Our Team

Laura Stephany, MPPM

Senior State Policy Analyst

Laura is a Senior State Policy Analyst at the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center. In her role, she tracks the development, adoption, and implementation of policies in the area of child and parent health, cultivates relationships with key stakeholders, and serves as a resource to state-level policymakers. She also contributes to the development of the annual Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap.

Prior to this role, Laura worked as Health Policy Manager at Allies for Children, where she led efforts to effect change on a wide range of children’s health issues including insurance, home visiting, early childhood nutrition, and lead-safe housing. She served on the leadership team of Pennsylvania’s effort to develop and implement a statewide public policy agenda to boost participation in high-quality Prenatal-to-3 services, promoting the health and wellbeing of children and families. Laura has deep experience building advocacy alliances and advocating before agencies, decisionmakers and elected officials. Previously, Laura served as the Director of Development for Sojourner House, a nonprofit that provides recovery services to mothers and children battling substance use disorders.

Laura holds a Master of Public Policy and Management and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her husband and spirited young daughter. When she’s not at work, Laura enjoys running, hiking, yoga, and cheering on her Pitt Panthers.

Authored Content

As we enter March, legislative sessions continue to heat up. From progress around Medicaid expansion in one Southern state to growing momentum on postpartum health care coverage, paid family leave (PFL), tax credits, and child
At the end of this month, a pandemic-era guarantee of stable health insurance for low-income families will come to an end. The Medicaid continuous coverage unwinding will trigger the most significant coverage event since the