Policy Topics

Poverty and social policy

Showing 61 - 90 of 1285 results

News

Stevenson proposes a federal guarantee for earned paid time off

Oct 28, 2024

The United States is the only advanced economy in which workers are not guaranteed paid time off.In a commentary for Brookings, Betsey Stevenson proposes a federal earned paid time off program that would cover all workers, including part-time...

In the Media

Herd argues administrative barriers to welfare programs are promoting poverty

Oct 27, 2024 Vox

Vox network recently spoke with the Ford School's Pamela Herd on current barriers in the distribution system of social welfare programs. Herd testified, “We have a huge array of different programs with the primary goal of reducing poverty and...

News

Ford School and Brookings Institution scholars look to the future of US climate policy

Oct 24, 2024

Climate change is projected to cause 250,000 deaths per year from 2030 to 2050; its effects have already cost 3 trillion dollars and resulted in 100 million people falling into poverty worldwide. The Brookings Institution partnered with the Ford...

brookings-election-climate-video-teaser-1090x681

In the Media

Pilkauskas supports expansion of the child tax credit under a Harris presidency

Oct 11, 2024 The Gander

Presidential candidate Vice-President Kamala Harris has plans to expand the child tax credit if granted presidency in the upcoming 2024 election. Discussing her research on the expansion of the child tax credit from 2021, the Ford School's Natasha...

News

Survey shows Detroiters’ top priorities for city officials going into election

Sep 30, 2024

Crime and safety tops the list of priority issues that Detroit residents want to see city officials address going into the November 2024 election, according to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan in partnership with Outlier...

Word cloud with issues most important to Detroiters

News

Katherine Michelmore wins the 24th David N. Kershaw Award and Prize

Sep 25, 2024

Katherine Michelmore, associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy has been awarded the 2024 David N. Kershaw Award and Prize for her contributions as a leading scholar and educator on...

News

Introducing the 2024 David Bohnett Foundation Leadership and Public Service Fellows

Sep 24, 2024

First-year MPP students, Delaney McDermott (MPP/MPH ‘27) and Bradley Popovich (MPP ‘26) have been selected as the 2024 Bohnett Fellows at the Ford School of Public Policy. The competitively awarded David Bohnett Foundation Leadership and Public...

Bohnett Fellows Delaney McDermott and Bradley Popovich

News

Kristin Seefeldt named acting director of Poverty Solutions at U-M

Sep 23, 2024

Kristin Seefeldt has been named acting faculty director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan for the 2024-25 academic year while inaugural faculty director Luke Shaefer is on sabbatical.Seefeldt, who has served as associate faculty...

Publication

Distrust in U.S. healthcare system fuels COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

Sep 20, 2024

New research from the University of Michigan examines how long-standing distrust in the U.S. healthcare system has significantly impacted attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. The research is led by Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Joan and Sanford Weill...

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

News

Ford School names Paulina Trujillo as 2024 Kohn Scholar

Sep 17, 2024

The Ford School recognizes Paulina Trujillo (MPP ‘26) as the 2024 Kohn Scholar. Kohn Scholars are chosen for their outstanding qualifications and commitment to public service and advancing social policy. The fellowship is a Ford School Rackham...

News

Seefeldt and Shaefer report on poverty findings from new census data

Sep 13, 2024

Networks reporting the new census data on poverty are quoting Ford School professors, Kristin Seefeldt and Luke Shaefer, highlighting the policy impacts on poverty. Here are some recent Seefeldt and Shaefer mentions in the media on poverty.“The...

News

Shaefer’s Injustice of Place wins the Richard A. Lester Book Award

Sep 10, 2024

Ford School professor Luke Shaefer’s book, The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America (Harper Collins, August 2023) is the recipient of the 2023 Richard A. Lester Book Award at Princeton University. Shaefer, the Hermann and...

Photo of Luke Shaefer in the Ford School's Towsley Reading Room

News

Ford School events highlight policy, civic engagement, and Conversations Across Differences

Aug 28, 2024

The Ford School has an exciting and diverse series of events this fall, designed to encourage policy debate, civic engagement, and Conversations Across Differences in a number of ways for students, faculty, staff, and the wider U-M and general...

News

U-M Ford School welcomes renowned scholars and former city leaders

Aug 22, 2024

The Ford School successfully grew our faculty in 2024, bringing in experts to deepen our focus on early childhood education, health and aging, better government, and criminal justice policy. Additionally, we welcomed distinguished policymakers in...

News

Unequal treatment revisited: IHPI director helps renew focus on health care inequities

Aug 19, 2024

New National Academies report "Ending Unequal Treatment: Strategies to Achieve Equitable Health Care and Optimal Health for All" finds little progress in advancing health care equity, and presents recommendations to interveneA landmark report that...

Publication

Key insights from the first citywide maternal and infant cash prescription program

Aug 14, 2024

A recent survey conducted by Rx Kids provides valuable insights into how Rx Kids is improving the lives of City of Flint families. These survey findings share the much-anticipated early results from Rx Kids.A prescription for health, hope, and...

Adult kissing a baby on the cheek, the baby is holding a teddy bear and wearing a floral headband.

Publication

Child Tax Credit expansion boosted housing affordability and stability, U-M study shows

Aug 8, 2024

A temporary, pandemic-era expansion of the Child Tax Credit improved housing affordability for families with low incomes, according to University of Michigan research.The study by Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore, associate professors of...

News

ASPIRE program bridges research and real-world impact

Aug 6, 2024

When Chaelee Farquarson learned about the Applied Social Policy Internship and Research Experience (ASPIRE), she applied out of curiosity. As a rising senior studying psychology at Spelman College, much of her research was theoretical.“I was drawn...

Five individuals in business attire, proudly displaying award certificates at Weill Hall.

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

Cost of living tops Detroiters’ priorities for US government

Jul 8, 2024

With Michigan poised to be a pivotal state in the 2024 presidential election, Detroiters have weighed in on their priorities for the U.S. government.Cost of living and inflation is the issue Detroiters mentioned most when asked about the top issues...

News

Michigan metro areas divided on views on legal immigration, U-M survey shows

Jun 27, 2024

Immigration consistently shows up as the most important problem facing the U.S. in national public opinion polls, but less information has been available to understand how Michiganders view immigration.With Michigan poised to be one of the most...

Photo of an American flag backed by a gray sky

News

U-M experts explore ramifications of housing crisis on economy, emotional well-being and more

Jun 10, 2024

ANN ARBOR—The need for affordable and accessible housing is an issue that transcends political affiliation—even as it rises in significance to voters—and matters as much to our emotional and mental health as our financial well-being.Two University...

Illustration with a house and money symbols balanced on a scale

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

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

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...