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Image credit: Nicole Smith, made with Midjourney

Contact: Jared Wadley

The placement of banks, credit unions and alternative financial services is significantly influenced by changes in the neighborhoods’ racial composition, even when factors like income and poverty are taken into account, according to a new University of Michigan study.

The research sheds light on the racialized strategies of financial institutions, highlighting their significant role in shaping neighborhood demographics and economic opportunities. The study focused on developments in the Detroit area—involving six counties—from 2000 to 2016.

Terri Friedline

“These insights challenge common misconceptions about the demand for high-cost financial services and underscore the broader impact of financial institutions on community dynamics,” said Terri Friedline, U-M professor of social work and the study’s first author.

Financial institutions follow changes in racial makeup. This is evident from the analysis, which showed shifts rather than reductions in racialized financial service locations after the Great Recession, say Friedline and colleagues.

The study showed that white communities benefited from lower financial management costs as they saw fewer alternative financial services but more stable traditional financial services. In contrast, neighborhoods with increasing Black populations are more likely to face a rise in alternative financial services and a decline in traditional financial services, which may lead to higher financial management costs.

Banks and credit unions tend to withdraw from areas as Black populations grow, whereas alternative financial services target these areas, following nuanced shifts in racial demographics, the researchers say.

The study also found that changes in neighborhood racial makeup precede the opening of payday lenders and other alternative financial services. This means financial institutions create racialized markets by adjusting their locations, say Friedline and colleagues.

“Some may argue that payday lenders open storefronts in ways that respond to market demand, but this argument is rooted in a disingenuous interpretation of demand,” Friedline said.

The researchers say the study did not factor how residents were affected by digital technologies, such as online and mobile banking.

The study appears in Critical Sociology and was co-authored by Jones Adu-Mensah and Xanthippe Wedel.

Release courtesy of the Michigan League for Public Policy

Contact: Laura Ross, Communications Director, Michigan League for Public Policy
lauramr@mlpp.org

LANSING—On Wednesday, Nov. 13, advocates and experts held a virtual press conference highlighting the benefits that a statewide paid family and medical leave program would have for Michiganders and the importance of passing the Michigan Family Leave Optimal Coverage (MI-FLOC) during the final weeks of the 2024 legislative session.

“Today, we are here to discuss how the results of the qualitative studies confirm what we already know to be true,” said state Sen. Erika Geiss. “These studies highlight that paid family leave is a win-win for people and businesses. Companies with paid leave programs report higher employee retention, increased productivity and lower turnover costs. For workers, they will have the time and financial assurances that they can take care of themselves or a loved one, without sacrificing financial security. FLOC is also good for the economy. Paid leave programs lead to healthier, more productive workers, which translates to a stronger workforce and a more resilient economy, for generations to come.”

The MI-FLOC legislation introduced last year would establish a 15-week paid family and medical leave program in Michigan, which is something that the majority of Michiganders–71%–have said they support. The studies referenced in today’s press conference were released by Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and explore the health, employment and economic impacts of paid family and medical leave programs.

Luke Shaefer

H. Luke Shaefer, the director of the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions and a co-author of one of the reports, noted that there are many positive economic impacts that come out of paid leave policies, including better economic security for workers and the multiplier effect of those dollars cycling through local economies. He also noted that people who go on leave are more likely to stay in a job, resulting in a short-term loss for employers for a long-term gain, and that paid leave programs can have a positive impact on labor force participation for those most likely to need to take leave.

“When we look, for example, at the labor force participation of women in other countries that have much, much more generous paid family leave policies than in the United States, we see that women in those countries have higher labor force participation over the long term as well as in all of the other states that have adopted a policy like this,” Shaefer said.

Monique Stanton, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, also touched on how an actuarial analysis also released by LEO this year shows that paid leave is a low-cost, high-value program for workers and businesses.

“Paid leave will cost less than a pop or a cup of coffee each week for workers that make the minimum or median wage. And, for that low cost, it will provide workers with the security they need to keep their jobs and the majority of their income if they were to need to take an extended leave from work to care for themself, a loved one or a new child,” Stanton said. “The costs of not implementing paid leave include wage and job losses for workers and families, worse health outcomes, higher healthcare costs, talent losses for businesses, and a negative impact on the state economy.”

