Laura Jimenez Parra is a research associate in the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute. Her research focuses on child care and early education policies and practices that improve the outcomes of young children, families, and child care providers. She is particularly interested in matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion among vulnerable populations. She also has experience with the implementation and evaluation of early childhood programs examining quality of care, the early education workforce, and cultural processes within these settings. Before joining Urban, Jimenez Parra was an Early Care and Education Research Scholar through the Administration for Children and Families, which supported her dissertation research on the close relationships family child care providers form with families and children in their programs and how these influence providers’ and parents’ well-being. She has a PhD in human development and quantitative methodology from the University of Maryland, College Park.