Policy Topics

Poverty and social policy

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State & Hill

Policy analysis and prescience, making life better

Dec 18, 2014

To solve a vexing problem. To seize a promising opportunity. To find the best path forward. For centuries, for millennia, we’ve sought the power of prescience. These days, policy analysis—well and thoughtfully done—is among the most powerful tools...

Policy analysis and prescience, making life better

State & Hill

On poverty, policy, and people: Sheldon Danziger's lasting legacy

Dec 9, 2014

Two wars dominated the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. One was the war in Vietnam, whose escalation in 1964 triggered more than a decade of combat in Southeast Asia and discontent at home. The other was a wide-ranging package of social legislation...

On poverty, policy, and people: Sheldon Danzinger's lasting legacy

Levy's work cited in NYT piece on ACA's 'essential benefits' requirement

Dec 9, 2014

Helen Levy’s analysis of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) implementation of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was referenced in a New York Times Upshot article, “Health Care Law Is Not One-Size-Fits-All, and Here’s...

Ruth Browne (MPP/MPH '83) to teach health disparities seminar this winter

Nov 21, 2014

This winter, Ruth Browne (MPP/MPH ’83), will return to the Ford School as the 2015 Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence.Browne is currently the CEO of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, a leader in providing...

News

As Detroit bankruptcy wins federal judge approval, a summary of Ford School engagement

Nov 7, 2014

As the Detroit bankruptcy agreement wins federal judge approval, we’re sharing a quick roundup of stories highlighting the Ford School’s engagement. In July of 2013, just after the bankruptcy filing was announced, BBC Radio interviewed Tom...

News

Kary Moss on Detroit water shutoffs

Oct 22, 2014

Kary Moss speaks on the Detroit water shutoffs in Henry Gass’s “Do Detroit's water shutoffs violate international law? UN to investigate,” posted in the Christian Science Monitor on October 17. The United Nations visited Detroit last weekend to...

Michael Barr in WaPo on proliferation of rent-to-own retailers and their impact on the working poor

Oct 21, 2014

Michael Barr was quoted in a Washington Post news feature about the boom of the rent-to-own retail industry since the Great Recession. The article, “Rental America: Why the poor pay $4,150 for a $1,500 sofa,” examines the impact these retailers have...

Law enforcement increasingly intolerant of dissent

Aug 29, 2014

"It's very clear that when people get this gear they tend to want to use it," says Joy Rohde in the August 28 Policy Points video, "When the police look like soldiers." Rohde argues that militarized police departments lead to violent confrontations...

Law enforcement increasingly intolerant of dissent image

Wealth inequality doubles among US households

Jun 27, 2014

By Diane SwanbrowWealth inequality among U.S. households roughly doubled between 2003 and 2013, according to a new analysis by University of Michigan researchers."American families experienced significant losses in wealth during the Great Recession,...

Wealth inequality doubles among US households image

NY Times publishes "answer on a postcard"

Jun 19, 2014

Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo) have proposed a bipartisan bill to dramatically simplify the college financial aid form. They announced their proposal in the op-ed column, "An Answer on a Postcard," published by The New...

No job, no welfare, no good: Atlantic features report by Seefeldt, Urban Institute

Jun 13, 2014

A recent report authored by Kristin Seefeldt and colleagues from The Urban Institute is the subject of Olga Khazan's article for The Atlantic, "What Happens If You Have No Welfare and No Job?""Spending on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or...

Internship field report: Nick Pfost @ EqualityMaine

Jun 3, 2014

Second year Ford School students are engaged in public policy internships all around the world this summer, and we're hoping they'll check in to share news from the field.Review more internship field reports from Ford School students serving...

Michigan's hourly minimum wage to increase to $9.25

May 29, 2014

In the May 28 Michigan Daily article, "Michigan law raises minimum wage to $9.25," Margo Levy, an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan, interviews Professors Sandra Danziger and Alan Deardorff on the pros and cons of the state's new...

Michigan's hourly minimum wage to increase to $9.25 image

State & Hill

Hauling charcoal, studying conservation in Kenya

May 5, 2014

By William Foreman Zach Petroni (BA '13) believes that to truly know something, you have to experience it. So that's why he spent some time working as a charcoal hauler in Kenya, loading huge bags of the fuel on a rusty fixed-gear bike and...

Hauling charcoal, studying conservation in Kenya image

State & Hill

Zachary Petroni, inaugural Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship recipient, discusses the flawed conservation equation for Kenyan forest

May 5, 2014

By Zach Petroni (BA '13) Kenya's Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF), the largest remnant of a hardwood forest that once spanned East Africa's coast from Somalia to southern Mozambique, is a refuge for dozens of endemic and endangered flora and fauna—the...

