NPC researchers tell the Huffington Post "How to Fight Poverty in Detroit"

August 29, 2012
National Poverty Center researchers wrote a guest column for the Huffington Post titled, "How to Fight Poverty in Detroit."

The authors – Kristin Seefeldt (MPP '96, PhD '10), Sarah Burgard, and NPC director Sheldon Danziger – posted some of the findings they have collected from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Survey.

The MRRS is an ongoing panel study of 900 families in Southeast Michigan designed to help NPC researchers better understand how the Great Recession and subsequent American Reinvestment and Recovery Act have affected the well-being of workers and families.

"What needs to be done?" the authors ask. "It is clear to us that proposals like those in Representative Ryan's budget blueprint – which would slash spending on food stamps, school lunches, and other programs that help low-income individuals – will do much more harm than good. … Cities like Detroit, as well as disadvantaged neighborhoods in many cities, need greater public investments: in education, jobs, and Infrastructure."

This column is part of the HuffPost Shadow Conventions 2012, a series spotlighting three issues that are not being discussed at the national GOP and Democratic conventions: The Drug War, Poverty in America, and Money in Politics.