Dr. Thomas Brock is the director of MDRC’s Young Adults and Postsecondary Education policy group. In this role, he is responsible for developing a body of work and overseeing staff who conduct research on programs designed to increase access to and achievement in education and training institutions for people who have left high school. Dr. Brock is currently directing the Opening Doors study, which is examining the implementation and effects of programs designed to increase attainment of Associate’s degrees or occupational certificates in six community colleges across the country; and is leading an evaluation of Lumina Foundation’s Achieving the Dream initiative, which aims to boost student achievement in 27 community colleges in five states. Previously, Dr. Brock co-directed the Project on Devolution and Urban Change, which examined the implementation and effects of welfare reform in four big cities. He also conducted implementation research on the New Hope Project, a community-based employment program for the working poor in Milwaukee; and the National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies, a study examining the effects of job search, education, and employment and training programs for welfare recipients in seven cities across the United States. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds (now the Wallace Foundation), where he designed and managed multi-site evaluations of after-school programs for youth, community art initiatives, and audience development programs for nonprofit theaters. Dr. Brock holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles.