Deborah Moroney

Vice President

Deborah Moroney is a vice president at AIR, where she leads AIR’s work in the area of Youth, Family, and Community Development. Dr. Moroney is a methodological expert in implementation science—in the context of both rigorous research and program evaluation—and her work often bridges the two worlds of research and practice. She is also an expert in STEM informal learning and community arts programming.

Read our Q&A with Deborah Moroney about the importance of quality out-of-school programs for youth

Dr. Moroney serves as a reviewer or editorial board member on multiple peer-reviewed journals, and has authored practitioner and organizational guides using both research findings and practitioner input. Dr. Moroney co-authored the fourth edition of the seminal resource Beyond the Bell: A Toolkit for Creating Effective Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs. She has authored numerous works on implementation and assessment of social and emotional development, including the first edition of the Ready to Assess toolkit, and co-chaired the social and emotional learning National Practitioner Advisory Group. She has also edited two volumes on elements of learning and development: Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students, and Social and Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time: Foundations and Futures.

Dr. Moroney has served on a National Academies of Sciences (NAS) committee on Summertime Experiences and Child and Adolescent Education, Health, and Safety; she also contributed a keynote paper to an NAS workshop on character development. At AIR, Dr. Moroney has been a PI or co-PI on several large studies of youth development organizations, working with the School’s Out New York City, Girls Inc., and NatureBridge, among others.

Dr. Moroney has served on the advisory boards of several organizations, including YMCA of the USA, BellXcel, and Information Age Publishing. Dr. Moroney is also a longstanding member of the C.S. Mott Foundation Afterschool Technical Assistance Collaborative serving the 50 State Afterschool Network, and is a lead partner on the Readiness Projects with the National Urban League and the Forum for Youth Investment.

Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Moroney was a clinical faculty member in educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Youth Development Graduate Program.

Image of Deborah Moroney

Ph.D. and M.Ed., Special Education, University of Illinois at Chicago; B.A., Conservation Biology, University of Wisconsin - Madison

+1.202.403.5000