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have passed and enacted paid leave policies.

“It’s time for Michigan to join California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington—the 13 states that have paid leave programs,” said Mothering Justice National Executive Director and Founder Danielle Atkinson. “What we have an opportunity to do here in Michigan is to stand up for people who have called for this policy overwhelmingly. We know this policy is overwhelmingly popular because it’s overwhelmingly needed.”

According to estimates, if Michigan were to implement the most robust plan included in the actuarial analysis commissioned by the State of Michigan, a worker making the state median wage ($46,940 at 40 hours per week) can expect to pay $178.37 annually or a little more than $3 per week in contributions. And an individual earning the current minimum wage ($21,486.40 at 40 hours per week) can expect to pay $81.65 annually or about $1.50 per week.

The studies referenced in yesterday’s press conference are:

• Economic and Health Impacts of Paid Parental, Caregiving, and Medical Leave by Karen Kling, H. Luke Shaefer and Betsey Stevenson with the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions
• Paid Family Medical Leave: Health & Employment Outcomes by Patricia Stoddard-Dare, PhD

Contact: Lauren Slagter, lslag@umich.edu; Greta Guest, 734-936-7821, gguest@umich.edu

DETROIT—The share of Detroiters who say they will definitely vote in November increased from 70% to 77% since Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, with the most significant shifts occurring among young and moderate-income Detroiters.

The Detroit Metro Area Communities Study at the University of Michigan surveyed Detroit residents from June through August about their intentions to vote, with an eye on how Detroiters’ intentions to vote changed after the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in June, after the first assassination attempt on Trump in July, and after Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Harris later in July.

“While much attention is often given to how campaigns influence voters’ decisions, less focus is placed on how campaign events impact voter turnout and who shows up to vote,” said Mara Cecilia Ostfeld, a faculty lead for DMACS and co-author of a new study on Detroit’s changing electorate.

“With Michigan playing a pivotal role in several federal races this November, it is crucial to understand how these campaign events are driving voter engagement, particularly in the state’s largest city.”

When Biden was the presumed nominee, 38% of eligible Detroit voters aged 18 to 34 said they would definitely vote in the presidential election. After Harris became the presumed nominee, 57% of Detroiters in that age range said they plan to vote. The shift in presumptive Democratic nominee from Biden to Harris did not have a significant impact on the likelihood of voting in any of the other age groups (35-54, 55-64 and 65 and over).

Looking at intentions to vote by income level, the Harris candidacy correlated with the largest shift among Detroiters with household incomes between $30,000 and $59,999. Sixty-one percent of people in that income bracket said they would definitely vote when Biden was the presumed candidate, compared to 80% when Harris became the presumed candidate.

“There was not a significant change in the voting intentions of eligible Detroit voters when comparing the periods before and after the presidential debate between Biden and Trump and the periods before and after the July assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally. The Harris candidacy made the most difference for Detroiters,” said Yucheng Fan, data manager at DMACS and co-author of the report.

With support from U-M’s Poverty Solutions, DMACS has published a series of reports leading up to the election on Detroiters’ priorities for city government, priorities for the federal government and the reasons some people are planning not to vote.

With the goal of building the science that can strengthen efforts to reverse health disparities—which keep millions of Americans in poorer health due to lack of access to food, health care and other needs—the University of Michigan will receive $6.75 million from the National Institutes of Health to establish a health equity research hub.

U-M is one of five institutions sharing in $37 million in funding from the NIH’s Common Fund to operate ComPASS Health Equity Research Hubs.

The hubs, according to the NIH, will provide “hands-on research” and “technical scientific support rooted in health disparities expertise necessary for successful community-led research projects.” Each institution’s hub supports the NIH’s 25 Community-Led Health Equity Structural Interventions Projects.

Roshanak Mehdipanah

U-M’s hub will be led by the School of Public Health and directed by Justin Heinze and Roshanak Mehdipanah, both associate professors of health behavior and health equity and faculty leads at U-M’s Prevention Research Collaborative.

“The University of Michigan’s School of Public Health has been a leader in multidisciplinary research and the hub will be no exception,” Mehdipanah said. “It will bring together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and community practitioners with extensive experience in applied community-based participatory research, practice and policy focused on addressing structural determinants of health with an equity lens.”

