Sara Cooper is the director of Employment, Education and Training within the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Center for Economic Opportunity. She directs strategic priorities and resources to build scalable practice models, field-building approaches and policy and system solutions that promote labor market opportunities that improve the lives of young people.
In her previous role, Sara was a senior associate for Economic Opportunity with the Foundation’s Baltimore Civic Site team. She funded direct workforce development services, community wealth building, organizational capacity and systems building and technical assistance for partners in the Baltimore City ecosystem.
Prior to her work at Casey, Sara was the director of Workforce Development at Maryland’s Department of Human Services, leading two employment and training programs statewide — the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She began her 27-year career in workforce development as a job developer at a community-based organization in Columbia, Maryland. Subsequently, she worked for Anne Arundel County’s workforce development board and Maryland’s Department of Labor, focused on disability and youth workforce development programs and initiatives. She is a member of the Job Opportunity Task Force’s board, Baltimore City’s Local Advisory Council for Career Technical Education and Baltimore Workforce Development board on which she co-chairs its Youth Committee.
Sara earned a BS in Human Development Family Studies from The Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Global Career Development credential and a graduate certificate in Community Leadership from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is also a graduate of the Weinberg Sector Skills Academy and The Leadership Class of 2019. Sara currently lives in the Baltimore area with her husband and three sons.