Child well-being

Staff

Jennifer Erb-Downward

Director of Housing Stability Programs and Policy Initiatives

Jennifer Erb-Downward is the director of housing stability programs and policy initiatives at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on the intersection of housing, health, and education with an emphasis on cross-system col...

Faculty Affiliates

Sumit Agarwal

Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Medical School and School of Public Health

[email protected]

Dr. Sumit Agarwal, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. is a primary care physician, health economist, and assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School and School of Public Health. Agarwal’s research examines the impact of social, economic, and in...

Faculty Affiliates

William Elliott

Professor of Social Work; Director, Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science

William Elliott III professor of Social Work and director of the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Social Science. He is also the founder of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion (AEDI). He received his Ph.D. and master’s in social w...

Faculty Affiliates

Sara Heller

Associate Professor of Economics

[email protected]

734-764-0241

Sara Heller studies interventions to reduce crime and improve other life outcomes among disadvantaged youth. She uses large-scale experiments to isolate the causal effects of a variety of programs, including cognitive behavioral therapy-based interve...

Faculty Affiliates

William Lopez

Clinical Associate Professor, U-M School of Public Health; Faculty Associate, U-M Department of Latino/a Studies

William D. Lopez is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and faculty associate in the Department of Latina/o Studies. His research and teaching center on racial health inequities, especially those exper...

Faculty Affiliates

Katherine Michelmore

Associate Professor of Public Policy; Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research

Katherine Michelmore is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Michelmore is a leading scholar and educator on the social safety net, education policy, labor economics, and econ...

Faculty Affiliates

Trina Shanks

Director, School of Social Work Community Engagement; Harol R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work; and Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research

Trina Shanks' research interests include the impact of poverty and wealth on child well-being; asset-building policy and practice across the life cycle; and community and economic development. She has been a research investigator for the Saving for E...

Faculty Affiliates

Pamela Smock

Professor of Sociology and Research Professor at the Population Studies Center

Pamela Smock is a professor of sociology and research professor at the Population Studies Center at U-M. Her scholarly interests lie at the intersection of demography and various axes of inequality. Her research focuses on changing family pattern...

Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States: Data Profiles

SchoolHouse Connection and Poverty Solutions have created searchable data profiles to raise awareness of the scale and impact of homelessness on children and youth and to underscore the need for action to meet their needs. These profiles make availab...

In the Media

Opinion | New study finds Rx Kids can stabilize households, boost economy

Jul 21, 2026 Bridge Michigan

A new Upjohn Institute analysis of the Flint program, which began in 2024 and is jointly publicly and privately funded, found that it increased local per-capita income by $2.40 for every dollar spent. While it may seem obvious that sending people mon...

In the Media

‘State of the Mama’ highlights importance of Rx Kids and harms of ICE on maternal and child health

Jul 21, 2026 Michigan Advance

Rx Kids, a prenatal and infant direct cash support program that has been implemented in a number of municipalities throughout Michigan, was repeatedly mentioned by candidates and panelists as an example of the kind of policy that supports mothers.

Parents smiling with their baby at a birthday celebration.

In the Media

Four Conditions Make Cash Transfers Save Lives

Jul 21, 2026 The Atlantic

The success of other countries shows these programs can work in the United States.

In the Media

N.Y.C. Children May Get Up to $3,000 From City for College Accounts

Jun 1, 2026 New York Times

Plans such as NYC Kids Rise transform how children and families think about their expectations, their futures and their possibilities, said William Elliott III, a professor of social work at the University of Michigan and a leading researcher on coll...

News Release

New Study Finds Rx Kids Reduced Preterm Births and Low Birthweights, Prevented NICU Admissions

May 28, 2026

A new study published in The Lancet Public Health found that Rx Kids, the nation’s first community-wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program, was associated with significant improvements in birth outcomes for infants born in Flint, Michigan....

In the Media

In Flint, Cash for Pregnant Women Leads to Better Outcomes for Babies

May 27, 2026 New York Times

A program that gave women in Flint, Mich., money during pregnancy and after childbirth significantly improved their health and that of their newborns, according to a new study.

Rx Kids launch press conference. From left to right: Mama Sol, Ridgway White, Luke Shaefer, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Flint mom, Alana Turner, Mona Hanna-Attisha, Teresa Woodruff, Sheldon Neeley, a Flint mom, Day Austin, and Jim Ananich.

