Staff

Ed Lazere
Lazere has led the work of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute since it was established in 2001.  Prior to that, he was a policy analyst for 12 years at DCFPI’s parent organization, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  At CBPP, he worked on numerous issues at both the state and federal level, including state spending choices under the TANF block grant and other issues related to welfare reform implementation; state-level tax policy, particularly State Earned Income Tax Credits; and affordable housing.  Lazere holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Maryland.

Kwame Boadi
Kwame Boadi joined the DC Fiscal Policy Institute in August 2010,  serving  as a Fellow with both DCFPI and the State Fiscal Project of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Previously he worked in the offices of former Governor Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). Kwame’s policy and research interests center on the relationship between politics and economics, and he holds a particular interest in issues pertaining to energy, health care, and foreign policy. He also has substantial campaign experience. Kwame received a B.A. in political science and economics from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in international relations from Johns Hopkins University.

Jenny Reed
Jenny Reed is a Policy Analyst at DCFPI where she focuses on income and poverty trends, affordable housing, and budget transparency.  Reed joined DCFPI after completing her Master’s in Public Policy at George Washington University.  While in school she worked as an Instructional Assistant at GWU and completed a summer internship at the Congressional Research Service, working in the Children and Families section.  Before graduate school she spent several years working for organizations that provided direct service work to children and adults with severe mental illnesses. Ms. Reed also holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island.

Elissa Silverman
Silverman joined DCFPI in April 2009. Previously she worked as a Metro reporter for the Washington Post, where she covered regional crime, District politics, and local business. From 2002 to 2004, Silverman wrote the popular “Loose Lips” column on local politics and government for the Washington City Paper. Earlier in her career, she worked as a researcher with the Center for Responsive Politics. She lives on Capitol Hill and is an enthusiastic cyclist, tennis player, and cook. Silverman was awarded a bachelor’s degree in history and economics from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She is currently enrolled in the urban planning master’s program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Soumya Bhat
Bhat is an Education Finance and Policy Analyst at DCFPI where her work focuses on fiscal transparency and equity issues facing public education in the District. She comes to DCFPI after five years with The Finance Project where she conducted state fiscal mapping studies and provided research and technical assistance to state leaders looking to effectively finance early education and out-of-school time systems. Soumya also conducted policy research for the New America Foundation’s education program following graduate school. She holds a Master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a BS in Psychology from Birmingham-Southern College.

To e-mail a member of our staff directly, use the format of lastname@dcfpi.org, using no spaces or punctuation in the last name.