Dr. Ritika Sharma Kurup, LISW-S
Founder & Principal

I am a practitioner-scholar who works with coalitions and teams that are transforming unjust systems. For more than two decades, I have built and led large-scale efforts serving children and families in the U.S. and India. For fifteen of those years, I have done place-based upward mobility work. I have done this work from many seats: in my own community, at a national network, as an independent advisor, as a board member, and as a researcher. Working from each of these seats has given me a clear view of the role each partner needs to play to achieve measurable results.

In my community. I spent more than seven years at Learn to Earn Dayton, a place-based partnership in Montgomery County, Ohio. I led multiple cradle-to-career initiatives, including the launch of a community-wide race equity education agenda, the establishment of Dayton’s first out-of-school collaborative, and Montgomery County’s Grade-Level Reading Campaign, which was recognized as an All-America City Award winner in 2017.

At a national network. As Senior Director of Learning and Activation at StriveTogether, a national nonprofit network of 70 communities, I established the data and learning division. I also served as the key strategist for the network’s Racial Equity Planning Team, shepherded the integration of racial equity benchmarks into StriveTogether’s theory of action, and facilitated the launch of systems indicators, a new body of work to measure progress in systems.

As an advisor and board member. Since 2022, through Saahas, I have partnered with coalitions, national networks, and funders, including Results for America, the Tamarack Institute, and Bright Futures Educational Partnership. I also serve as board vice chair of Omega CDC, home of the Hope Zone Promise Neighborhood in Dayton.

As a researcher. My scholarship centers on understanding how community-led, place-based work can facilitate sustainable systems change. My doctoral research, Role of Power and Autonomy in Place-Based Upward Mobility: A Mixed Methods Study from the Perspective of Community Members, examined how residents’ power and autonomy shape whether opportunity translates into their belief in upward mobility. I did this work with residents in Dayton and St. Louis.

I named my practice Saahas, Hindi for courage, because I believe courage is what it takes to transform systems so they work for all community members. I hold a PhD in Social Work, a Master of Social Work, and a Master of Arts in Public Policy and Management from The Ohio State University, and a Master of Arts in Social Work from the University of Delhi. I was named a Children and Family Fellow by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2016 and received the OSU College of Social Work’s Distinguished Career Award in 2021.