Kayla Benson, MPA is the Director of Impact at The EdVenture Group. Kayla began her career in the child advocacy field, leading growth efforts at two community-based organizations as a Development Coordinator at the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center and, prior to EdVenture, as the Executive Director at CASA For Kids of Monongalia and Preston Counties. Kayla applies lived experience as a non-profit leader and nearly a decade working with children, families, and team members to support professional development, advocacy, and leadership efforts that benefit education communities across West Virginia and the nation. Kayla’s unique background in the child advocacy field adds perspective and an understanding of the strengths, complexities, and challenges of the families and communities served to her work in K-12 education with EdVenture.
Kayla currently serves as the Director of the West Virginia Family Engagement Center (WVFEC), leading efforts to enhance family engagement across the state, and serves a a founding co-lead of the REL Appalachia Kinship Caregivers and Grandfamilies Community of Practice (CoP). Kayla’s passion for helping children and families, combined with her background and experience in prevention and leadership, drive her current efforts in leading the development and implementation of The EdVenture Group’s Prevention Program, and the Leaders Investing in Family Engagement (LIFE) Program. Kayla strives to use innovative strategies to build partnerships and programming to solve generational and community-specific challenges to her work at The EdVenture Group. Kayla earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from West Virginia University in 2011, supported by a B.A. in Multidisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Leadership Studies, Entrepreneurship, and Communication. She completed her certificate in Executive Leadership from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Executive Education in 2022. She remains personally committed to advocating for and supporting children who are in the system through no fault of their own as a CASA volunteer and mentor with Harbor 58.