Who we are
We are a collective of experienced researchers, policy experts, and advocates with a shared desire to use our skills to promote interdependence and achieve equity and justice for disabled individuals and their communities.
At The Interdependent Futures Lab, we believe that interdependence—not isolation—is foundational to the human experience. To ensure flourishing for all, regardless of need, our fundamental interdependence must be reflected in the design and implementation of our social systems. Through rigorous research, actionable strategies, and deep-rooted care for communities, we will work toward a more just and prosperous future for all. Our areas of expertise include health policy analysis and management, disability justice, migrant health, intersectional feminism, nonprofit management, social and behavioral science, and advocacy strategy. Our solutions are community-centered, data-driven, and future-focused.
We provide our clients with a range of services — including qualitative and quantitative research, program evaluation, policy analysis and strategic advocacy, campaign management, and communications — designed to foster interdependence and human flourishing through systemic change.
Our Mission
We work to meet the diverse array of needs people experience over the life-course by meaningfully engaging with disabled individuals and their communities to design, implement, and evaluate social science and health research, public policy, and service programs.
Our Vision
We envision a future where the experience and collective wisdom of disabled individuals and their communities drive initiatives that promote interdependence and ensure flourishing for all, regardless of need.
Our Team
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Principal Consultant & Co-Founder, Interdependent Futures Lab
Samantha (Sam) Streuli (they/she) is a disabled writer, researcher, and evaluator who is dedicated to community accountable research and evaluation, disability justice, and equitable access to information and tools for critical inquiry. They bring over a decade of experience in research, evaluation, program design, writing, marketing and communication, and strategic organizational support in academia and non-profits.
Sam earned a PhD in Medical Anthropology from UC San Diego and completed postdoctoral training in Public Health at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health. Their research focused on community-based approaches to co-designing vaccine education tools with racialized immigrant/refugee communities and critically addressing how funding practices and challenges associated with reconciling different ways of knowing impact the potential of community-driven interventions to advance equity. As a postdoctoral researcher, they focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marginalized communities from an intersectional perspective.
Sam has worked as a consultant, researcher, and director for community-based organizations, overseeing research and evaluation, grants and fundraising, and marketing and communications. They have demonstrated their passion for storytelling, evidence generation, and accessible communication by publishing in scientific journals and writing op-eds on disability justice issues as a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project and AcademyHealth.
At the Interdependent Futures Lab, Sam is eager to support organizations, researchers, and fellow self-advocates in work that centers disability justice and human interdependence.
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Principal Consultant & Co-Founder, Interdependent Futures Lab
Adam Beddawi, MS is a policy professional with experience in quantitative and qualitative research, strategic advocacy, and government relations. Since graduating from the University of Virginia with degrees in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Adam has worked in Washington, D.C. to ensure that federal policy and programs meet the diverse needs of underserved and underrepresented populations.
His most notable career accomplishments include the successful implementation of an advocacy campaign to revise the federal standards for data on race and ethnicity to include a “Middle Eastern or North African”, or MENA, response option on all federal information collection forms. Adam has also worked to introduce federal legislation to improve the quality and effectiveness of federal health programs, direct federal appropriations to support community initiatives, and manage government relationships with professional staff in Congress and the administration. While working, Adam also attained an MS in Data Analytics and Policy from Johns Hopkins University in 2024.
Adam’s work is significantly shaped by his experience as the brother of an individual with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and the son of their primary caregiver. He endeavors to reform disability support systems to better meet the needs of individuals who rely on the care of others to have their basic needs met. Through his work with the Interdependent Futures Lab (IFL), Adam hopes to support the initiatives of organizations, foundations, and researchers working toward disability justice.
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Principal Consultant & Co-Founder, Interdependent Futures Lab
Chad “CJ” Valasek (he/they) is a sociologist, writer, and policy researcher committed to building just futures through participatory research, critical evaluation, and community-driven consulting. He brings over a decade of experience working across academic, nonprofit, and public sectors at the intersections of mental health, housing justice, labor rights, and technology.
CJ earned his Ph.D. in Sociology and Science Studies from UC San Diego, where his research explored digital well-being, harm reduction, and structural inequities in behavioral health systems. As a Senior Research & Evaluation Associate in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Homelessness Hub, he has led mixed-methods studies and policy evaluations focused on the CARE Court Act, overdose prevention programs, and racial disparities in homelessness services.
Grounded in lived experience and committed to research justice, CJ specializes in collaborative projects with people most impacted by systems of care, control, and criminalization. His work supports public agencies, grassroots coalitions, and health and housing providers in designing more equitable, responsive, and liberatory programs and policies.
At Interdependent Futures Lab, CJ co-leads strategy and research design, focusing on initiatives that challenge extractive models and uplift collective healing, mutual aid, and systems transformation.
Our Services
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Services include:
Research Ethics
Research Planning & Timelines
Mixed-Methods Research Design and Administration
Quantitative Analysis & Statistical Services
Data Visualization & Mapping
Program Evaluation
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Services include:
Policy Analysis and Research
Coalition Building and Stakeholder Engagement
Campaign Management
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Services include:
Communication & Content Development
Graphic & Web Design
Writing Services
Social Media Support
Education & Training
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Services include:
Grant Writing & Research
Project & Grant Management
Organizational & Strategic Consulting