About

Tess Abrahamson-Richards is a citizen of the Spokane Tribe, the United States, and England. She received her BA from Seattle University in Art History and her MPH from the University of Washington in Health Services/Maternal and Child Health. She is currently the Director of Data Sovereignty at Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services where she leads Hummingbird’s internal research projects and national Indigenous maternal and child health data advocacy. Tess is pursuing her PhD in Social Welfare at the University of Washington; her research is focused on policy systems’ impacts on Indigenous reproductive and economic justice. Prior to joining Hummingbird, Tess spent 12 years working in Indigenous evaluation and research roles in university and private sector settings. In those positions, she served on the leadership team for a multisite evaluation of Tribal early childhood home visiting programs and led and contributed to a variety of other Indigenous early childhood, higher education, and public health focused projects. Tess is passionate about research that centers participants’ voices, Indigenous methods, community action, stories, and strengths. She is grateful to her community for all of the beautiful, nurturing, creative, resistant and reclaiming spaces we share in and the healing legacies we continue to build across generations. 

Photo by Brooks Callison