Amanda Nothaft has extensive experience in data analysis and policy evaluation and has worked across multiple levels of government and a wide variety of policy stakeholders. Prior to joining Poverty Solutions, Nothaft worked on projects as diverse as...
Natasha Pilkauskas is associate faculty director at Poverty Solutions and a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her research considers how demographic, social safety net, and economic shi...
Faculty Director of Poverty Solutions; Associate Professor of Social Work; Associate Professor of Public Policy; Faculty Associate, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research
Kristin S. Seefeldt’s primary research interests lie in exploring how low-income individuals understand their situations, particularly around issues related to work and economic well-being. Her most recent book, "Abandoned Families: Social Isolation ...
Katherine (Kate) W. Bauer is an epidemiologist whose research focuses on the prevention of childhood obesity, which severely disproportionately impacts children in poverty. Much of her work focuses on the role of families in children's and adolescent...
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...
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...
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...
Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Equity and Associate Professor of Social Work
Rebeccah Sokol is an associate professor at the University of Michigan's School of Social Work and School of Public Health. Sokol’s program of research focuses on evaluating strategies to alleviate youth adversity and trauma, including preventing chi...
A new report from the University of Michigan showed the Healthy Michigan Plan improved health care access, health outcomes and financial stability for low-income adults enrolled in the state’s Medicaid expansion program.
People who receive traditional public benefits are often met with scrutiny, distrust, and suspicion. A new traveling art exhibit called "No Strings" is curated by University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions and is working to flip that narrative.
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.
Over two months this winter, six University of Michigan student artists created art pieces that illustrate quotes from GIG A2 participants about what the monthly payments meant to them.
A new traveling art exhibit called No Strings, curated by University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions, showcases art by six U-M students that illustrates quotes from participants in the Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor (GIG A2) pilot program.
Artists, Ann Arbor leaders, University of Michigan researchers and participants and supporters of the GIG A2 Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor program were on hand for the unveiling of several colorful artwork prints.
50 students, staff, and faculty from 10 different schools and colleges came together for a workshop led by Public Policy Lab (PPL), titled "Transforming Government Services with Human-Centered Design."
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...
Departments across campus came together on March 27 and 28 for an interdisciplinary weekend focused on public service design – how people, processes, and tools come together to deliver effective government services.
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...
One year into Ann Arbor’s guaranteed income pilot program, the most common uses of the monthly payments were food, household supplies, and housing, according to a new report from the University of Michigan.
No Strings is an art exhibit that illustrates quotes from guaranteed income recipients about what an extra $528 per month in no-strings-attached cash meant to them, as part of the Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor (GIG A2) pilot program. The art was created by U-M students under the guidance of artist Katie Hammond. The exhibit was curated by Poverty Solutions at U-M, which designed the pilot and is evaluating the impact of GIG A2.
At the reception, you can view and respond to the art as well as hear more about how the project came together.
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/
