Lexie Pèrez-Grüber (Former Staff) Director, Policy and Research

Lexie Pèrez-Grüber serves as the Director of Policy and Research. In this capacity, she works on policy issues related to early childhood and child welfare.

Lexie has made significant strides to improve the foster care system for those that are currently in it. In the summer of 2013, she was selected from a highly competitive applicant pool for the Congressional Foster Youth Internship and was placed with Congressman Jim McDermott, co-chair of the Congressional Foster Care Caucus. During her time in Washington, she was promoted to Press Assistant to Congressman Jim McDermott, and interned with First Focus.

Since returning to DC in May 2015, Lexie has testified before the United States Senate Finance Committee and facilitated a roundtable of state child welfare leaders at the White House.

In addition to her policy work at the state and federal levels, Lexie has many opinion editorials that have appeared on the Department of Education’s website, in The Chronicle for Social Change, and in the Huffington Post. She has been awarded the “2014 First For Kids Award” by Connecticut Voices for Children and the “Sharmain Jenkins Fostering Success Award” by One Simple Wish; chosen as one of FosterClub's “Outstanding Young Leaders of 2015”; recognized as one of the nation’s leading visionaries by Hearts on Fire and as an emerging young leader by the Opportunity Nation campaign.  She has been profiled by CNN and the Hartford Courant, and is the subject of an upcoming documentary entitled “Lost in America.”

Lexie recently graduated magna cum laude Quinnipiac University with a degree in Political Science and was inducted into the prestigious National Political Science Honors Society. Her studies focused on American politics and the intersection of race, class, and gender.  Prior to graduation, she was awarded the Outstanding Senior Award, which recognizes a senior in political science with the highest academic achievement.