Abby Kiesa is Youth Coordinator & Research at CIRCLE (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), one of the nation’s leading research centers on youth civic engagement. Over its ten year existence CIRCLE has: helped built a research field, begun to change public discourse and press coverage about young people as citizens, helped change political campaigns by helping to show that it is cost-effective to mobilize people between the ages of 18 and 30, and has provided training and technical assistance to hundreds of organizations, mostly direct providers of services to youth.

During her six years at CIRCLE Abby has coordinated and led large national research projects focused on both non-college youth and college students. She is also the lead on CIRCLE’s work to make sure that their research gets in the hands of practitioners and that this research is informed by on-the-ground realities. In 2007, Abby was named a national Service-Learning Emerging Leader by the National Service-Learning Partnership, “a two-year intensive experience designed to elevate and prepare a new, culturally diverse generation of service-learning leaders committed to working with traditionally under-served populations, schools, and communities.” Prior to CIRCLE Abby worked on student programs at national Campus Compact.