In the Media

How Rx Kids’ cash aid is helping Michigan moms afford diapers, food and rent

May 10, 2026 Detroit Free Press

By summer 2026, a cash aid program for moms and babies, designed with "no strings attached," will have gone from operating in one city to more than 60 communities across Michigan, reaching an estimated 23,000 infants a year.

News Release

New Study in JAMA Pediatrics Finds Rx Kids Associated with Significant Reductions in Infant Maltreatment Investigations

May 8, 2026 More about Rx Kids

A new peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Pediatrics provides rigorous, population-level evidence that the Rx Kids program is associated with substantial reductions in child maltreatment investigations among infants.

Figure 1. Line Graph of Investigated Allegations Within the First 6 Months of Life for Infants in Flint, Michigan, Control Cities, and the State of Michigan. While the State of Michigan's trend line remains fairly level around the 10% mark between 20...

In the Media

Why schools are opening parking lots for homeless students and families

Apr 11, 2026 19th News

As family homelessness hits record highs, a short-term solution offers autonomy, dignity and safety during the search for more permanent housing.

In the Media

Hillary Clinton: How to Fix Affordability

Apr 9, 2026 New York Times

American families are raising children now, in an economy where both parents work to make ends meet and child care costs rival rent, in a country with no national paid leave and in a digital world they cannot control. Instead of lectures, families ne...

In the Media

Of $29 million given in Rx Kids funds, report shows most parents spend money on baby supplies, food

Mar 27, 2026 Michigan Advance

Since its launch at the start of 2024, Rx Kids, a prenatal and infant direct cash support program that started in Flint and has expanded to communities around Michigan, has prescribed over $29 million in funds to 8,348 families, according to a new pr...

In the Media

Homelessness is rising fast among a surprising group: Infants and toddlers

Jan 17, 2026 Hechinger Report

The most recent estimates found that in 2023 nearly 450,000 infants and toddlers in the United States were in families that lacked a stable place to live, according to a report released last year by the nonprofit SchoolHouse Connection in partnership...

News Release

How schools used pandemic aid to reach students experiencing homelessness

Apr 3, 2025

University of Michigan research sheds new light on how school districts used their share of $800 million in pandemic relief funds that were specifically dedicated to the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

News Release

SchoolHouse Connection and University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions Launch Comprehensive Data Profiles on Child and Youth Homelessness

Jan 29, 2025

The interactive dashboard allows users to explore homelessness trends across multiple geographic areas - from national and state levels to local communities, U.S. Congressional districts, and state legislative districts.

Child and Youth Homelessness in the United States, 2022–2023 Pre K–12 Students 1.37M identified as experiencing homelessness 2.8% identified as experiencing homelessness Children 3 and Under 451,369 estimated to be experiencing homelessness 3.8% ...

News Release

Report examines Michigan families’ experience with food access and assistance

Aug 9, 2024

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 ...

Family eating at the dining table together

News Release

Child Tax Credit expansion boosted housing affordability and stability, U-M study shows

Aug 5, 2024

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

Healthier Babies, Stronger Communities: A Review of Rx Kids’ Research and Impact on Families and Communities

May 20, 2026, 12:00-1:30 pm EDT

Off Campus Location

Join us for a webinar that examines the evidence behind Rx Kids, offering insights into how community-wide, prenatal and infant cash prescriptions affect maternal and infant health, family stability, and community outcomes. Please register ahead of time for this event: https://msu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Rz7BcAkwSaGGfR9q4cMWKg#/registration Explore Rx Kids research: https://rxkids.org/impact/

Journal Publications

Tax credits and child outcomes: lessons from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada

March 17, 2024

Katherine Michelmore

Fiscal StudiesOver the last several decades, there have been historic shifts in the structure of cash transfer programmes in Western, developed countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. For all three of these countries, t...

Policy Briefs

The Child Development and Care Subsidy: Challenges and Opportunities

November 11, 2022

William D. Lopez, Karen Otzen Kling, Amanda Nothaft

Download PDF for full policy brief See an accessible version of the PDF IntroductionAccess to high-quality, affordable, and reliable child care is essential to economic stability and mobility for families. In Michigan, finding and paying for child ...