Brandon is a senior research scientist with over 17 years of experience in mixed-methods evaluation and capacity-building for community change, systems change, and place-based initiatives. He has expertise in efforts designed to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families through strategies such as policy change; community engagement, organizing, and advocacy; leadership development; community strengthening and resilience; and interorganizational collaboration and network-building with a focus on historically under-resourced communities. This work has spanned the areas of youth mentoring and violence prevention, social determinants of health, early childhood education, juvenile justice, education, prevention and treatment of adverse childhood experiences, community ownership and wealth-building, and workforce development. He is adept at working with nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies to build their capacity to translate data, research, and evaluation into actionable improvements.

Brandon supports several projects evaluating complex system transformation initiatives. He is leading an assessment of the health services workforce pathway in the Greater Kansas City region to identify barriers, gaps, and opportunities for individuals from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the health sciences. He is managing an implementation study of the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, a diverse network of jurisdictions working to reduce jail populations. He is serving as project manager for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Interim Evaluation, a multi-level, cross-sector effort to prepare Maryland students for success in college, career, and life. For the Evaluation of the National COVID-19 Resiliency Network, he oversaw a survey of the network’s capacity and contribution at the community-level to awareness of and linkages to health information and services, access to new COVID-19–related resources, and formation of collaborative partnerships. For the Evaluation of Catalytic Communities, he led the implementation study of an initiative fostering community-led systemic reforms in education ecosystems within cities across the United States. 

Prior to joining NORC, Brandon was a managing associate with Community Science and analyst with Mathematica Policy Research. In these roles, he worked with foundations and federal and state agencies to evaluate programs and initiatives focused on community and systems change, child development, family support, maternal and child health, education, youth employment, and foster youth.

Brandon’s notable research spans child welfare, housing for youth aging out of foster care, and health disparities. In 2025, he co-authored Innovative Approaches to Economic Supports for Prevention in Child Welfare, featured in Child Neglect, Inequity, and Poverty: Practice Innovations, Concrete Resources, and Justice (2nd ed.). His 2016 co-authored article, Implementation of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities: A Three-Year Retrospective, was published in the Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice. In 2015, he co-authored Housing for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care: A Review of the Literature and Program Typology, a comprehensive review of housing needs and opportunities for foster youth. These works reflect his focus on social justice and public health research.