for foster children that was taken to scale in the state of California. Dr. Savage has a passion for ensuring long-term, collective impact and works to influence policy through her research. For example, she has partnered with Child Care Aware of America using GIS technologies to illustrate the decline of home-based child care, and disparities in child care deserts and the cost of child care. Dr. Savage holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology with a minor in Quantitative Methods from the University of California, Riverside and a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.