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 2022, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan explored and advanced new ways to tackle the structures of poverty. We maintained our approach of listening to communities, collaboratively building a research agenda, collecting and analyzing data, proposing evidence-based solutions, and supporting the implementation of new policies and practices. This strategy has helped Poverty Solutions impact the lives of millions of people for the better and has 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.