Dean's Symposium - New Policy in Support of Families and Kids

A host of policies have been attempted to give direct cash payments and tax credits to low income families and new mothers. Luke Shaefer, Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy director of Policy Solutions at the University of Michigan, will examine the latest research and evidence with leading sociologist and chair of the Department of Black Studies Mary Pattillo of Northwestern University, Darrick Hamilton, economics professor and director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, and the Ford School's Natasha Pilkauskas, associate professor of public policy. 

This event is part of the Dean's Symposium. For more information about the other panels and keynotes, please click here.

From the Speakers' bios:

Darrick Hamilton, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, has been involved in crafting policy proposals, such as Baby Bonds and a Federal Job Guarantee, which have garnered a great deal of media attention and served as inspirations for legislative proposals at the federal, state and local levels.

Mary Pattillo is the Harold Washington Professor of Sociology and Chair, Department of Black Studies at Northwestern University. Her areas of interest include race and ethnicity, urban sociology, inequality, housing, education, criminal legal studies, Black communities, and qualitative methods. The city of Chicago offers an abundance of opportunities for research and activism and Pattillo strives to be an expert in Chicago history, politics, and social life. 

Natasha Pilkauskas is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her research considers how demographic, social safety net, and economic shifts in the U.S. affect families and children with low-incomes. One strand of her research focuses on the living arrangements of children‚ especially those who live multigenerational households. A second aspect of her work considers economic insecurity, poverty and family wellbeing. A third area focuses on how cash transfer policies, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, might improve the developmental and life trajectories of children living in poverty.

H. Luke Shaefer is the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. At U-M, he is also a professor of social work and the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative that partners with communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty. 

Faculty Expert

Natasha Pilkauskas

Associate Professor of Public Policy

Pilkauskas is a social demographer who studies the social safety net, children's living arrangements, and economic insecurity. Pilkauskas' work considers how social policy might improve the developmental and life trajectories of children living in poverty.

Faculty Expert

Luke Shaefer

Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy; Director, Poverty Solutions; Professor of Social Work

Shaefer serves as the inaugural director of Poverty Solutions, an interdisciplinary, presidential initiative at U-M that seeks to partner communities and policymakers to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty.

• Dean's Symposium
• H. Luke Shaefer
• Luke Shaefer
• Natasha Pilkauskas
• Darrick Hamilton
• Mary Pattillo
• Poverty Solutions
• Poverty and social policy
• Domestic policy