Jessica Payne (she/her) is the founder and owner of Mockingbird Analytics, a community and non-profit research and evaluation company, which she comes to with a decade of research and evaluation project management experience in government, community and academic settings.

She is also the co-founder of Mockingbird Incubator a nonprofit that provides incubation services to new and emerging nonprofits.

Prior to founding Mockingbird, Jessica was the Research and Evaluation Manager for CASA of Los Angeles, where she managed large scale data system conversion projects with more than 500+ users, as well as all original research and strategic planning.

Previously with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), Jessica worked with a wide range of constituents, stakeholders, and agencies to create effective program evaluation strategies. Working with the GRYD Office Jessica designed and managed the Summer Night Lights program evaluation for multiple years in addition to participating in the development of the Intervention Crisis Response and Intervention Family Case Management research components. Prior to that Jessica worked on multiple National Institute of Justice and National Institute of Health Studies on the California Juvenile Justice system and Gang Social Identity studies with the USC Center for Research on Crime and Social Control.

She holds a Masters in Urban Planning with an emphasis on Social and Community Development from the University of Southern California’s Price School of Policy, Planning, and Development. She also holds certificates in
Trauma-Informed Early Childhood Development and Ethical Leadership.

Mockingbird Analytics was launched in 2015 by Jessica Payne to help small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations tell their story. Through a variety of services, we help every nonprofit better plan, evaluate, fundraise and ultimately, build their organizational infrastructure and scale.