Poverty Solutions

Showing 181 - 210 of 279 results

News

Congratulations to Natasha Pilkauskas and Kaitlin Raimi, both now associate professors, with tenure

May 21, 2021

Professors Natasha Pilkauskas and Kaitlin Raimi have received promotions to associate professor, with tenure, at the Ford School. Their status was approved by the U-M Board of Regents at their meeting on May 20. "Natasha Pilkauskas is deepening...

Headshots of Kaitlin Raimi and Natasha Pilkauskas

In the Media

Cooney comments on minimum wage debate

May 19, 2021 WXYZ Detroit

McDonald's workers are striking for better wages all across the country, including in Michigan. Many argue against a higher minimum wage, saying that it would cause job loss. Patrick Cooney, assistant director of economic mobility at U-M Poverty...

News

Erb-Downward testifies at U.S. House hearing on student homelessness

May 19, 2021 Watch the hearing

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...

News

Anti-Asian hate: Poverty Solutions supports U-M chronicle of location, nature of more than 1,000 incidents last year

May 17, 2021

New research from the University of Michigan offers insights into the location, nature and perpetrators of anti-Asian hate incidents that occurred in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Virulent Hate Project, which is supported by U-M’s...

Map of anti-Asian racist incidents during COVID-19, as of May 19, 2021

News

Shaefer lauds the potential impact of the child tax credit

May 14, 2021

"The expanded, fully refundable child tax credit sounds complicated, but the ideas behind it are simple, and its design has been tested in many other countries. It’s based on the principles that children deserve the opportunity to thrive, and that...

In the Media

Cooney answers question of where Michigan workers have gone

May 11, 2021 Detroit Free Press

Businesses and companies need more workers right now, but they can't find them. Patrick Cooney, assistant director of economic mobility at U-M Poverty Solutions, attributed most of the gap between supply and demand of labor to public health. "Our...

In the Media

Cooney comments on surge in home remodeling and effect on low-income households

May 10, 2021 WDET Detroit Today

More people around the country are looking to remodel their homes, but because of disruptions in the global supply chain, the price of remodeling has spiked. Pat Cooney, assistant director of economic mobility at U-M Poverty Solutions, pointed out...

News

New website answers Michiganders’ questions about expanded Child Tax Credit

Apr 26, 2021

A new website from Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan offers step-by-step guidance for parents to ensure they receive the expanded Child Tax Credit, which is worth up to $3,600 per child, per year. The American Rescue Plan Act of...

Poverty Solutions Child Tax Credit portal

In the Media

Shaefer: Deeply unfair for Michigan to expect Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to be paid back

Apr 21, 2021 Detroit Free Press

"It's one thing to tell someone 'You're not eligible for the benefits,' " said Shaefer. "It's another thing to approve someone, let them use the support, and then expect them to pay it back.". Read the full story in the Detroit Free...

In the Media

Cooney and Shaefer: Pandemic shows government matters

Apr 4, 2021 Bridge Michigan

Patrick Cooney and Luke Shaefer write an opinion for Bridge Michigan. "While a lot of people are hurting right now, we have also found the data tell a pretty simple story: when government acts to buffer families by stabilizing their finances,...

News

More Detroiters ‘very likely’ to get COVID-19 vaccine than 4 months ago, U-M survey finds

Mar 30, 2021 University of Michigan Poverty Solutions

Thirty-eight percent of Detroiters now say they are “very likely” to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, up from 14% who gave that response in the fall of 2020, according to a new survey from the University of Michigan. At the...

a Michigan Medicine official draws COVID vaccine serum into a needle

News

NYT cites Shaefer’s poverty research as laying the groundwork for the American Rescue Plan

Mar 25, 2021 The New York Times

A recent New York Times article cites Luke Shaefer and Kathryn Edin’s 2015 award-winning book, $2.00 a Day as a marker that led to the passage of important elements of the $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” which includes temporary measures to...

News

Erb-Downward Q&A: What the American Rescue Plan means for children experiencing homelessness

Mar 15, 2021 University of Michigan Poverty Solutions

The American Rescue Plan Act, the latest $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus plan, includes $800 million to support children and youth experiencing homelessness. Jennifer Erb-Downward, a senior research associate at the University of Michigan’s...

News

Ford School involvement highlighted among growing U-M Detroit partnerships

Mar 8, 2021

The University of Michigan ramped up its collaborations on a multitude of projects in the city of Detroit during the pandemic, including outreach to residents on issues ranging from unemployment to the COVID-19 vaccine. Initiatives such as...

