Meet the CCOHVS Team

Callie Lambarth has been engaged in human services and social work research and evaluation since 2001. Raised in northeastern Washington state in a remote, rural community, I have grown deep roots in Oregon since moving to Portland in the mid-1990s. With an education background in women’s studies, sociology, and social work, I am extremely interested in the connection between individual’s experiences and the influences of social structures that often currently re/produce inequities, but have the potential of being transformed into just systems. I firmly believe that those most impacted by inequities are best positioned to inform and implement systems change. Since joining the early childhood and family support research and evaluation team in 2011, I am typically contributing to and leading projects that relate to early childhood, mental health, and collective impact research and evaluation. As a researcher/evaluator who is particularly energized by work in partnership with families, service providers, and program leaders, I value the experience and expertise of people with lived experience in communities to generate local solutions. When not engaged in research and evaluation work, you can often find me seeking out waterfalls, playing pickleball, and trying new recipes to share.

Hello! My name is Carrie and I am a Research Associate Professor at Portland State University. Over the past 28 years, I developed my research and evaluation skills working in many areas including PreK – 12^th grade education, home visiting, child welfare, mentoring, addiction and recovery, and family support services. A common theme in my work is understanding how groups, organizations, programs, and communities create conditions that promote or undermine individuals’ sense of belonging and self-determination. I bring to this work my early career experience as a youth and family counselor, lived family experiences, and formal training in applied developmental psychology, systems science, and quantitative methods. I strive to align my research and evaluation work with my values for collaboration, lived expertise, relationships, equity, and action. Although I have lived in Oregon for more than 30 years, my Wisconsin-born accent still shines through from time to time! I am inspired by music, art, loved ones, and our natural world.

I am a first year Psychology student at Portland State University with aspirations of becoming a neuropsychologist. I have a passion for understanding brain behavior relationships and advancing mental health care. My journey began in student communications at Fort Lewis College, where I developed skills in strategic writing, data analysis, content development, and outreach planning. I now serve as a Student Communications and Project Assistant at CCOHVS, where I collaborate with the team in managing outreach materials and organizing digital platforms and shared drives. As I grow in this role, I remain committed to mental health advocacy and stay committed to future contributions to research that improves the diagnosis and treatment of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral challenges. When I am not working I like to stay active, go on hikes, hangout with friends, and read books.

I began my career as a fun-loving early childhood educator with a passion for creating play-based learning experiences, observing growth and opportunities, and being present with children, families and communities. Through my experiences working in direct service through the early learning field, and my education in early childhood education, business administration, and educational leadership and policy, I transformed into a fierce advocate for the mental health, total-wellbeing, and rights of children, families, and communities. I came to work with the Center for Coordinating Oregon Home Visiting Systems in February of 2024 and am working to support home visiting systems that are regionally, programmatically, and family-led. I grew up in Kahaluu, Hawaii which has taught me to value the strength and necessity of relationships which has been valuable as this field is incredibly relationship-based and pro-community. This job has allowed me to challenge my own commitments to diversity, justice, and advocacy. Outside of work, I love to veganize some of my favorite childhood dishes and spend time being silly with my family. I am grateful to have a teachable spirit because there is learning to do everywhere I go.

After teaching in public schools for more than 15 years, and a variety of direct service work including advocacy for survivors of DV, SA, and mass casualty events, providing resettlement support for people immigrating from Slavic countries, and fundraising for pediatric AIDS research, I joined Oregon’s early childhood systems work in 2019. I initially led technical assistance and training at Central Coordination for Child Care Resource and Referral and Spark (Oregon’s ECE QRIS) at WOU, and then coordinated ECE professional learning at the Early Learning System Initiative (ELSI) at OSU. I am passionate about infant and toddler mental health, early literacy, and equitable, inclusive access to culturally responsive healthcare, education, and behavioral health support for all children and families. My current work includes facilitating collaboration of cross-agency and cross-program model state home visiting leadership that is inclusive of families, tribes, and culturally specific organizations in support of local home visiting coordination, and facilitating support for the LGBTQ+ ECE and parenting education workforce.

I have been a researcher at the Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services since 2019. I first joined the PSU community as a student in 2009, and later completed my Bachelors degree in Anthropology, and it was during my coursework that I became particularly interested in the field of Applied anthropology. As a Senior Research Assistant I have the opportunity to participate in collaborative, community-engaged research with colleagues, partners, and community members across the state, in both English and Spanish. Much of my work is focused on community collaboration and development, and has helped to inform policies, programs, conversations, and investments at the local and state levels. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, collecting cool vinyl records, spending time with family and friends, and playing catch with my dog.

Annie Catherine Prem Kumar, Former Communications and Project Assistant
The CCOHVS team would like to acknowledge Annie’s contributions to the CCOHVS team to improve communications, create well-organized and welcoming spaces for community partner engagement, and formalize administrative systems in CCOHVS’s first years of existence.

The CCOHVS team would like to express our sincere appreciation and deep gratitude to Dr. Beth Green for her lifelong dedication to the improvement of systems that serve and support children and families in Oregon and beyond. Although she retired in September 2025, her legacy lives on through CCOHVS’s work to facilitate home visiting systems change in collaborative partnership with families, the workforce, researchers, and policymakers to create a more just future.