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Our Impact

Every year, Poverty Solutions publishes an Impact Report highlighting our progress, projects, and partnerships during that period.

2025: Poverty Research to Meet the Moment

Deep expertise on social safety net policies matters more than ever as federal policies are changing fast. At Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, we’re committed to working with community organizations and policymakers to find evidence-based ways to prevent and alleviate poverty through action-based research.

In 2025, our researchers helped protect federal funding for students experiencing homelessness, expanded an infant cash assistance program across Michigan, evaluated promising violence intervention strategies in Detroit, and much more. Lessons learned along the way can inform how we work together to reimagine systems like housing, jobs, and education to better meet the needs of people with low incomes.

Poverty Research to Meet the Moment: 2025 Impact Report from Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan

2024 Report

In 2024, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan made significant strides in its action-based research to prevent and alleviate poverty.

We take pride in the impactful work we’ve contributed to in Detroit and throughout Michigan. The innovations we’ve tested and the lessons we’ve learned have profound implications for broader anti-poverty initiatives across the United States.

This annual impact report underscores the key takeaways from our efforts over the past year. We look forward to forging new partnerships and exploring new approaches to alleviate poverty in the coming year.

Impact report for Poverty Solutions 2023

2023 Report

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.

2022 Report

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.

2021 Report

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 Report

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.

2019 Report

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.

2018 Report

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.

2017 Report

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.