BRG is expanding our network of independent consultants! If you’re interested in working with BRG, learn more about the position and how to apply. LEARN MORE >
BRG Fellowships Video 2024
Learn about BRG’s fellowships in our latest video! To partner with BRG or learn more about our fellowship model, contact us.
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At Bright Research Group we challenge our clients to advance social change by learning from their consumers.
About Bright Research Group
Founded in 2010, Bright Research Group (BRG) is a community-centered design and research firm based in Oakland, California.
Our services are built on the simple belief that clients, communities, and the organizations that serve them hold the solutions to many of our most pressing social challenges in health care, social services, violence prevention, and youth development.
Our mission is to challenge social impact and community health efforts to become more responsive to the needs, preferences, behaviors, strengths, and voices of consumers and communities.
A women and minority-owned firm and a certified small, local emerging business in Alameda County, we hold a specific organizational commitment to advancing social equity for African American and Latin@ communities.
Our clients are public systems, foundations, non-profit organizations and private companies who are looking to:
What We Do
We use the tools of research and evaluation to do the following:
- Elevate the voices, lived experiences, preferences, and choices of people of color
- Build system and funder understanding of and empathy for people of color
- Make the case for consumer and community-driven initiatives, programs, and movements
- Build the capacity of systems to integrate people with lived experiences into their social change efforts and workforces
- Build the capacity of people of color and consumer-led organizations to define their practices and programs, achieve greater organizational sustainability, and become more outcome driven.
Our Services and Products
Fellowships
Our fellowships aim to increase the impact of peer-led interventions and help public systems access the expertise of consumers in the design of social impact efforts. Our fellowships equip people with lived experiences, peer professionals, and consumers with the skills, connections, and knowledge they need to become powerful agents of change in their communities and the institutions that serve them.
Capacity Building and Learning Experiences
We design and deliver training, peer professional learning conferences, and technical assistance initiatives to cohorts of grantees and nonprofit organizations. Our faculty are highly qualified, diverse trainers who are able to engage a broad range of social impact practitioners.
Consumer Research
Through rapid ethnographic research methods and surveys, we help our clients gain more fact-based understandings of the information needs, preferences, behaviors, beliefs, and experiences of consumers and communities.
Evaluation
We use the methodologies of research and evaluation to advance social equity. We help organizations articulate and validate their theories of change, develop greater evaluation readiness, integrate best practices, and learn about their impact on consumers and communities.
Our Team
Under the leadership of Brightstar Ohlson, we offer our clients access to a team of seasoned, culturally diverse, and multilingual professionals with deep experience and expertise in the areas of community health, family and consumer driven care, youth development, and violence prevention.
Brightstar Ohlson
Principal and CEO
Brightstar has led the design and evaluation of innovations to strengthen community health and promote equity for the past 15 years. A bilingual/bicultural English/Spanish speaker, Brightstar is personally and professionally committed to promoting more equitable relationships between communities of color and public systems, as well as broadening the number of stakeholders that are engaged in solving organizational and community problems. She holds a master’s degree in education from the University of New Haven and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Yale University.
Alice Hu-Nguyen
Senior Consultant
Allie has led participatory action research, community capacity building and program evaluation to advance health and racial equity for over 7 years in the non-profit and public sectors. She currently co-leads projects in the BRG health equity portfolio with a focus on homeless services, youth health and wellness, chronic disease prevention, and access to health services. Her work has been dedicated to lifting up the expertise and building the capacity of immigrants and youth of color to drive policy and systems change to improve health. Most recently she was an internal evaluator and program manager of a youth participatory action research program at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from UC Berkeley.
Carrie Oliver
Senior Consultant
Carrie has designed, implemented and evaluated public health initiatives for over 10 years in the nonprofit, private, and government sectors. She currently co-leads projects in the BRG health equity portfolio with a focus on behavioral health, youth health and wellness and workforce development. She is committed to elevating the expertise of communities that have been historically underrepresented and underserved to increase their decision-making power in policy and systems change. Most recently she was a senior research associate with the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement at Georgia Health Policy Center. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently in candidacy and pursing a doctor of public health degree at Georgia State University.
Kristin Owyang Gage
Chief Operating Officer
Kristin has been working to advance equity in public systems for the past eight years. Prior to joining BRG in 2019, she worked as an educator and manager at a non-profit, partnering with San Francisco public schools to increase students’ access to the natural world. As COO at Bright Research Group, she provides strategic thought partnership to the CEO and collaborates across the organization, playing a critical role in operationalizing BRG’s strategic plan. She holds a master’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology from UCLA.
Carol Lee
Operations Associate
Carol coordinates business operations and supports training and events at Bright Research Group. She has worked in the social sector for 15 years, coaching university students and developing experiential learning programs focused on racial equity, ethnic identity development and empathy building in the work for social justice. Carol holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University.
Work at Bright Research Group
Bright Research Group is always looking for smart, critical thinkers to join our team. If you think you are interested in a job with Bright Research Group, please send your resume and a cover letter describing your skill set and why you’d like to work with us to admin@brightresearchgroup.com.
