child poverty

New evidence shows the federal expanded Child Tax Credit has had a positive impact on low-income families, decreasing childhood hunger and poverty. Those benefits are set to run out at the end of the year, but an extension is making its way through...

With the pandemic exacerbating homelessness, Jennifer Erb-Downward, senior research associate at U-M Poverty Solutions, is bringing attention to the problem of homelessness among children. “People tend to think about a single man living on the...

Last week, the first installment of the expanded Child Tax Credit program dropped into bank accounts. Many experts, including Luke Shaefer, Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy and inaugural director of Poverty...

Checks for the recently expanded child tax credit program will be sent out this week. Luke Shaefer, the Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy, associate dean for research and policy engagement, and director of Poverty...

Government officials are currently trying to spread the word about the recently expanded Child Tax Credit program so that it can reach the maximum number of eligible people. Luke Shaefer, associate dean for research and policy engagement and...

U-M Poverty Solutions is teaming up with the City of Detroit and other organizations to ensure that families are aware that they can qualify for an expansion of the Child Tax Credit program. The campaign, led by United Way for Southeastern Michigan,...

Working remotely has its perks At Comerica Park, Detroit News photographer Robin Buckson spotted sociologist and Detroit historian Ren Farley keeping score as the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals. “I teach the course on Detroit so I have to...

Jennifer Erb-Downward, senior research associate at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education on Wednesday, May 19. The hearing was...

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...

“There are a lot of countries that [provide a monthly child tax benefit] already; some for decades: Canada, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Australia. These countries have decided, 'hey, raising kids is expensive, and the government has a reason...

"This is the boldest vision laid out by an American President for fighting poverty in at least a half a century. But it starts with a really simple idea... the government has a reason to make sure that [raising children] is done well."  Luke...

“To me, it’s the most transformational thing that’s under discussion, and nobody’s talking about it,” said Luke Shaefer. Read the full article in the New York Times...