KEISHA FARMER
She/They
Keisha Farmer (she/they) has partnered with Chicago-area organizations dedicated to supporting safe, healthy spaces for youth for 25 years. Her past youth development experience includes supervising program outcomes and impact at Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago; serving as director of programs at Family Focus Inc.; managing gender-specific after-school programs at Alternatives, Inc.; and coordinating educational and vocational services for DCFS youth at Uhlich Children’s Advantage Network.
An experienced evaluation specialist, Keisha was an integral part of both Chicago Community Trust’s LGBT Community Needs Assessments and served as the evaluation designer and methodological lead for Morten Group for both cycles of the project, reporting on data collected from over 2,000 respondents. Her work supports evaluation tool design, participatory data collection efforts, and outcomes analysis with an emphasis on strengths-based and participatory models.Â
Keisha is a professionally trained social worker, with graduate degrees in counseling and urban planning. She earned a PhD in public policy analysis from the University of Illinois with research that applied participatory action and standpoint theory to evaluate outcomes for youth development programs. She is a 2010 Berkowitz Award winner for Outstanding Service to Children and a founding board member of the Chicago Freedom School. A longtime resident of the Pullman and Cottage Grove Heights community areas, Keisha enjoys gardening, volunteers with her block club, is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and is a proud mother of two adult sons.
Through Keisha’s leadership at BECOME, she has led organizational partners to greater clarity, deeper connection with communities, and amplified impact.
