Policy Topics

Poverty and social policy

Showing 31 - 60 of 1219 results

Publication

Disparity dynamics: Geographic impact of social transfer programs on income inequality

Jul 31, 2024

Social transfer programs have significant geographic differences in spending that help to reduce income gaps between rich and poor regions of the United States, according to new University of Michigan research.The study, published in Social Service...

Map of personal income per capita in US Core-Based Statistical Areas, 2019. Per capita incomes were highest in metropolitan areas on the East and West Coasts and in tourism and natural resource centers in the interior West.

News

Ford School announces new prize for social policy impact with $1 million gift

Jul 25, 2024

With a $1 million gift from Hal and Carol Kohn and the Kohn Charitable Trust, the Ford School will establish the Kohn Collaborative Prize for Social Policy Impact to honor and elevate individuals and organizations that make significant contributions...

News

Research shows far-reaching costs of eviction filings to tenants—regardless of the outcome in court

Jul 16, 2024

A new study from the University of Michigan documents the far-reaching costs of eviction filings for Pennsylvania tenants who had eviction cases filed against them but experienced a “best-case scenario” in court, meaning they had legal...

Photo of homes in Detroit's Chaldean Town neighborhood

Publication

Study offers ways to boost participation in program promoting healthy pregnancies, infant growth

Jul 8, 2024

Home visiting programs are effective in promoting healthy pregnancies, birth outcomes and infant growth and development—and new University of Michigan research offers ways to increase participation among eligible families.Michigan's Maternal and...

News

Survey shows how Detroiters’ mental health has changed since pandemic

May 30, 2024

Detroiters’ mental health-related symptoms have improved and largely stabilized since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a University of Michigan report.While the negative impacts of the pandemic on people’s mental health are well...

Photo of building with sign that reads, "How are you really?"

News

Youth Policy Lab welcomes Spelman and Morehouse students to 2024 ASPIRE Summer Program

May 24, 2024

Summer 2024 brings another exceptional cohort of undergraduate students from Spelman College and Morehouse College to the University of Michigan’s Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE). Launched in 2023, the eight-week...

2024 ASPIRE Cohort from Spelman College and Morehouse College

News

Child care workers caught in middle of Michigan’s broken child care system

May 10, 2024

A teacher has a question, notes for families await delivery to classrooms, and a little girl arriving at Blackbird Child Care Center in Harbor Springs needs her rain boots swapped for shoes. Sadie Riley-Flemming responds to it all with a...

Photo of Sadie Riley-Flemming, director of Blackbird Child Care Center in Harbor Springs, greets a girl on April 19, 2024. Photos by Molly Hauxwell Currier for the University of Michigan.

State & Hill

It’s all about equity

Apr 24, 2024

The Biden administration wants electric vehicles (EVs) to comprise fifty percent of new vehicle sales in just six years. This has required massive investment in our charging infrastructure. And charging is not the only issue raised by the...

Liz Gerber interviewing Dr. Missy Stults

State & Hill

Melvin Gaines: Public servants advancing the public good

Apr 24, 2024

As a teenager, I couldn’t help but notice the challenges my community faced— poverty, lower educational attainment, high crime and violence, and environmental injustices. It made me wonder: why is my community the way it is? And why is it...

State & Hill

Katherine Michelmore and Natasha Pilkauskas on policy rooted in evidence and facts

Apr 24, 2024

Ford School students take on a variety of different roles after graduation—some do research, some will engage in advocacy, others will become civil servants. As instructors of two of the core research methods courses that our students take, we have...

State & Hill

Letter from Dean Watkins-Hayes

Apr 24, 2024

Warm spring greetings from Ann Arbor! This year we commemorate 50 years since Gerald R. Ford took office as U.S. President, after the unprecedented resignation of disgraced Richard...

State & Hill

Spotlights, spring 2024

Apr 24, 2024

A prescription for equityAs the first city-wide experiment of its kind, Rx Kids provides cash payments for new parents—and new promise for eradicating early childhood poverty. Flint's high child poverty rates came into focus nearly 10 years ago when...

Photo of Gretchen Whitmer and Rx Kids co-directors Luke Shaefer; Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, and others in front of RxKids banner

News

“It’s a matter of racial equity”: Sandoval (MPP ’24) on the challenges facing Detroit’s ‘heir properties’

Apr 23, 2024

Inheriting a home is one of the main ways that middle- and low-income families preserve wealth across generations. Yet in many cases, family-owned properties are passed on without formal legal proceedings to prove ownership, becoming what are...

News

Highlights from the Dean's Symposium

Apr 21, 2024

Two days of panels, chats, and keynotes focused on examining and seeking solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face in Michigan, in the United States, and across the globe. More than 400 students, faculty, staff, and friends attended in...

