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More low-income families now need assistance on how to find financial vehicles that will allow them to more effectively manage debt, savings and their financial lives. A recently released book edited by Rebecca M. Blank and Michael S. Barr, Insufficient Funds: Savings, Assets, Credit, and Banking among Low-Income Households (Russell Sage Press, 2009) discusses the problems and suggests how to bring more low-income families into the formal financial sector by offering them better financial service products.

Please RSVP to attend this workshop by emailing [email protected], indicating whether you will attend breakfast and/or lunch. Download the Agenda

Abstract In developing countries, rising incomes, increased demand for more skilled labor, and government investments of considerable resources on building and equipping schools and paying teachers have contributed to some global convergence in enrollment rates and completed years of schooling but substantial education gaps persist, such as between rural and urban households and also between males and females, in some settings. To address these gaps, some governments have introduced school vouchers or cash transfers programs that are targeted to disadvantaged children.

Abstract Current and former Corrections Department leaders will discuss changes in Michigan's crime and corrections policies and how they have affected the state's prison population over time. PanelistsPatricia L.

featuring James J. Heckman, University of Chicago March 12, 2009 3:30 - 5:00PM Michigan Union, Pendleton Room 530 S.

David Deming will present his study of the implementation of an open enrollment public school choice plan in Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district (CMS) in 2002. Students were guaranteed admission to their home school but could apply to as many as 3 other public schools in the district. Where demand for slots exceeded supply, assignment was determined by randomized lottery. Deming finds significant benefits of school choice for students who come from neighborhoods that are assigned to very low performing schools.

featuring William Julius Wilson, Harvard University Keynote speaker for the Interdisciplinary Group on Poverty and Inequality conference 'Emerging Issues in Poverty and Inequality' March 6, 2009 4:00 - 5:30PM Rackham Auditorium 915 East Washington Street Ann Arbor, MI There is no admission fee for this lecture and refreshments will be provided.

Allan Stam, U-M Professor of Political Science and Faculty Associate at the Center for Political Studies, will discuss the genocide, civil war, vendetta killings and random violence that took place in Rwanda in 1994. In their recent NSF-funded work, Stam and his colleagues drew from a number of data sources, and their conclusions call into question much of the conventional wisdom about the the violence.

STPP 2009 Winter Lecture Series Tania SimoncelliScience Advisor, American Civil Liberties Union Commentator: Eve Brensike Primus, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School Co-Sponsored by the University of Michigan Life Sciences and Society Program 4:00-5:30pm in the Betty Ford Classroom (1110 Weill Hall) at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Global Policy Perspectives Symposium: How Well Has South Africa Done Since Apartheid?

Reception and booksigning to follow. Kristin Seefeldt, a Research Investigator at the Ford School and Assistant Director of the National Poverty Center, will speak from her new book, published December, 2008 by the W.E.

Abstract The case for a national effort to create core standards grows stronger by the day. Currently, 50 states have 50 standards, and most states are setting the bar as low as possible in order to comply with the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements of NCLB. Half the states have set fourth-grade reading benchmarks so low that they fall beneath even the most basic level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Jointly sponsored by the National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan and the Economic Research Service, U.S.

• Mary C. Waters is the M.E. Zukerman Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Learn more... • Christina Paxson is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, and Director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University. Sponsored by the National Poverty Center

Alberto Trejos, the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, will focus his presentation on the evolution of Costa Rica's decision to join the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). In addition to addressing the implications of a Costa Rica-United States free trade agreement, Dr.

Mr. Palouš was Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States for 5 years and is now the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations. In October 1998, he became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Mr. Palouš was also active in various non-governmental organizations and served as chairman of the Czech Helsinki Committee until 1998.

Yazier Henry, Director, Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory, Capetown, South Africa; Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Yazier Henry is a former anti-Apartheid activist who, as a teenager, became an officer in Umkhonto We Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress. He is a poet, writer, and peace activist.

Cecilia Muñoz, Vice President, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, National Council of La Raza; Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R.

Catherine Bertini's career spans public service at international, national, state, and local levels and includes private sector leadership and university teaching.

Former President of MIT Charles M. Vest will deliver the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation lecture October 12, at 3:30 p.m. in the Michigan Ballroom. The lecture is titled 'Improving the U.S. Intelligence Community – Lessons from Iraq, Libya, and Elsewhere.' The talk is part of Dr. Vest's visit to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he is the Towsley Policymaker in Residence. The Towsley Policymaker in Residence program at the Ford School brings a policymaker to campus for an extended period of time to teach, write, and talk with faculty and students.

Barbara Freese, J.D., is an environmental writer and Towsley Policymaker in Residence.

Dr. Namanga Ngongi served as the UN Secretary General’s Chief of Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the chief negotiator for the ceasefire that ended hostilities there in  July 2003.

Catherine Bertini, formerly executive director of the World Food Program, gave this inaugural lecture of the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence.