Policy Topics

Poverty and social policy

Showing 391 - 420 of 1241 results

News

Shaefer lauds the potential impact of the child tax credit

May 14, 2021

"The expanded, fully refundable child tax credit sounds complicated, but the ideas behind it are simple, and its design has been tested in many other countries. It’s based on the principles that children deserve the opportunity to thrive, and that...

Publication

Vaccine hesitancy, rooted in institutional mistrust, could stand in way of COVID-19 herd immunity, STPP study finds

May 12, 2021

The global effort to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines has progressed despite myriad challenges. Yet the final step—shots in arms—meets resistance among some that can't easily be overcome by science and supply chains. Vaccine hesitancy—a...

A nurse administers the COVID-19 vaccine to a teacher in Iowa (Credit: Phil Roeder / CC BY)

News

Biden's plan for universal preschool, explained - Weiland

May 12, 2021

On April 28, the Biden Administration announced the American Families Plan, which includes universal preschool for all three- and four-year-olds. Christina Weiland, associate professor of education at the Ford School, weighed in on the plan and...

News

Stevenson comments widely on COVID-19 recovery, minimum wage

May 10, 2021

Ford School economics professor Betsey Stevenson has been commenting on the debate about raising the minimum wage and the contours of the COVID-19 recovery. When the April jobs report was released, with significantly fewer jobs created than were...

News

Kalena Thomhave (MPP ‘21) awarded the Peter Eckstein Prize

May 10, 2021

Recent Ford School graduate Kalena Thomhave (MPP ‘21) is the 2021 winner of the Peter Eckstein Prize for Interdisciplinary Research for her comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced by the U.S. Unemployment Insurance (UI) system during the...

In the Media

Cooney comments on surge in home remodeling and effect on low-income households

May 10, 2021 WDET Detroit Today

More people around the country are looking to remodel their homes, but because of disruptions in the global supply chain, the price of remodeling has spiked. Pat Cooney, assistant director of economic mobility at U-M Poverty Solutions, pointed out...

In the Media

Stevenson says policies should impact long-term growth and our well-being

Apr 29, 2021 Washington Post

"Everybody was running around in 2008 trying to save the banking system. Now there's a very different effort this time to save the day-care centers," said Betsey Stevenson. "We shouldn't just be asking what policies will do for long-run growth. We...

News

Pilkauskas wins 2020 IPUMS Research Award

Apr 28, 2021

Natasha Pilkauskas' research on "Historical Trends in Children Living in Multigenerational Households in the United States: 1870–2018" has been selected as the 2020 winner of the IPUMS Research Award. Pilkauskas and her co-authors used decennial...

In the Media

Watkins-Hayes and Shaefer comment in the NYT about child tax credit expansion

Apr 26, 2021 New York Times

Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Luke Shaefer comment in the New York Times about the permanent expansion of the child tax credit in President Biden's proposed American Families Plan. The simplicity of the plan cuts through old ideas of who’s...

A parent/guardian and two young children in masks walking outdoors (Credit: Shutterstock)

News

New website answers Michiganders’ questions about expanded Child Tax Credit

Apr 26, 2021

A new website from Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan offers step-by-step guidance for parents to ensure they receive the expanded Child Tax Credit, which is worth up to $3,600 per child, per year. The American Rescue Plan Act of...

Poverty Solutions Child Tax Credit portal

News

Dynarski’s research and advocacy for a simplified FAFSA becomes reality

Apr 23, 2021

Professor Sue Dynarski laid out the reality of pursuing higher education for many students in a 2015 NYT op-ed. “Many smart students forgo college in the mistaken belief that they cannot afford it,” she wrote. “The financial aid system, which is...

News

Report leads to additional $5M investment in Detroit Land Bank Authority’s Rehabbed & Ready program

Apr 22, 2021

The Detroit Land Bank Authority’s (DLBA) Rehabbed & Ready program received good news recently in the form of a joint $5M new investment from the Rocket Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of Quicken Loans' Rocket Mortgage, and the City of Detroit....

In the Media

Young discusses the impact of Chauvin's guilty verdict

Apr 21, 2021 Yahoo News

Alford Young Jr. commented that "for the first time in our history, we can acknowledge that an officer has been found guilty of violating a black body. And that will change how the police respond to the public and how the public responds to the...

In the Media

Shaefer: Deeply unfair for Michigan to expect Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to be paid back

Apr 21, 2021 Detroit Free Press

"It's one thing to tell someone 'You're not eligible for the benefits,' " said Shaefer. "It's another thing to approve someone, let them use the support, and then expect them to pay it back.". Read the full story in the Detroit Free...

