Sophie Milam
Sophie Milam is an accomplished social policy expert with over 25 years of experience in social policy and programs including strategy, analysis, design, and implementation. Having worked for community and national nonprofit organizations, political campaigns, members of Congress, and academic research centers, Sophie brings a unique perspective on what it takes to successfully advance evidence-based solutions to the pressing issues facing our communities.
strategic leadership
Most recently, Sophie led the Benefit Illinois project, a public-private partnership working to develop and advance strategies to increase enrollment in safety net programs with a focus on program implementation, policy, and technology. In this role, Sophie convened policymakers, advocates, low-income individuals, program providers, community organizations, and foundations to identify high-impact strategies and build the partnerships necessary to advance them.
As Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Sophie helped set strategy and drive impact in service of the organization’s mission as part of the senior leadership team. Drawing on her background in program innovation, Sophie built a first-of-its-kind team optimizing the local level implementation of public benefit programs by identifying pain points and advancing best practice in partnership with state agencies. She redesigned the organization’s benefits outreach work to better leverage data and improve outcomes. Sophie also led the transformation of the organization’s advocacy work, building award-winning programming to mobilize low-income households and program providers in advocacy.
policy & Advocacy
Sophie has served in senior policy roles with national nonprofits based in Washington, DC. As Director of Nutrition Assistance and Budget Policy for Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger-relief charity, she led a policy agenda focused on federal nutrition programs, nutrition and health promotion, and community food security. At Bread for the World, a faith-based, grassroots advocacy organization, Sophie advanced policies supporting low-income workers including TANF, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, EITC, and federal nutrition programs. She also helped lead the organization's agricultural policy work around the global food crisis and farm bill reform.
Program innovation & research
Sophie brings rigorous experience in program design and evaluation from her time in academia. At the University of Chicago's Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab, Sophie supported the design and implementation of three research studies using randomized controlled trials to evaluate parent-focused interventions to improve early childhood outcomes. At the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs, she adapted behavioral interventions successful in shifting client’s nutritional choices in other settings for application within the unique constraints of the food pantry environment.
coalitions
Throughout her career, Sophie has served in leadership roles on various commissions and coalitions, including chairing two working groups for the Illinois Commission on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security, staffing the Illinois Commission to End Hunger, serving on the Illinois Health and Human Services Task Force and Chicago Food Equity Council, and convening the Washington, DC-based Food Policy Working Group.
politics
Early in her career, Sophie spent several years working as a legislative aide in Congress and worked on political campaigns at the local and national level.
education
Sophie earned her Master of Public Policy with honors from the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy in 2016 and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Psychology in 2002.