Mrs. Hardy-Jones is a Program Director in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of South Florida's College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. She has over 30 years of experience in child welfare programs, practices, and systems evaluation.
Currently, Mrs. Hardy-Jones serves as the Director and Principal Investigator for the Just-In-Time Training Network. She is also the Co-Investigator for the Evaluation of Implementation to Fidelity of Evidence-Based Services within Florida's Department of Children and Families' Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) initiative, funded through the Administration for Children and Families. Additionally, she is a Co-Investigator on Pre-service Training for Child Welfare Professionals in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties.
Beyond her work at the university, Mrs. Hardy-Jones contributes as a child welfare expert for the Southern Poverty Law Center and Children's Rights. She previously served as the Director and Principal Investigator for Florida's Center for Child Welfare, where she led Florida's advanced training initiative and information dissemination for professionals and foster parents. Before joining USF, she was the Vice President of Quality Assurance and Training at Hillsborough Kids Inc., Hillsborough County's Community-Based Care Agency.