Allison Gilbreath, MSW

Allison Gilbreath is a policy and advocacy leader with more than a decade of experience advancing policies that improve the lives of children and families. Before joining the Alliance for Early Success, she served as Senior Director of Policy and Programs at Voices for Virginia’s Children, where she led the organization’s policy strategy and advocacy efforts, including its work to strengthen Virginia’s early care and education system. 

In her work on early childhood policy, Allison has helped advance efforts to increase access to affordable, high-quality early care and education and build greater public investment in Virginia’s child care system. To that end, she has been an active leader within the Virginia Promise Partnership, a statewide coalition of parents, providers, advocates, and organizers. Her work has included coalition building, legislative strategy, and translating the experiences of families and providers into policy change. 

In 2025, Allison was appointed to Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger’s transition team, serving on the Health and Human Resources Social Services Stability, Safety, and Opportunity Subcommittee. She was also selected as an inaugural member of the Partnership for America’s Children’s Core Collective, a national leadership fellowship designed to strengthen and connect leaders in child advocacy organizations across the country. Allison was named one of Style Weekly’s 40 Under 40 in 2019 and has presented at numerous state and national conferences. 

In addition to her policy work, Allison is an adjunct professor in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work, where she teaches graduate-level social work students. 

Allison earned a Bachelor of Science from Virginia Commonwealth University and later earned her Master of Social Work from VCU. She also completed the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership program in 2016.