U-M’s hub will involve 17 researchers from a dozen schools and colleges across campus, including the School of Nursing and Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The hub’s community-led research projects will focus on health inequities such as health care access, food access and the built environment. U-M’s Michigan Institute for Clinical Research and Poverty Solutions initiative will be key partners in the hub.

Justin Heinze

“This is such an exciting NIH initiative to fund communities directly, which in turn leverage their local knowledge and resources to address systemic public health problems facing their areas,” Heinze said. “Our job as a hub is to be a centralized research resource for them, providing tailored scientific, technical and collaborative support to support the interventions happening in those communities,” Heinze said.

NIH also selected New York University Grossman School of Medicine; University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Mississippi Medical Center; and Yale University as ComPASS hubs.

ComPASS, which stands for Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society, is an NIH program designed for “community-based organizations to lead the way in researching, designing, implementing and assessing projects that address community needs and reduce health disparities.”

The ComPASS program is managed collaboratively by NIH staff from the Common Fund; National Cancer Institute; National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities; National Institute of Nursing Research; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health. Other NIH institutes, centers and offices participate in program development and
Management.

U-M’s Grant number: 1UC2CA293569-01

Release courtesy of Michigan News

DETROIT—Crime and safety tops the list of priority issues that Detroit residents want to see city officials address going into the November 2024 election, according to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan in partnership with Outlier Media.

Thirty-nine percent of Detroiters said crime and safety are among the two most important issues they want the city of Detroit to address. The survey—fielded in April by U-M’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study—asked open-ended questions, so people could answer in their own words. Other top priorities included:

• Road repairs (17%)

• Neighborhood maintenance (16%)

• Structural blight (15%)

• Housing affordability (15%)

People who highlighted crime and safety referenced the need for “lower crime rate,” “safer community to live and explore,” and “safe parks for the kids.” Related to crime and safety, another 4% of Detroiters said improving the quality of policing should be a top priority for local elected officials. Comments on policing included the need for more police visibility in neighborhoods and the need for police reform and de-escalation training.

Mara Ostfeld

“Safety is clearly a priority for Detroiters, and they’re thinking about it in a variety of ways,” said Mara Ostfeld, faculty lead for DMACS and co-author of a new brief on the survey findings. “While there is a lot of attention on the presidential election and other national races, what’s happening in someone’s community tends to be a stronger motivator to vote. Voters want to see policies that shape their day-to-day experiences.”

DMACS has released a series of briefs supported by U-M’s Poverty Solutions that explore topics relevant to the 2024 election, including Detroiters’ intentions to vote, the top issues Detroiters would like to see federal elected officials address, and views on legal immigration held by residents in four Michigan metro areas.

Analysis of survey responses from a representative sample of 1,100 Detroit residents found Black Detroiters (43%) were more likely to list crime and safety as a top priority for city government than white (26%) or Latino (21%) Detroiters. Latino Detroiters were more likely to list road repairs as a top priority for the city (33%) than Black Detroiters (18%) and white Detroiters (6%). Among white Detroiters, transportation, schools and taxes were more likely to be listed as top priorities for city government than among Black and Latino Detroiters.

Yucheng Fan

“There were limited differences in priorities for local government between income groups, with all income groups citing concerns about crime and safety,” said Yucheng Fan, data manager for DMACS and co-author of the brief on priorities for city government. “Housing affordability was more likely to be listed as a top priority for the city government among households with lower incomes. Higher-income households were more concerned about taxes.”

Priorities differed for residents of different parts of the city. Concerns about crime were most pronounced in City Council District 1 in northwest Detroit, where the city is supporting two community-led violence intervention efforts through the ShotStoppers program.

In City Council District 7 on the west side of Detroit, neighborhood maintenance was most frequently mentioned as a top priority for the city to address. Road repairs topped the list of priorities for residents in City Council District 1 in northwest Detroit, City Council District 4 in east Detroit; and City Council District 6 in southwest Detroit. Housing affordability was listed as a top priority in City Council District 3 in east Detroit and City Council District 5, which includes much of downtown Detroit.

