Domestic policy

Abstract Over the past two decades, many urban school districts have restructured large, traditional high schools into smaller learning communities. The idea behind this movement is that small schools provide a more personalized learning environment that allows teachers to more effectively address the multi-faceted needs of disadvantaged students. Despite mixed evidence on the efficacy of such reforms in practice, Detroit and other high-poverty districts have pressed forward with the creation of smaller high schools.

America's unmet challenges are huge: from energy policy to nuclear weapons, climate, health care (yes, still), a sagging infrastructure and a soaring deficit. Yet every one of them is eminently solvable. The answers are well known. So what explains, for example, thirty-five years of inaction on energy policy and even longer on health care? Why do we still approach nuclear weapons as though the Cold War continues when it ended 20 years ago? Is the policy gridlock that afflicts us the symptom of a vibrant and engaged - if polarized - society? Dr. Jessica Tuchman Mathews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace addresses these critical issues in the 2010 Citi Foundation lecture.

Abstract: This paper shows that the mortgage credit boom has significantly affected urban and school racial segregation from 1995 to 2007. We develop a model of urban segregation with credit constraints that shows that easier credit can either increase or decrease segregation, depending on the race of the marginal consumer who benefits from the expansion of credit. We then use school demographics from 1995 to 2007, matched to a national comprehensive dataset of mortgage originations, to document the link between credit supply and schools' racial demographics.

Free and open to the public. Panelists: John Bebow - The Center for Michigan Lynn Jondahl - Michigan Prospect Michael Van Beek - Mackinac Center for Public Policy Organized by: Chuck Wilbur Sponsored by: the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP); the Ford School of Public

Matthew Springer, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education, Director of the National Center on Performance Incentives Vanderbilt University. The Project on Incentives in Teaching (POINT) experiment was a three-year experimental study of middle school math teachers and their students and schools. The signature activity of the POINT experiment was the study of the effects on student outcomes of paying teachers bonuses of up to $15,000 per year on the basis of student test-score gains.

This panel discussion will present a number of different approaches to urban food retail in the city of Detroit, including: a program that touches on the conventional grocery industry; a program to develop grocery sector entrepreneurs; a new model for community grocery stores; and alternative formats/vehicles for urban residents to get fresh food. Moderator: Larissa Larsen, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning, the University of Michigan Panelists: Fresh Food Access Initiative

Watch video. Abstract This panel discussion will present a number of different approaches to urban food retail in the city of Detroit, including: a program that touches on the conventional grocery industry; a program to develop grocery sector entrepreneurs; a new model for community grocery stores; and alternative formats/vehicles for urban residents to get fresh food. Mo

Marian Wright Edelman speaks from her new book, The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation, which she wrote as a call to action for all Americans to address the urgent needs of our country's youth.

Senator Carl Levin, (D-Mich.) will discuss 'New Directions in National Security' at the 2005-06 Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture. Sen. Levin, who has represented Michigan since 1979, is the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee, and the Select Intelligence Committee. The lecture commemorates the life and work of Josh Rosenthal, a 1979 University of Michigan graduate who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, Marina Whitman and David Featherman

The Obama Administration’s EPA created a stir when it recently proposed widely varying state carbon-intensity targets to be achieved by 2020 and permanently by 2030. Dr. Engel will discuss a recent paper that examines the bases for federal allocation, among the various states, of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed to meet federal air pollution standards under the Clean Air Act.

This event has been canceled.

Avik Roy and Jonathan Cohn debate over the viability of the Affordable Care Act.

The Diversity Center Community Conversation series welcomes Richard Primus, professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School.

Free and open to the public. Book sales and signing immediately following. Continue the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks Thomas Mann (MA '68, PhD '77) and Norman Ornstein (PhD '74) will discuss their most recent book, the New York Times bestseller, It's Even Worse than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism.

****Watch the video**** Free and open to the public. Abstract The federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is the premier national example of a non-regulatory environmental policy, and it illustrates well both the potential and limitations of using information disclosure to achieve policy goals. The TRI was adopted in 1986 as an amendment to the federal Superfund law, and since 1988 we have had annual reports on the release of over 650 toxic chemicals by some 20,000 industrial facilities around the nation.

Lecture by Alan Bersin, Assistant Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Vann R. Newkirk, II, Staff Writer at The Atlantic will highlight the ways in which democracy and the ballot have been curtailed historically and in the present for people on the margins of society, including post-Jim Crow and post-Shelby County v. Holder legal developments on gerrymandering and voter ID.

Danielle Sered will speak about her experience directing Common Justice, a program of the Vera Institute of Justice that develops and advances solutions to violence that transform the lives of those harmed and foster racial equity without relying on incarceration.

Free and Open to the Public. Presenting: Mark Funkhouser, Director, Governing Institute, Former Mayor of Kansas City, MO Abstract "The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities." - Abraham Lincoln Government exists to produce positive outcomes in the community and those outcomes are "co-produced" by government and citizens working together.  Every citizen has p

Free and Open to the Public Frank J. Thompson, Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Newark. Author of Medicaid Politics: Federalism, Policy Durability, and Health Reform With Commentary provided by: Scott L.

Join EPI's scholars at 27 roundtables, panels and poster sessions, and help us to celebrate Susan Dynarski's selection as the recipient of APPAM's Spencer Award for transformative work in education policy research.

Free and open to the public. Join the conversation on Twitter: #policytalks Lecture by Roger Ferguson, president and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF. About the lecture Despite our sluggish economy and the global economic uncertainty, building lifelong financial security is not a pipe dream in 21st century America. But for most Americans, it's become a do-it-yourself proposition, as a result of the decline of traditional pension plans in the private sector. This is a concern given the general lack of financial literacy among our population.

Policy Talks @ the Ford School Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Paperback editions of Lawrence Lessig's book, Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It will be available for purchase at the event. Professor Lessig will sign copies of his book during the reception. Join in on the conversation on Twitter: #fordschoollessig This event is co-sponsored by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. From the speaker's bio: Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L.

The “Michigan’s Municipal Water Infrastructure: Policy Choices and Issues” conference is being sponsored by a consortium of universities across the state, with the hope of bringing a voice of academic research and analysis to the topic of municipal water policy in the state (particularly relevant in the face of the crisis in Flint). Faculty will present on a range of issues: from water supply engineering issues to municipal funding needs to health and environmental impacts to state and federal regulation.For more information and to register, please visit http://events.anr.msu.edu/MMWI/  This conference is free, however space is limited so please register early to secure your spot.

*Stream* David Brooks from The New York Times will be in conversation with presidential historian Ronald C. White to discuss character as a part of the Grand Valley State University's series on "Character and Presidency."

NY Times Op-Ed columnist Charles M. Blow will present a keynote presentation on "Donald Trump, arrogance, pride, and American democracy."

Join Domestic Policy Corps (DPC) and the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) for a panel discussion with a generation of Michigan governor transition leaders from 1991 to today.