Poverty and social policy

In the Media

Shaefer talks working on Rx Kids

Mar 7, 2025 The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Luke Shaefer, Ford School professor and Director of Poverty Solutions talked with The Chronicle of Philanthropy about his work on Rx Kids as a guide for the NGO GiveDirectly. Working on Rx Kids he says was "a really humbling experience for me...

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

In the Media

Shaefer on community violence intervention in Detroit

Mar 6, 2025 Michigan Public

Luke Shaefer, Ford School professor and directory of Poverty Solutions, talked about the community violence intervention program in Detroit called FORCE (Faithfully Organizing Resources for Community Empowerment) as well as others including...

In the Media

Shaefer's Rx Kids program set to expand to Kalamazoo

Feb 23, 2025 WOOD

Following huge success in its first year, the child healthcare support program Rx Kids is set to expand from Flint into Kalamazoo. Luke Shaefer, professor at the Ford School and the program's co-director stated, "We see families reporting that they...

News

Shaefer's Rx Kids program set to expand to the Upper Penninsula

Feb 14, 2025

Rx Kids, the nation’s first-ever citywide cash prescription program for pregnant women and babies, today announced the program’s launch into communities in the Eastern Upper Peninsula (UP). The UP expansion of Rx Kids is made possible by an...

News

Shaefer's Rx Kids program celebrates nearly $6M distributed to Flint families in 1st year

Feb 7, 2025

Rx Kids, co-directed by the Ford School's Luke Shaefer, celebrated it one-year anniversary at the end of January. The program has given access to $6M in cash support for over 1,300 Flint families with pregnant mothers and babies in their first years...

State & Hill

Greater than its sum: an update on the Kohn Collaborative

Dec 17, 2024

Six years ago, Harold and Carol Kohn approached the Ford School with a vision. Their goal was to help build a vibrant research community dedicated to promoting social equity and inclusion. Today, the Kohn Collaborative for Social Policy is poised to...

News

Rx Kids shows promising results after its first year

Dec 9, 2024

Since its start in January of 2024, Rx Kids has been a lifesaver for young families in Flint Michigan. The program was co-founded by the Ford School's Luke Shaefer and provides Flint residents with $1,500 mid-pregnancy, and $500 each month for the...

In the Media

Rx Kids showing positive early results: Shaefer

Dec 9, 2024 Next City

"So far, RxKids has shown a reduction in depressive symptoms and increases in positive wellbeing, with larger numbers of participants indicating that they feel loved, hopeful and respected. Preliminary outcomes also show lowered anxiety scores...

News

State program significantly reduces homelessness, utility insecurity, U-M report reveals

Dec 3, 2024 https://news.umich.edu/state-program-significantly-reduces-homelessness-utility…

The pilot of a Michigan program created to help improve health outcomes for pregnant parents and their children shows positive impacts on families, including food and financial security and housing stability, according to a new report from the...

Family holds infant while being interviewed by the research team

In the Media

“I am at a complete loss" Page on Haiti situation

Nov 17, 2024 The New York Times

Susan D. Page, Ford School professor, says the continuing crisis in Haiti is hard to explain. Page says “Everyone is just kind of astounded.” Because of that it will be hard to know how the incoming Trump administration will influence that...

News

Experts, policymakers highlight new studies showing statewide Paid Family and Medical Leave would benefit workers, economy

Nov 14, 2024

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, advocates and experts held a virtual press conference highlighting the benefits that a statewide paid family and medical leave program would have for Michiganders and the importance of passing the Michigan Family Leave Optimal...

News

Michelmore discusses how expanded tax credits benefited family well-being on new podcast

Nov 7, 2024

In a new episode of Mathematica’s On the Evidence podcast, Ford School’s Katherine Michelmore reflects on her career—from her first job as a research assistant at the Urban Institute, to her current position at the Ford School studying the effects...

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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

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

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...

News

“It’s a matter of racial equity”: Sandoval (MPP ’24) on the challenges facing Detroit’s ‘heir properties’

Apr 23, 2024

Inheriting a home is one of the main ways that middle- and low-income families preserve wealth across generations. Yet in many cases, family-owned properties are passed on without formal legal proceedings to prove ownership, becoming what are...

News

UM study: Detroit’s Black homeowners gained nearly $3B in real estate wealth from 2014-22

Apr 16, 2024

University of Michigan Poverty Solutions study released today shows Detroit’s Black homeowners gained $2.8 billion in home valueStudy based on 9 years or recorded home sales dataNeighborhoods with highest poverty and lowest home values in 2014 saw...

News

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Mar 12, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy is happy to announce the Dean’s Symposium, which will take place April 11 and 12 at Weill Hall, with the theme, “Policy Innovation for Our Times.” The two days will feature keynote appearances by voting rights...

News

Guaranteed income for entrepreneurs: U-M researchers to assess impact

Mar 5, 2024

One hundred Ann Arbor entrepreneurs, gig workers and other independent workers with low incomes have received their first two guaranteed income payments of $528 as part of the Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor pilot program.Payments started in...

Seefeldt and Emily Shupp Parker tabling outside for GIG A2

News

Poverty Solutions at U-M grows partnerships in poverty alleviation in 2023

Feb 1, 2024

Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan last year informed the largest-ever increase in state funding for youth homelessness programs, advised federal policymakers on place-based strategies for tackling poverty and laid the groundwork for...

Collage of Poverty Solutions faculty and students