She/Her
Abby McCartney
Senior Director; Philadelphia, PA
Specializes in early childhood systems change across local, state, federal, and nonprofit policy development roles
Abby’s expertise includes fiscal analysis of state early childhood systems, cost modeling, research and advising on policy issues, and strategic planning support to build stronger communities for young children and their families.
Abby’s consulting leadership roles include:
- Providing strategic support and cost model development to shape the design of a first-of-it’s kind workforce compensation improvement program, which is projected to raise median wages for child care providers across the state by $2-3 per hour beginning in 2024.
- Leading development of an innovative cost model and recommendations for payment reform for a state’s Early Intervention system, including extensive engagement with Early Intervention practitioners and families through focus groups, surveys, and advisory bodies
- Leading development of holistic statewide early childhood funding design, building toward a comprehensive approach to improve stability and access for families of children birth to four years old.
- Supporting funding design across programs and systems as part of a state’s transition to a unified early childhood agency.
- Providing strategic support agencies to better align their grantmaking process with costs and the state’s priorities.
Abby has served in federal and local government, as a nonprofit leader, and as a classroom teacher. From 2019 to 2022, she advised Senator Elizabeth Warren on education issues, leading the Senator’s work on child care and student loan debt. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked on the CARES and American Rescue Plan Acts, including a successful campaign to secure $50 billion in relief funding for child care providers, and helped to launch an oversight campaign on health equity that resulted in the Trump Administration publishing new data about the impact of the pandemic on communities of color.
Abby was the executive director of Camden Enrollment, a non-profit overseeing the school enrollment system in Camden, New Jersey. In that role, she worked with district and school leaders and community stakeholders to build a family-friendly single application for pre-K-through-12 schools across all school sectors. She started her career teaching mathematics at Grace King High School in Metairie, Louisiana as a Teach for America corps member.
Abby holds a master’s in public affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a bachelor’s in political science from Yale University, where she was a Truman Scholar. She is an active board member of Kol Tzedek synagogue in Philadelphia and enjoys baking, ballet classes, crossword puzzles, and Taylor Swift.