ANN ARBOR – Kristin Seefeldt has been named acting faculty director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan for the 2024-25 academic year while inaugural faculty director Luke Shaefer is on sabbatical. 

Seefeldt, who has served as associate faculty director of Poverty Solutions since 2019, has established a national reputation for her contributions to U-M’s poverty research agenda over the past three decades. She was a researcher on a number of U-M studies of welfare reform conducted during the late 1990s and early 2000s. From 2004 to 2010, she was assistant director of the National Poverty Center, when U-M hosted the federally-funded research center that preceded Poverty Solutions, which launched as a presidential initiative in 2016. 

An associate professor of social work and public policy, Seefeldt holds an MPP and a PhD in sociology and public policy from U-M. Seefeldt is the principal investigator administering and studying Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor (GIG A2), an innovative guaranteed income pilot providing monthly payments of $528 to 100 low-income entrepreneurs and gig workers in Ann Arbor in 2024 and 2025. She also is part of the research team for the Community Tech Workers program in Detroit. Seefeldt’s overall research agenda is focused on how policy and economic changes affect people’s everyday lives.

Valeria Bertacco

“I am enthusiastic about the future outlook of the Poverty Solution initiative, and I am looking forward to working with Professor Seefeldt as its acting director. Her professional track record places her in a unique position to lead this initiative to new levels of growth and engagement,” said Valeria Bertacco, vice provost for Engaged Learning at U-M, which oversees Poverty Solutions. 

Seefeldt steps in for Shaefer, who founded Poverty Solutions in 2016 and established its focus on action-based research, done in partnership with policymakers and community groups, to find new ways to prevent and alleviate poverty. Under Shaefer’s leadership, Poverty Solutions:

• Established a Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility with the Detroit Mayor’s Office and Detroit community-based organizations to set an economic mobility agenda for the city; 
• Informed the design of the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit, which contributed to a record-low child poverty rate; and
• Partnered with Michigan State University to launch a first-of-its-kind citywide maternal cash assistance program in Flint called Rx Kids, which provides payments to people during pregnancy and the first year of the child’s life. 

During his sabbatical, Shaefer will continue his role as principal investigator for Rx Kids, which recently received $20 million from Michigan’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to expand to other communities across the state. 

Julia Weinert

“Dr. Shaefer has done an incredible job of setting the initiative up for success prior to his sabbatical. I’m excited to work more closely with Dr. Seefeldt over the year ahead to leverage her unique experience and expertise to carry out our mission,” said Julia Weinert, managing director of Poverty Solutions. 

In this Q&A, Seefeldt shares more about her vision for Poverty Solutions this year and the ways campus units and community partners can get involved in advancing efforts to prevent and alleviate poverty. 

You’ve been contributing to poverty research at U-M for three decades. What makes the current iteration of Poverty Solutions unique in its approach to poverty scholarship? 

Seefeldt: U-M has long been known for its pioneering research on issues affecting people with low incomes. For example, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), launched at the Institute for Social Research in the 1960s and continuing today, is an important dataset for understanding families’ economic well-being. The work I did with Sheldon and Sandra Danziger and former Ford School Dean Rebecca Blank provided key insights into the effects of a very major policy change – welfare reform – on families with low incomes. All of this work was definitely policy relevant, and U-M poverty researchers have always looked for opportunities to inform policymakers about our work, but the work was usually researcher-driven, based on questions we found interesting and worthwhile to pursue. And, the primary product was often a book or journal article, both of which have great value but are often inaccessible to those outside of academia.

Poverty Solutions, though, uses a community-driven approach in generating the topics and issues that we study. We work collaboratively with community partners and policymakers to identify the questions that need answering. We also look for ways to make changes to policies and systems – that is the central goal of our work.

What projects are you most excited about for the coming academic year? 

Seefeldt: I’m excited to continue working on the GIG A2 research. Last year we were really focused on getting the pilot up and running. Now we have the opportunity to dig into the data we’ve collected, both from surveys and interviews, to learn more about the program participants, the issues affecting their lives, and the ways they use their guaranteed income payments.

I’m also excited to get to know more about the projects in which I haven’t been as deeply involved and learning from our staff. 

How can people get involved in supporting Poverty Solutions’ work? 

