Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan
Joan and Sanford Weill HallEvery year, Poverty Solutions publishes an Impact Report highlighting our progress, projects, and partnerships during that period.
In 2023, Poverty Solutions leaned into its mission to cultivate action-based research partnerships with community stakeholders and policymakers to find what works in confronting poverty.
We use that evidence to be a part of positive, systemic change. Our approach starts with listening. We share findings, propose interventions, evaluate the effects of those interventions, and listen again as new models take shape.
Our annual impact report features highlights from our work over the past year at the national, statewide, local, and campus levels.
In 2022, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan explored and advanced new ways to tackle the structures of poverty. Poverty Solutions has impacted the lives of millions of people for the better and advanced U-M’s reputation as a national leader in this space.
Fall of 2021 marked the five-year anniversary of the launch of Poverty Solutions. Since then, we have undertaken hundreds of projects, established powerful community partnerships throughout the country, and demonstrated the myriad ways we can connect our research to policy and practice.
2020 tested individuals, families, and organizations the world over. At Poverty Solutions, we leaned deeply into our partnerships and, together, took steps to help those hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, our focus on partnerships and public engagement proved to be a powerful model that informed and contributed to positive change. We started dozens of new projects, established new partnerships and deepened existing ones, and found more ways to connect our work to policy and practice.
In just two years, Poverty Solutions came a long way since it was formally announced in fall 2016. We supported nearly 30 projects in 15 of U-M’s 19 schools and colleges. We also formed new partnerships and deepened existing ones, and developed systems, a theory of change, and modes of work.
During our first year, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan built a strong foundation to drive change by focusing on collaborative, action-based research partnerships with communities and policymakers. We also kickstarted a number of projects that address poverty in concrete, tangible ways based on insights from multiple disciplines.