Susan O'Connor

National Training Associate
New York

Susan O’Connor is the Director of the Hasbro Summer Learning Initiative and the WestMOST Network. The organization’s mission is to create equity in opportunity for all youth through expanded learning experiences in Western Massachusetts. HSLI/WestMOST provides a broad range of direct supports to after-school and youth development organizations, and works to build public will, impact public policy and improve outcomes through partnerships with schools, business, and the community. HSLI received the Excellence Award from the National Association for Summer Learning in 2009, in recognition of the innovative model and promising outcomes in stemming summer reading loss.

Prior to her work with the Network, Susan was the Director of the Hampshire Educational Collaborative’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers in Northampton, Massachusetts. Before working with 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Susan was a Research Associate with the National Institute on Out-Of-School Time at Wellesley College for nine years, developing standards and continuous improvement tools for after school programs. She is an author of Advancing School-Age Child Care Quality (ASQ). She has also published papers on Resiliency and After School programs, Workforce Issues, Homework Assistance and Literacy Activities.

She has an MSW from West Virginia in community development and has 30 years of experience in the youth development and community organizing.