» Stacked Deck Interview Series

In the game of life, everyone is dealt a different hand. It’s very much a game of chance. And for people with low incomes, the deck is often stacked against them.

While some people are dealt strong cards – such as good schools, stable homes, access to health care – those in poverty start with fewer resources and more hurdles. The opportunities dealt to a person by local and federal policy shape people’s ability to improve their financial situations and lives. The deck is stacked.

In this series, we invite people with various types of expertise to share their views on how poverty intersects with social systems and explore ways we can work together differently to create a future where everyone has a fair chance to achieve financial stability and thrive.

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Measuring Poverty & Opportunity

Kristin Seefeldt, faculty director of Poverty Solutions at U-M, discusses various ways to measure poverty and access to opportunity.

Related: How do we measure poverty?

How Homelessness Stacks the Deck for Youth

Courtney Smith, founder and CEO of the Detroit Phoenix Center, shares her observations on how the deck is often stacked against youth experiencing homelessness, and how in order to properly address poverty, policymakers should include those with lived experience in the process.

The Detroit Phoenix Center is a nonprofit organization that works with youth to design and offer wraparound services for youth facing homelessness.

How Can Entrepreneurship Be a Path Out of Poverty?

Christie Baer, managing director of the U-M Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, shares her perspective on the importance of small businesses for owners and communities alike and what support is needed to make entrepreneurship a viable path out of poverty.

The U-M Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project is a university-based business support organization that taps the energy, creativity, and expertise of U-M students – guided by dedicated faculty and staff – to help Detroit small businesses thrive and create economic opportunity throughout the city, while providing students with consulting experiences.

How Place Plays a Part in Poverty

What would it look like to provide financial services like mortgage lending in an accessible way to those with lower incomes? Fahe, an organization in the Appalachian area, does just that by working to expand economic opportunity and security for all. Fahe Chief Executive Officer Jim King spoke with us about what he’s learned on-the-ground about what poverty can feel like in disadvantaged and disenfranchised communities, like Appalachia, and how organizations like Fahe and communities can work to make a difference in alleviating poverty.

How Employment Isn't the Only Factor

Cortney Sanders is a policy analyst who served as a senior advisor for the Office of the Commissioner at the Social Security Administration and is now the institute director of the National Jobs For All Network. In her interview, she discusses the importance of job security, addressing occupational segregation, and the role the federal government could play in guaranteeing living-wage jobs for all Americans who want to work.

How Past Policies Have Stacked the Deck

Carmelo Barbaro, executive director of the Inclusive Economy Lab at the University of Chicago’s Urban Lab, explains how past policies discriminated against Black home buyers and how that has unfairly resulted in poorer housing, a racial wealth gap, and limited economic mobility for Black families in Chicago and beyond.