Anthony Barrows

Managing Partner & Founder, Center for Behavioral Design & Social Justice, Project Evident
New York City, New York

Anthony Barrows is Managing Partner and Founder of the Center for Behavioral Design and Social Justice at Project Evident. Prior to this role, Anthony served at ideas42, an applied behavioral science firm, Anthony Barrows focuses on domestic poverty, local government, post-secondary education, and civic engagement. Barrows previously worked over ten years in child welfare, spanning positions in direct service, supervision, training, advocacy, project management, and system improvement. He is also a practicing artist and has led art classes and arts-oriented youth development programming. Anthony holds a BA in Philosophy and Art from UMass Boston, an MFA in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was a Gleitsman Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership.

My Truth

Having spent the bulk of my career in human services and child welfare, I know the deep need for effective programs, but I also know that many of those programs simply don’t work as well as they could. Applied behavioral science offers some answers to that issue. Using behavioral insights, we can improve outcomes for people by accounting for the quirks of human cognition: everything from implicit bias, to limited attention, to loss aversion, to stereotype threat can have deep impacts on how (or whether) people get the things they need.

Stories featuring Anthony Barrows

We are pleased to share Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s newest report – Reimagining Child Welfare and Realizing a Networked Approach to Family Well-Being. Tapping the expertise and experience of families, Ascend Fellows, and the Ascend Network, this report is the result of our effort that began in 2020 to interrogate the systems, practices, and policies that …

New Report: Reimagining Child Welfare Read More »

PublicationApril 10, 2023
The inaugural Aspen Leadership Impact Forum brought Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows and philanthropic leaders who share a commitment to courageous leadership for children and families together with the inaugural cohort of SOARFellows, leaders working to expand opportunities for women and girls.
BlogNovember 15, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has made more evident than ever the need to transform policies, practice, and systems to build upon the inherent resilience of families – especially those with low incomes and from BIPOC communities. In 2018 – 677,529 children experienced maltreatment in the US. 51 percent of those children were Black, Indigenous, or children …

Investing in Futures Means Investing in Families: Announcing the Two-Generation Prenatal to Three Learning and Action Community Read More »

BlogDecember 9, 2020
Black Lives Matter. As a collective of leaders committed to advancing two-generation strategies to end multigenerational poverty, we believe that the only path to that outcome is through a reckoning with our past and present, and a fundamental shift in our institutions. This requires a new social contract to remedy the harms of White supremacy â€“a …

Undo A System of White Supremacy: The Call for a New Social Contract Read More »

BlogJune 29, 2020
Presented by the Aspen Institute in partnership with the Atlantic, in its 15th year, the Aspen Ideas Festival is the nation’s premier, public gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to present and discuss the ideas and issues that both shape our lives and challenge our times. Ascend has had the honor …

Ascending at the 2019 Aspen Ideas Festival Read More »

BlogJuly 12, 2019
Kwame AnkuChairman and CEOBlack Star Fund Sacramento, CAMy Vision – The problem I am focusing on solving is breaking the economic disparity cycle afflicting people of the African diaspora. I call my bold vision 100X100. It is a vision of 100 Black investment managers who will each manage $100M innovation funds by 2025. I believe we …

2018 Ascend Fellow Action Plans Read More »

Ascend FellowshipJune 19, 2019
As state and federal lawmakers prepare for the year ahead, more than 350 practice and community leaders, policymakers, researchers, and philanthropists - including Ascend Fellows, Family Prosperity Innovators, and Ascend Network Partners - joined us at the 2019 Aspen Forum on Children and Families to harness this momentum for investing in the full potential of children and families, two generations at a time.
BlogMarch 13, 2019
2018 Ascend Fellows
NEWS RELEASE Contact: Lindsay Broyhill Ascend at the Aspen Institute Tel: 202.721.5596 Lindsay.broyhill@aspeninstitute.org Prestigious Aspen Institute Ascend Fellowship Announces 2018 Class of Leaders Diverse Leaders Selected for Their Groundbreaking Work Advancing Opportunity for Children and Families With Low Incomes Washington, DC, September 6, 2018 – The Aspen Institute announced today the 2018 class of Aspen …

Prestigious Aspen Institute Ascend Fellowship Announces 2018 Class of Leaders Read More »

Press ReleasesSeptember 6, 2018
Almost 50 years ago, our nation made a seminal commitment to children and families with the launch of Project Head Start.   On May 18, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Sargent Shriver stood in the Rose Garden and made a lasting commitment to America’s most disadvantaged children and established Project Head Start as the …

Smart Starts for Children and Families: Building Upon Early Learning Innovations Read More »

ConveningsAugust 5, 2015

Convenings Featuring Anthony Barrows

Date: June 7, 2021
Location: Virtual (Zoom)
The past decade has seen remarkable progress and momentum in the modern day two-generation (2Gen) movement. 2Gen programs at the local, state, and federal level, well-informed by those most impacted and rooted in the community, are improving family...
ConveningJune 7, 2021