Poverty and social policy

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

The University of Michigan has published an experts guide to the 2024 elections. Ford School faculty are available to offer insights on relevant issues impacting the elections, including the following:  Economics Betsey Stevenson, professor of...

What are the dynamics of inequity in labor markets? How do we determine appropriate categories for people in a multicultural society?  How is the U.S. approach to ethnicity and nationality different from what they are doing in Europe?  These were...

Elected officials from local, county, and state government came to the Ford School to hear about the potential for collaborations with their offices and the School’s faculty, research centers, and students.  Fifteen members of the Michigan State...

 The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the winter 2023 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. Events are free and open to the public unless otherwise...

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is changing the world of education philanthropy by giving no-strings-attached, multimillion-dollar donations to schools. Megan Tompkins-Stange, associate professor of public policy, analyzed the donations, and the...

Eight years ago, the Flint water crisis captured national attention when the city’s tap water was shown to be contaminated with lead. Since then, researchers have been rigorously studying this crisis and measuring the effects of this lead exposure...

Katherine Michelmore, Michigan Radio: “It takes a long time to determine whether a policy did something good. I think we’re showing in the short term it certainly is improving the material well-being of very low-income families in the U.S. So that’s...

Given the same levels of family, school, and neighborhood hardship, Black students would be more likely than their white classmates to complete high school and attend college—reversing current disparities, according to new research from the...

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the fall 2022 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. We are hosting distinguished policymakers, scholars,...

Four research projects conducted by affiliates of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the University of Michigan received a total of nearly $10 million in new grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of...

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) has announced the recipients of the 2022 Next Generation Awards. The announcement stated, "These donor-funded awards propel recipients forward in their careers and catalyze important research projects. This...

Christina Weiland, co-director of the Education Policy Initiative and associate professor of education and public policy, sat down with Metro Parent to discuss what universal pre-k could mean for Michigan. "Universal pre-K can help take financial...

The Ford School of Public Policy is a top-ranked public policy school dedicated to preparing diverse leaders to take on society’s most pressing challenges and make transformational discoveries through cutting-edge research. Experts from the Ford...

Federal lawmakers continue to seek out University of Michigan faculty members to lend their expertise and knowledge to help inform federal policy. In the last year, 13 U-M faculty members and researchers testified at 14 congressional hearings...

Existing research has largely overlooked the variation in maternal employment effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) depending on the age of their children. In a new study, Katherine Michelmore and Natasha Pilkauskas, both associate...

As the pandemic continues to drag on, those most affected continue to face adversity — including young children. According to a recent opinion piece authored by Christina Weiland, associate professor of education and faculty co-director of the...

The Education Policy Initiative (EPI) along with the Urban Institute and other early childhood experts, recently dug into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on early childhood development. Their report, "Historic Crisis, Historic Opportunity:...

How has COVID-19 impacted young children's educational experiences and learning outcomes? How has the pandemic impacted early childhood education (ECE) programs and the ECE workforce? A new report from the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) at the...

Academic and non-academic barriers are preventing Detroit high school students from enrolling and succeeding in college. Detroit Students’ College Pathways and Outcomes, a policy brief released by the Youth Policy Lab (YPL) at the University of...

On April 28, the Biden Administration announced the American Families Plan, which includes universal preschool for all three- and four-year-olds. Christina Weiland, associate professor of education at the Ford School, weighed in on the plan and...

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...

Susan Dynarski’s recent research, “Designed to fail: Effects of the default option and information complexity on student loan repayment,” shows the powerful effects of default options and how making an income driven repayment (IDR) plan the default...

As facial recognition technology has become more commonplace in law enforcement, some schools have considered implementing facial recognition technology on their respective campuses. However, after public backlash over privacy concerns, many...

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...