Publication

NASEM committee including EPI’s Christina Weiland urges changes to preschool curricula to improve equity and support high-quality early education in the U.S.

Apr 18, 2024

A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) lays out a new vision for high-quality preschool curricula that support equitable early education for all children. The report recommends that in the next five...

News

UM study: Detroit’s Black homeowners gained nearly $3B in real estate wealth from 2014-22

Apr 16, 2024

University of Michigan Poverty Solutions study released today shows Detroit’s Black homeowners gained $2.8 billion in home valueStudy based on 9 years or recorded home sales dataNeighborhoods with highest poverty and lowest home values in 2014 saw...

News

Ford School named #4 public affairs program: #1 for social policy and #2 for policy analysis and for health policy

Apr 9, 2024

The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan is recognized again as one of America’s top graduate programs in public affairs, ranked #4 overall in the U.S., according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings.The...

News

New Michigan poverty map identifies needs related to education, food insecurity, affordable housing

Mar 25, 2024

A new data map showcasing diverse indicators of poverty and well-being throughout Michigan highlights the key challenges confronting residents in different parts of the state and suggests interventions for the state’s most critical needs.Poverty...

News

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Mar 12, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy is happy to announce the Dean’s Symposium, which will take place April 11 and 12 at Weill Hall, with the theme, “Policy Innovation for Our Times.” The two days will feature keynote appearances by voting rights...

Publication

Injuries of inequality and the promise of safety nets

Mar 7, 2024

What would a comprehensive strategy for reproductive rights and access look like, borrowing from the lessons from the fight against HIV? This is the question that Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the Ford School...

Headshots of Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Dom Adams-Santos

News

Detroit residents' trust in police shaped by history of police contact

Mar 5, 2024

Detroit residents who have had any type of contact with police are more critical of police than people who have no contact with police, according to a survey of Detroit residents from the University of Michigan.U-M’s Detroit Metro Area Communities...

News

Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office, ACLU of Michigan, University of Michigan announce release of Prosecutor Transparency Project study

Mar 5, 2024

Today, the Prosecutor Transparency Project released findings from a multi-year analysis of racial disparities in the prosecutorial system in Washtenaw County. The Prosecutor Transparency Project — a collaboration between the Washtenaw County...

News

Guaranteed income for entrepreneurs: U-M researchers to assess impact

Mar 5, 2024

One hundred Ann Arbor entrepreneurs, gig workers and other independent workers with low incomes have received their first two guaranteed income payments of $528 as part of the Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor pilot program.Payments started in...

Seefeldt and Emily Shupp Parker tabling outside for GIG A2

News

DC career trip returns to advance connections between students and alumni

Feb 29, 2024

The DC career exploration trip, a Ford School tradition organized by Career Services, was held this year on February 8th and 9th in person for the first time since 2020. The experience allows graduate and undergraduate students to learn about policy...

Ford School students, alumni, and friends network in DC

Publication

A tale of two perspectives on innovation and global equity

Feb 13, 2024

Inclusive innovation—the idea of introducing technologies designed for and by the poor to boost economic growth in impoverished communities—often misses the real problems facing these communities and champions solutions that benefit entrepreneurs at...

News

Poverty Solutions at U-M grows partnerships in poverty alleviation in 2023

Feb 1, 2024

Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan last year informed the largest-ever increase in state funding for youth homelessness programs, advised federal policymakers on place-based strategies for tackling poverty and laid the groundwork for...

Collage of Poverty Solutions faculty and students

Publication

Michelmore and Pilkauskas on Congressional proposal to expand the child tax credit

Jan 29, 2024

Congress is currently considering a $33 billion measure that would adjust the earning requirements and make it easier for many lower-income families to receive the full child tax credit, an average credit that is about $1,130 higher than in 2022....

Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore

News

Ford school faculty available to weigh in on 2024 elections

Jan 28, 2024

The University of Michigan has published an experts guide to the 2024 elections. Ford School faculty are available to offer insights on relevant issues impacting the elections, including the following: Economics Betsey Stevenson, professor of...

Red, white, and blue balloons and stars with a large white checkmark

News

“Do what makes you come alive, do it with courage” Martin Luther King Jr. panelists discuss his legacy, implications for today’s world

Jan 21, 2024

On Monday, January 15th, hundreds of community members, students, and U-M affiliates filled Hill Auditorium to attend the 38th annual memorial keynote lecture in tribute to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The MLK Symposium, founded in 1987 as a...

MLK keynote speech 2024 at Hill Auditorium

News

Olivia Morris (MPP ‘24) reaches final round of the Michigan Health Equity Challenge

Jan 19, 2024

Copeland Fellow Olivia Morris (MPP ‘24) was one of 10 University of Michigan graduate students selected for the inaugural Michigan Health Equity Challenge, which aims to develop community-based solutions to health equity challenges in Southeast...