In the Media

Wileden examines COVID-19 racial disparities in Detroit

Mar 3, 2021 Brookings

"One in every 645 Black people in the United States can expect to die from COVID-19, per data from February 2021. Blacks are 2.1 times more likely than whites to die from the virus. In fact, if Blacks had the same death rate as whites from COVID-19,...

In the Media

Shaefer explains COVID relief plan 'child allowance' and its impacts on families

Mar 2, 2021 NPR

"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...

News

Addressing structural inequity during Black History Month at the Ford School

Mar 1, 2021

The Ford School marked Black History Month by lifting up Black voices with a series of discussions about identifying inequities in society and seeking policy solutions to address them. Research centers, student groups, faculty, staff, and alumni all...

News

U-M research on material hardship in 2020 offers guidance for next economic relief package

Feb 9, 2021 Michigan News

Material hardship in the United States rose significantly in the final months of 2020 and was particularly high for households with children, according to new research from Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. The rise in hardship...

In the Media

Biden plan to address child poverty could be transformative, says Shaefer

Feb 3, 2021 New York Times

“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...

Publication

Policy memo: Shaefer and Cooney on "Expanding the Child Tax Credit in the age of COVID-19"

Jan 21, 2021

As the Biden administration embarks on its first hundred days, experts from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy have produced a series of policy briefs on key issues. Download a PDF of this brief or read the web-formatted version...

News

Ford School experts address Biden priorities in new policy memos

Jan 19, 2021

As the Biden administration embarks on its first hundred days, experts from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy have produced a series of policy briefs in their areas of expertise. All of the prepared briefs can be downloaded...

Issue memos for an incoming administration graphic

In the Media

Shaefer: Biden lays out bold vision for social policy

Jan 18, 2021 The New York Times

"This is the boldest vision laid out by an American president for fighting poverty, and child poverty in particular, in at least half a century," said Luke Shaefer. Read Kristof's opinion in the New York...

In the Media

Shaefer shares food insecurity insights on the Food First podcast

Jan 5, 2021 Food First podcast

Shaefer: "A number of years ago work requirements were reimposed on food stamps for adults without dependents....We looked at the research nationally and locally....when you add work requirements, there is very little evidence there it has any...

In the Media

A looming crisis as Covid-19 relief, protections set to expire, says Seefeldt

Dec 16, 2020 Detroit Free Press

“I think there is a looming crisis … people are going to have to make choices about what they pay,” said Kristin Seefeldt. “They're already making choices about what bills to pay. It becomes this heat or eat choice that is really devastating for...

In the Media

Federal government should build on CARES Act success to support families, says Shaefer

Nov 30, 2020 FOX 17 West Michigan

“The things that we did in the CARES Act in May, they really worked to a greater degree than I think a lot of people have appreciated,” Shaefer said. “So we can build on that and do more. I’d like us to do more for families with kids.” Read the...

News

Majority of Detroiters say they’re unlikely to get COVID-19 vaccine, U-M survey says

Nov 23, 2020

Sixty-one percent of Detroiters say they are somewhat unlikely or very unlikely to get a government-approved COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, according to the latest survey from the University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area...

News

Poverty Solutions receives grant to develop homelessness data-to-action playbook

Oct 14, 2020

Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan is one of three organizations across the country contributing to a new “Education Leads Home” Data-to-Action Playbook that will offer guidance on how to use student homelessness data to advocate for...

News

Shaefer highlights success of Michigan’s response to COVID’s economic crisis

Oct 9, 2020

“Sometimes, when we’re not looking, government does the remarkable.” That’s the assessment of Ford School professor H. Luke Shaefer, director of Poverty Solutions, on the effectiveness of Michigan’s response to the economic crisis created by...

Luke Shaefer delivers a talk at the Ford School

News

Ford School wins NASPAA 2020 Social Equity award

Oct 4, 2020

The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) has awarded the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with its 2020 Social Equity Award, which honors a public policy, affairs, or administration program that exemplifies...

News

More than $260K awarded for research on confronting, combating racism

Oct 2, 2020

Now that Genesee County has declared racism a public health crisis, what role can residents play in guiding the county’s efforts to eliminate racist policies and practices? That’s one of the research questions University of Michigan faculty will...

A rainy protest with a sign reading "Black Lives Matter"