Seefeldt: Our communications team does an excellent job at keeping our website, poverty.umich.edu, up to date with the latest news related to our work. People can also join the list to receive newsletters. Every fall we host a speakers series on campus, featuring leaders in the field who are doing innovative work. Those talks begin on Sept. 27, running every Friday through Nov. 8. If you can’t attend in person, a livestream will be available.

If you have an idea about a possible collaboration, whether on campus or in the community, reach out to povertysolutions@umich.edu. We’d love to talk with you!

Contact: Katrina Hamann, kbham@umich.edu 

Significant racial and gender disparities exist in U.S. crime victim compensation programs, revealing Black and Indigenous people as well as survivors of gender-based violence face unique challenges in obtaining financial support, according to a new report from the University of Michigan.

Despite intentions to alleviate the financial burden for crime victims, eligibility restrictions based on perceptions of innocence and cooperation with law enforcement disproportionately exclude these groups.

“Over the last several years, we have learned more and more about implicit and explicit bias in policing,” said Jeremy Levine, U-M associate professor of organizational studies. “Relying on the police to determine victim eligibility imports all those biases into the provision of public benefits, which disadvantages victims of color in ways comparable to other inequalities in the criminal justice system.”

Levine authored the report, Inequality in Crime Victim Compensation, from U-M’s Center for Racial Justice and Poverty Solutions.

Crime victim compensation is a public benefit intended to cover financial costs associated with crime. Victim compensation benefits can be used to cover medical bills, counseling, relocation, funerals, crime scene cleanup and other related expenses after insurance and welfare benefits are accounted for. Such programs are managed by states with up to 75% of program costs paid for by a federal subsidy.

Key findings show police discretion plays a pivotal role in determining victim eligibility, with subjective criteria, such as perceived misconduct or failure to cooperate, leading to biased outcomes.

Black and Indigenous victims, especially Black men, are significantly less likely to receive compensation than victims from other social groups. In addition, women survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking are less likely than victims of other crimes to be compensated.

Jeremy Levine

“These eligibility requirements were created to incentivize victim cooperation with law enforcement,” Levine said. “But in the end, all they accomplish is punishing victims after their victimization while also failing to work as an incentive to cooperate.”

The report calls for urgent reforms, including:

• Removing racialized and gendered barriers to compensation, such as cooperation with law enforcement and misconduct criteria.
• Expanding alternative procedures for proving victim status and using medical or social service documentation rather than relying on police assessments.

The analysis, based on data from 18 states, points to ongoing legislative efforts in states like Illinois and New York that have successfully reformed their victim compensation criteria, significantly reducing denials and promoting greater equity.

FLINT, Mich. – A recent survey conducted by Rx Kids provides valuable insights into how Rx Kids is improving the lives of City of Flint families. These survey findings share the much-anticipated early results from Rx Kids.

A prescription for health, hope, and opportunity, Rx Kids is the nation’s first citywide maternal and infant cash prescription program that launched in the City of Flint in January 2024. To date, over $2 million has been prescribed to over 900 mothers. With a near 100% uptake rate, Rx Kids is reaching almost every 2024 newborn in the City of Flint.

The survey, conducted in May 2024, gathered responses from over 112 participants and revealed several key findings that are shaping the lives of Rx Kids enrolled families. Administered by Rx Kids partner, GiveDirectly, the survey was voluntary and designed to assess participant experience and provide real-time feedback to inform program improvements.

Dr. Mona Hanna

“The benefits of providing economic security to families with young children are built on mountains and mountains of research. It’s the evidence-based policy of evidence-based policies,” said Dr. Mona Hanna, director of Rx Kids and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine associate dean of public health. “Building on this evidence, it is exciting to be able to share some of these first findings from Rx Kids. To no surprise, the results are awesome and further validate the impact of Rx Kids.”