In the Media

Hanson remarks on attempts to restrict voting access across the U.S.

Apr 18, 2021 Folha de Sao Paolo

"The impact of the approval of these laws will be the reduction of electoral participation," said Jonathan Hanson. "Most of them are designed to make voting more difficult for Democratic voters, who tend to be low-income, with jobs that often don’t...

Publication

Stability, security at risk for half of children in shared, or doubled-up households, U-M research finds

Apr 16, 2021

Roughly half the kids in shared households may be living as “guests” in a less stable and secure environment, according to new research from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy. The team of researchers from U-M, Cornell...

News

HUD competition second place for Ford School student's team

Apr 15, 2021

A team comprised of four University of Michigan graduate students from the Ford School, Taubman College, and Ross Business along with a student from Harvard University are the runners-up in the 2021 Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design...

News

U-M's Ford School to expand social policy, equity work, thanks to Kohn Charitable Trust

Apr 9, 2021

A set of gifts totaling $17 million from the Kohn Charitable Trust will establish a resource hub at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy to catalyze interdisciplinary research on policy that promotes social equity and...

In the Media

Cooney and Shaefer: Pandemic shows government matters

Apr 4, 2021 Bridge Michigan

Patrick Cooney and Luke Shaefer write an opinion for Bridge Michigan. "While a lot of people are hurting right now, we have also found the data tell a pretty simple story: when government acts to buffer families by stabilizing their finances,...

News

April 2021: Diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Ford School

Apr 1, 2021

Updates regarding faculty, staff, and student DEI-related activity at the Ford School Diversifying what and how we teach The Ford School launched a new predoctoral program — in partnership with a consortium of leading policy schools — that...

News

Ford School recognized again as the #1 program in social policy

Mar 30, 2021

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, according to the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings. According to the rankings, based...

News

The Institute for Social Research announces the launch of its first research professorship: the Robert F. Schoeni Research Professorship

Mar 28, 2021 Institute for Social Research

The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) is pleased to announce the launch of its first research professorship, the Robert F. Schoeni Research Professorship. This professorship honors Robert Schoeni, whose career has...

News

Katherine Michelmore joins Ford School faculty, adding social and education policy expertise

Mar 25, 2021

On March 25, the University of Michigan Regents approved the appointment of Katherine Michelmore as associate professor of public policy, with tenure, effective August 30, 2021. Michelmore is a leading scholar and educator on the social safety...

News

NYT cites Shaefer’s poverty research as laying the groundwork for the American Rescue Plan

Mar 25, 2021 The New York Times

A recent New York Times article cites Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin’s 2015 award-winning book, $2.00 a Day as a marker that led to the passage of important elements of the $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” which includes temporary measures to...

News

Anti-racism faculty hiring moves forward, Ford School focus on racial justice in technology

Mar 25, 2021

Eight new University of Michigan faculty positions have been selected for funding in the first round of hires that will be a part of the Anti-Racism Faculty Hiring Initiative. One of those new hires will be at the Ford School, with a focus on...

Aerial of U-M central campus including Weill Hall

In the Media

Harris discusses financial inclusion and earned wage access

Mar 22, 2021 Future of Pay Podcast

Adrienne Harris sits down with the Future of Pay podcast to discuss ways to increase financial inclusion, earned wage access, and the fixed pay cycle. "The fact that people get paid every two weeks or every month is really born of an arcane system...

In the Media

Stevenson: Pandemic raises questions about inequality

Mar 21, 2021 Bloomberg News

“We’re going to get some gains coming out of this pandemic, but we want to make sure that those gains are more evenly shared, and that we’re supporting workers at the bottom and not just workers at the top," said Betsey Stevenson, also noting the...

News

Ford School in partnership to diversify and support PhD applicants

Mar 18, 2021

Pilot pre-doctoral program prepares policy school graduates to pursue academic careers, broadening and diversifying pipeline for future faculty The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy is launching a new pre-doctoral research program — in...

PhD student getting hooded at commencement

Publication

Policy memo: Pilkauskas and Michelmore on "The anti-poverty policy of the American Rescue Plan that no one is really talking about"

Mar 15, 2021

As the Biden administration embarks on its first hundred days, experts from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy have produced a series of policy briefs on key issues. Download the PDF of this brief or read the web-formatted version...

Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore

News

Erb-Downward Q&A: What the American Rescue Plan means for children experiencing homelessness

Mar 15, 2021 University of Michigan Poverty Solutions

The American Rescue Plan Act, the latest $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus plan, includes $800 million to support children and youth experiencing homelessness. Jennifer Erb-Downward, a senior research associate at the University of Michigan’s...