Root Policy Research is a community planning and housing research firm, providing custom, creative, and high-value analysis and strategy for our clients.
The Root Policy Team
Root is a women-owned business founded by Heidi Aggeler and Mollie Fitzpatrick, former partners at BBC Research & Consulting. Our team is made up of economists, community planners, policy experts, data analysts, and all-around good people.
Root was founded to advance economic consulting and policy analysis in many areas critical to the development of thriving communities.
Housing is a fundamental part of all communities – and a critical part of community development. Yet the types of housing needed, and the best way to deliver housing to residents, differ due to household characteristics, economic pressures, and community resources.
Our approach to fair housing involves a broader assessment of how well residents of all backgrounds can access opportunity. We supplement HUD data with customized maps and data models identifying how economic opportunity could be improved.
Economic mobility is a factor in all of our work but this issue goes beyond housing and economic development to influence a host of program and policy decisions for local governments from human services, to transportation, to cultural investments.
Data and statistics paint a picture of a place, but the stories and experiences of the people who live there tell us what the picture means. Our approach to community engagement is rooted in our decades of experience connecting with people of all cultures, incomes, and lived experiences.
Language access planning is an important part of creating equitable, culturally dynamic, and welcoming communities—in addition to meeting certain federal funding requirements.
We assess the economic benefits of enabling parents to work through child care provision, the value of post high-school education and training programs, and the economic gains communities realize by connecting school quality and housing choice.