Critical insights indicate that Rx Kids families have improved health care utilization, are more secure in their finances, feel more confident in their parenting, and spend cash prescriptions on items for babies, securing stable housing, and transportation to medical appointments.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 70% of respondents make less than $10k annually
• 80% of participants feel that Rx Kids has helped them make ends meet and feel more secure in their finances
• 59% of participants say Rx Kids has made it easier to get the health care that their household needs
• 72% of participants feel that Rx Kids has helped to improve the health of themselves and their infants

Many moms report that they felt the money from Rx Kids has helped them become more confident in themselves as parents. Looking deeper at how families spend their cash prescriptions, the top five items cash is spent on include:

• 88% spent it on baby supplies
• 78% spent it on food
• 57% spent it on rent
• 48% spent it on utility bills
• 36% spent it on transportation

Professor H. Luke Shaefer

“These survey results offer valuable insights into how families who receive Rx Kids think about and utilize their cash prescriptions,” said H. Luke Shaefer, co-director of Rx Kids and director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. “Families spend their cash prescriptions on their kids and essential household expenses. They report that the program helps them feel financially secure and helps them access the health care they need. I am absolutely thrilled with how well received the program has been.”

In addition to quantitative data, the survey included opportunities for participants to share the impact of Rx Kids qualitatively. Consistent with the data, their statements affirmed the impact of Rx Kids on their financial security, health, and well-being.

“[Rx Kids has given me] reduced stress with the knowledge of some sort of financial cushion that can make sure I at least have a roof over my and my children’s head,” reports Joan, City of Flint Rx Kids mom.

“I know I can get what my baby needs and my bills paid, so I won’t be homeless again,” reports Saysha, City of Flint Rx Kids mom.

“Because I am spending the money only on things me and the baby need, so everything I’ve gotten with the money will be able to help me long term. I’ve been saving half of the money, so when she gets here, we will be financially prepared,” reports Angel, expectant City of Flint Rx Kids mom.

Additional quantitative and qualitative research findings from Rx Kids will be forthcoming in the fall.

Contact: Destiny Cook, descook@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR – Each year, hundreds of thousands of Michigan parents worry whether they can afford to feed their children. Increased food prices, the state’s housing crisis, and the end of COVID-era financial support have all led to more Michigan families experiencing food insecurity today than before the pandemic. Now, a new report led by the University of Michigan School of Public Health details the first-hand experiences of these families; their challenges signing up for food assistance, the stress and shame of having to ask for help with food, and parents’ deep commitment to making sure their children are fed—even if it means that they go without.

Called “Feeding MI Families: Michigan Families’ Lived Experience of Food Access and Food Assistance,” the report describes the findings of the Feeding MI Families community-based participatory research project, which has engaged nearly 1,300 parents from urban and rural communities across the state. The goal of the project is to elevate the lived experience of food insecurity in order to spur improvements in federal, state, and local food systems so they work better for families.

Feeding MI Families was established in 2021 with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to elevate the experiences of food-insecure families from Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Battle Creek. In 2022, with support from Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies, Feeding MI Families expanded to include families from the state’s 57 rural counties. Rural communities often have food insecurity rates comparable to urban areas. According to the report, 22% of children in Michigan’s Wayne and Roscommon counties are food insecure.

Katherine Bauer

“While we think that living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula could not be more different than living in Detroit, over and over, we heard the same challenges when it comes to buying food, whether it be lack of transportation, high food prices at local grocery stores, or not being able to find brands that can be purchased with WIC benefits,” says Kate Bauer, director of Feeding MI Families and an associate professor of Nutritional Sciences at Michigan Public Health. “While the solutions to these challenges may differ based on location, families’ needs and wants are the same.”

Feeding MI Families approach: We’re Listening. We’re Learning.

Aligning with the project’s motto, “We’re Listening. We’re Learning,” Feeding MI Families gathered parents’ experiences through text message-based surveys and in-depth phone interviews offered in English and Spanish. Parents were asked to share their perspectives on formal and informal food assistance programs, including:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Assistance Program (SNAP/FAP)
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) benefits
• School food distribution during COVID-19
• Charitable food systems

Three overarching themes emerged from parents’ experiences:

• Stigma and discrimination are central barriers to food security
• Small modifications make big differences to families
• Families want dignified access to fresh and safe produce, proteins, and dairy products

Within each of these themes, the report provides parent-driven recommendations for policy and programmatic change at all levels of government and within the nonprofit and for-profit sectors.

One recommendation that emerged is to change the design of the state’s EBT card, called the Bridge Card, which is loaded with food assistance benefits and can be used like a credit card at grocery stores.