Call for Independent Consultants, Community Safety Portfolio
BRG is expanding our network of independent consultants! If you’re interested in working with BRG, learn more about the position and how to apply.
Our Network
Our network includes subject matter experts, trainers, statisticians, family members, consumers, designers, software developers, and
health literacy specialists. We partner with seasoned senior-level experts in health literacy, graphic design and visualization, and training.
Perez Research Fellows
The Perez Research Fellowship is a one-year stipended fellowship for graduate students of color who want to learn about and contribute to the field of applied research and consulting. Fellows participate in a range of evaluation, capacity building and user research projects, while also building their professional networks.
Our Impact
Our clients share a common commitment to improving access and equity, a recognition that social problems require new solutions, and a desire to use data on an ongoing basis to inform their work. Below are a few samples of our impact with our clients.
Engaging consumers and peer professionals in community change efforts
The Oakland Unite Life Coaching Certification Fellowship
The Oakland Unite Life Coaching Certification Fellowship is a nine-month learning experience for life coaches, case managers, and other direct service professionals who are working directly with people in Oakland impacted by violence.
The Care Connect Consumer and Family Fellowship
The Care Connect Consumer and Family Fellowship is a 12-month leadership and professional development experience designed for consumers and family members who offer their direct service expertise to improve Alameda County’s health care system for the better.
Building system empathy for the consumer and community experience
Information Needs and Behaviors of Latino Consumers Seeking Health Care Programs
We tested the Bilingual Guide to Health Programs with Latino consumers in Oakland and Ontario. California Health Care Foundation funds the production of the paper guide, designed to help Latinos learn about and sign up for health care programs.
Learning about the Lived Experiences of Black and Latina Girls Who Live and Go to School in Oakland
We spoke with over 100 black and Latina girls who go to school and live in Oakland and analyzed school engagement data by race/ethnicity to help inform Alliance for Girls’ policy change efforts to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline for girls of color. Link to report
An Inquiry into the Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth in Alameda County
Most immigrant youth who enter the United States unaccompanied come from Central America, primarily Guatemala, as well as El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. In partnership with local school districts and Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services, Alameda County Health Care Services Agency’s (HCSA’s) Center for Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) commissioned Bright Research Group (BRG) to conduct a research inquiry into UIY.
Evaluating community change and public health investments
Readiness to Learn: COST Progress Report
COST is a school-based strategy for coordinating learning, health and wellness supports for students. We studied the implementation of COST in three schools in Alameda County to offer a best practices, lessons learned, and challenges to the field of school health.
Bay Area Codes Evaluation
Bay Area Codes is a cohort of tech-diversity and STEM organizations that, with funding from The San Francisco Foundation, provide experiential and immersive learning experiences for youth of color and other groups who have been historically underrepresented in tech.
Health Advocates Evaluation
Health Advocates is a hospital-based effort at Highland Hospital designed to address the social needs of low-income patients in Oakland.
Peer learning conferences
Oakland Unite Frontline Summit
On June 22, 2018, Oakland Unite gathered street outreach workers, life coaches, crisis interventionists, and employment specialists together to share lessons and exchange best practices in violence prevention and intervention. Participants had the opportunity to network, collaborate, and participate in skill development workshops designed for them.
Videos About Our Clients
Our Clients
Our clients are state or county agencies, city departments, school districts, foundations, nonprofits, and private companies.
African American Wellness Project
Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services
Alameda County Care Connect
Alameda County Health Care Services Agency
Center for Healthy Schools and Communities
Health Insurance Technician Unit
Alameda Health System
Alliance for Girls
California Health Care Foundation
City of Berkeley Public Health Division
City of East Palo Alto
City of Oakland
Department of Human Services (Oakland Unite)
Neighborhood Services Division
Oakland Fund for Children and Youth
Workforce Investment Board
First 5 Alameda County
Leadwell Partners
Oakland Unified School District
Qeyno Labs
Resource Development Associates (Oakland Police Dept., Measure Y)
Richard Heath & Associates (Covered California)
Rosenberg Foundation
Safe Passages
San Francisco Department of Public Health
San Mateo County Health Department
Behavioral Health and Recovery
Health Policy and Planning
Tobacco Prevention Program
The Atlantic Philanthropies
The California Endowment
The San Francisco Foundation
Urban Habitat
Youth Impact Hub
Publications
View a Sample of Our Publications
Readiness to Learn: COST Progress Report
Alameda Health System: Health Advocates Program Evaluation
CKC Thriving Students, Healthy Outcomes, The Role of School Districts in Health Care Reform
Alameda County Care Connect: Follow Up after Mental Health Hospitalization
Alameda County Care Connect: Street Medicine Models in Other Counties
Elev8 and Sustain: Lessons on Full Service Community School Sustainability from Elev8 Oakland
Oakland Fund for Children and Youth Strategic Investment Plan (2016-2019)
Contact Us
To learn more about how Bright Research Group can help your organization maximize its impact, please call or write to us and we will be in touch with you shortly.
You can reach us by phone at:
(510) 238-9948
To write to us, please fill out this form:
Bright Research Group
1211 Preservation Park Way, Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 238-9948