Funded faculty research

Complete and adequate plumbing in people's homes is a growing concern for Michigan communities and affects poor and minority households disproportionately.

This case study of Washtenaw County examines the impact of the 2017 changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

This project examines the evolution of Conditional Cash Transfer programs in five Latin American countries – Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru – between 1995 and 2025.

Using a new metric called the equitable energy efficiency (E3) baseline, researchers measured the effectiveness of state policies at achieving equitable outcomes for low-income households.

This project gathered in-depth, qualitative information about the impact of decision-making among front-line financial service employees.

The Functional Sentencing program attempts to help people permanently exit the criminal justice system by replacing fines and costs with targeted interventions that address the root causes of an individual's offense.

The goal is to better understand the most effective mode of sharing information about how different treated drinking waters are processed, so individuals can make decisions on the best water hydration choice for themselves.

This project used a mixed methods case study design to amplify how Black families make decisions and leverage resources in support of their children's mathematics education during COVID-19.

The Detroit River Story Lab sought to partner with local organizations in their ongoing efforts to strengthen the narrative infrastructure of the Detroit River corridor in order to reconnect communities with the river and its stories.

This project sought to develop strategies for converting abandoned school buildings in Detroit into anchor institutions that provide internet access through mesh networks.

This project developed a new model for employing community health workers to serve the Detroit Cody Rouge neighborhood.

The purpose of this project is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, usability, and impact of WorkChat: A Virtual Workday as an intervention to support income growth through sustained employment for adults with psychosis spectrum disorders.

The study tracked outcomes for 11 nominees who received Barrier Buster awards ranging from $500 to $2,000 and a comparison group of four nominees who did not receive Barrier Buster awards.

Researchers held focus groups with 34 Certified Peer Support Specialists from across Michigan to learn more about their experiences with vocational services.

Researchers reviewed data for more than 1,900 young people involved in 13 Detroit Jobs for Michigan Graduates program in 2014 to 2019. They assessed the number and types of barriers to employment the young people faced.

The goal of this study is to examine how entrepreneurship can catalyze upward economic mobility among people with low to moderate incomes in an urban environment.

In 2020, the Luke Clinic piloted the Mobile Antenatal Testing Unit to provide community/home-based care to families with high-risk pregnancies and social barriers to care.

This project worked with a volunteer software development group, Code4Community at Northeastern University, to develop a freely-available, user-friendly version of the letter-generation tool that will be distributed to youth development and job training programs.

More than 85% of persistently poor counties in the U.S. are rural, and yet, researchers and policymakers overwhelmingly focus on urban poverty.

The researchers will convene trans women of color, administrators of Medicaid In Lieu of Services, and MDHHS staff to co-develop a policy brief with implementable recommendations to promote equitable access to food-as-medicine programs.

Wealth demonstrably impacts youth development and educational attainment, but the mechanisms resulting in this phenomenon had not yet been established.

Environmental justice research has shown that low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, such as those in Southwest Detroit, are more likely to experience higher levels of pollution.

Can a new cooking class in a community health center increase participation in existing center programs and build core skills to decrease food insecurity among low-income patients?

The researcher worked with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, Office of Sustainability, and the Detroit Health Department to examine how the broader context of poverty affects water affordability for city residents.

Researchers supported the COVID-19 Food Delivery Program's maintenance and the (re)design, implementation, and program evaluation of the (re)design. Their recommendations helped to secure resources to double the program's capacity and sustain its implementation till 2024.

This project ran simulations for 10 states to determine how equalizing voting districts based on citizen voting-age population — rather than total population — would impact minority representation and partisan preference.

Using monthly data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U-M’s Rapid Insights Jobs Report analysis provides key charts and findings that highlight new developments in the labor market.

The study focused on unmarried mothers because they are the primary recipients of EITC, are most likely to experience poor housing outcomes, and their children are vulnerable to the detrimental effects of housing instability.

Researchers did fieldwork in India to compile an in-depth case study on technological advances related to sanitary pads available to Indian women in poor, rural areas.