The 2026 Kohn Social Policy Conference brings together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, students, and community partners to examine pressing social policy challenges and explore how social policy can advance equity and promote human thriving.
Join the Ford School’s Kohn Collaborative—our Kohn Professors and Kohn Scholars—for a roundtable conversation on shaping social policy for a thriving society. Explore bold ideas and insights from leading voices as they discuss what it takes to build communities where everyone can truly thrive.
Joan and Sanford Weill Hall
Annenberg Auditorium (1120)
This session will examine innovative policies that promote direct cash transfers and tax credits to low-income families, new mothers, and other sectors of society.
Join for a conversation with the co-authors of The Injustice of Place alongside Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan COO Nicole Sherard-Freeman. Released in August 2023, The Injustice of Place sheds light on America’s most disadvantaged communities, tracing the legacies of our nation’s places of deepest need—including inequalities shaping people’s health, livelihoods, and upward social mobility for families.
The final event in our COVID-19 reflections series will feature Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer at CVS Health and former Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan, in conversation with Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, the Director of the Center for Racial Justice.
The second event in our COVID-19 reflections series will feature Dr. Cameron Webb, senior policy advisor for COVID-19 Equity on the White House COVID-19 Response Team, in conversation with Dr. Luke Shaefer, the director of Poverty Solutions.
Dr. William Lopez, Kat Stafford, and Charles E. Williams II with moderator Dr. Mara Ostfeld will discuss the local impact of safety nets on communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opening Remarks by Provost Susan M. Collins.
Jonathan Cohn discusses his book, “The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage,” which examines the Affordable Care Act — better known as “Obamacare.”
Terri Friedline will discuss her book, Banking on a Revolution: Why Financial Technology Won’t Save a Broken System, which takes a critical look at advancements in financial technology (“fintech”) in the banking and financial industries.
Carolyn Barnes will discuss her book, “State of Empowerment: Low-income Families and the New Welfare State,” exploring how government-funded after-school programs can enhance the civic and political lives of low-income citizens.
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co-executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality in conversation with H. Luke Shaefer about approaches to economic redistribution.
Join Reuben J. Miller as he examines the afterlife of mass incarceration, attending to how U.S. criminal justice policy has changed the social life of the city and altered the contours of American democracy one family at a time.
Join professor Frederick Wherry in this discussion about how dignity and respect affect consumers' engagements with and responses to debt. Wherry will share about his work to understand and empower the linkages between lending and human values.
Authors Kathy Edin and Luke Shaefer discuss the majorn themes of their revelatory research on income inequality and extreme poverty in the United States.
