Whitney Tucker is Director of State Fiscal Policy Research on the State Fiscal Policy team. She coordinates the Center’s state research agenda to design and promote more inclusive and equitable tax and budget policies. She leads an expert team of analysts in shaping policy debate through issue research and technical support to state-level advocates.

Prior to joining the Center, Tucker spent nearly a decade advancing anti-poverty policy in state-level child advocacy organizations. She previously served as Policy Director at NC Child in North Carolina, where she led the organization’s legislative strategy and conducted policy research with a special focus on family economic security measures. Prior to that, she worked as a Policy and Research Associate at Children’s Trust of South Carolina, where she led a statewide coalition advancing early childhood educational and economic policy reforms. Her background includes analysis and advocacy on a variety of policies aimed at increasing opportunity and resource equity, from child care affordability and Medicaid access to state earned income tax credits and enumeration in the U.S. decennial census.

Tucker holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Vanderbilt University and an M.P.H. in Health Services Policy from the University of South Carolina.