Zachary Petroni, inaugural Raoul Wallenberg Fellowship recipient, discusses the flawed conservation equation for Kenyan forest image

State & Hill

Fighting poverty like an IPPSter

May 2, 2014

Peter Borish applies analytics and creativity to for-profit and not-for-profit endeavors alike "I was like every other kid," says Peter Borish (AB '81, MPP '82). "When I was growing up, I wanted to become a professional baseball player." Like...

Informing local leaders about fiscal health and economic development

Mar 28, 2014

Five years ago, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy launched an ongoing survey of the chief elected and appointed officials in every one of Michigan's 1,856 counties, cities, townships and villages, large and small. Among the survey's goals?...

Informing local leaders about fiscal health and economic development image

Kevyn Orr, Detroit's emergency financial manager, speaks at the Ford School

Mar 26, 2014

Over 400 people turned out on March 25th to hear Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr deliver a lecture as part of the Policy Talks @ the Ford School series. The event was covered by a number of media outlets, including the Detroit News, the...

Danziger speaks with Al Jazeera America on the U.S. poverty rate

Feb 24, 2014

On February 20, Professor Sheldon Danziger was interviewed in an Al Jazeera America article about the relationship between poverty and inequality. Danziger discussed his research on how factors such as the racial composition of the U.S., shifts in...

Rising child poverty long trend in the making, says Danziger image

Let states tailor immigration policies to boost economic growth, says Lin

Feb 12, 2014

In a new Ford School Policy Points video, Ann Lin analyzes Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's plan to bring 50,000 highly skilled immigrants to the state over five years. She states that Governor Snyder's numbers are likely unrealistic under the...

Emergency manager appointments reflect growing inequality, writes Farley

Jan 22, 2014

In a Bridge Magazine editorial, Reynolds Farley explains that the pattern of where the state has taken control from local officials highlights the persistent racial income gap in Michigan. He notes that the locations that have seen emergency...

Ford School's National Poverty Center hosts major event on anniversary of LBJ's 'War on Poverty'

Jan 16, 2014

January 8, 2014 marked the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's declaration of "unconditional War on Poverty." Yet 15 percent of Americans live in poverty today, and no presidential administration or Congress since the Johnson era has...

Murphy seeks to put a face on new suburban poverty

Jan 8, 2014

In an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Alexandra Murphy, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Ford School's National Poverty Center, comments on the invisibility of and unique challenges facing the suburban poor. In 2009, Murphy moved to...

Legacies of the war on poverty, lessons for the future

Dec 20, 2013

January 8, 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's declaration of "unconditional War on Poverty." Yet 15 percent of Americans live in poverty today, and no presidential administration or Congress since the Johnson era has...

State & Hill

BA alum among 'Top 35 under 35' foreigners making an impact in Africa

Dec 16, 2013

Madelynne Wager (BA '13), a first generation college student from the small town of Greenville, Mich., knew she wanted to make an impact. When she started her studies at the University of Michigan, she thought she could do that best by becoming a...

Danziger pens Huffington Post op-ed on persistent effects of the Great Recession

Nov 7, 2013

In a Huffington Post opinion article, "Ravages of the Great Recession," Sheldon Danziger writes that Congress's dysfunction, in particular its preoccupation with slashing the federal deficit, is prolonging economic pains. Danziger cites a new study...

Danziger comments on what we can learn from change in poverty rate under revised census measure

Nov 7, 2013

This week, the Census Bureau released 2012 poverty numbers under the supplemental poverty measure, which calculates the number of poor people in America as 3 million higher than the official count. Based on this revised formula, 1 and 6 US...

Rising child poverty long trend in the making, says Danziger

Oct 22, 2013

Sheldon Danziger was quoted in a Fox News article about rising child poverty. The article covers a study by the Southern Education Foundation which found that the majority of public school students in 13 southern and four western states are living...

The power of philanthropy to transform Arkansas communities

Oct 8, 2013

"I want change now," says Sherece West-Scantlebury (MPP '89). "I want the solutions now to solve old and difficult problems that keep Arkansas in the bottom five on indicators of children and family well-being. I want us to be number one on those...

Cross-sector partnerships fuel new breakthroughs in affordable housing

Sep 30, 2013

"It's Maslow's hierarchy of needs," Paul Weech says. "Cover the basics—food and shelter—and you allow people to focus their time and energy on work, family, education, and all the rest."A self-proclaimed "houser," Weech is fervent about the need for...