“Parents reported feeling shame and embarrassment when purchasing food with a Bridge Card because it is brightly colored and easily identifiable,” Bauer explains. “One mother said she only uses self-checkout so she can hide her Bridge Card from the people behind her in line. While we need to end discrimination at its root, making the Bridge Card more discreet is a simple strategy to improve the shopping experience.”

Elevating family experiences through storytelling

In addition to the survey and interview findings, the report elevates compelling personal stories from families and highlights unique Michigan populations with consistent barriers to healthy food access, including Hispanic/Latino families, families living in the Upper Peninsula, and families that include individuals with disabilities.

Bauer notes that many food assistance programs want client and community input but don’t have the resources to gather this information, and that there are often disconnects between those who hold power and those who rely on services.

“There are a lot of stereotypes and assumptions about families experiencing food insecurity,” Bauer says. “We hope that Feeding MI Families helps dispel these inaccuracies and motivates more organizations to meaningfully engage individuals with lived experience in decision making. Communities know what they need to overcome food insecurity. We need to listen and learn from them.”

Interested in news like this? Get the latest findings, news and coverage of evidence-based poverty solutions with the Poverty Solutions newsletter >

Contact: Jeff Karoub, jkaroub@umich.edu; Daniel Rivkin, rivkind@umich.edu

ANN ARBOR—A temporary, pandemic-era expansion of the Child Tax Credit improved housing affordability for families with low incomes, according to University of Michigan research.

The study by Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore, associate professors of public policy, and Nicole Kovski, a former U-M postdoctoral fellow now at the University of Wisconsin, found that parents who got the monthly credit were less likely to owe past-due rent or mortgage payments and they were less likely to need to move because they couldn’t afford their housing. It also allowed parents to gain residential independence from partners they were living with and reduce the number of people residing in their household, likely decreasing household crowding.

The researchers say their study focused on families most likely affected by the reforms—those with very low incomes and of particular interest to policymakers. No prior studies estimated the effects of the Child Tax Credit on living arrangements, despite research demonstrating how economic need and housing affordability can shape them.

In March 2021, Congress passed the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit to deal with the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families with children. The benefit was increased from $2,000 to $3,600 per child under age 6 and to $3,000 per child aged 6-17, and eligibility was extended to families with no earnings. Half the credit was disbursed as a monthly payment from July to December 2021.

These reforms resulted in roughly 26 million children gaining credit eligibility or receiving higher benefits, nearly all of whom lived in low-income households.

However, lawmakers failed to garner enough support to make the changes permanent. By January 2022, the credit returned to its pre-2021 version, which had restrictions that meant that more than one quarter of the poorest children in the U.S. were ineligible for the full credit.

Analyzing national data from a sample of parents who received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, the researchers found larger effects of the monthly credit on housing affordability for lower earners than for higher earners. Further analyses by race and ethnicity showed the credit improved housing affordability more for Black and Hispanic households than for their white counterparts.

Natasha Pilkauskas

“Our findings suggest the monthly child tax credit helped low-income parents afford their housing,” Pilkauskas said. “We know that stable housing is very important for children, and the evidence from our research suggests the credit helped families pay their rent and stay in their homes.”

Michelmore said they thought the credit might reduce doubling up—where a child lives with other adults beyond their parents or parent’s partner—but they found no evidence of that. Rather, she added, parents were less likely to live with a co-resident partner.

Katherine Michelmore

“We think this happens when couples break up but stay in the home for financial reasons,” she said. “Once parents got the credit, they could afford to live independently.”

The researchers caution there were some factors limiting them from drawing firm, absolute conclusions from their work. Among them: The monthly child tax credit was provided for only six months, families who thought the benefit was temporary might have been less likely to adjust their living arrangements, and the credit was distributed during a time of high inflation—challenges that likely mean the effects of the credit were underestimated.

Also, the expanded credit was distributed during a pandemic and shortly after the government implemented other forms of stimulus. These issues make it more difficult to generalize results.

Michelmore said the findings of their research could be useful for policymakers in the months ahead. Expansions to the Child Tax Credit implemented in 2018 will expire in 2025, so there will be conversations about how to reform the credit.

The study was published in Demography, the official journal of the Population Association of America.