ANN ARBOR—The National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan has been awarded a federal co-operative research agreement based on a national competition that extends its research, training and dissemination activities through 2010.

The NPC, which began its work in 2002 under a previous federal award, is co-directed by Rebecca Blank, the Henry Carter Adams Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics, and Sheldon Danziger, the Henry J. Meyer Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing $1.9 million over the next three years. The center?located at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy?conducts research on issues related to economic self-sufficiency and the well-being of families and children; the healthy transition to adulthood; the role of faith and religiosity in maintaining and improving the well-being of families; non-marital child-bearing and teen pregnancy; and the safety, stability and healthy development of children.

“We’re very proud that the National Poverty Center will continue to have its home at the Ford School,” said Susan Collins, the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy. “Our interdisciplinary faculty connections, commitment to mentoring younger scholars, and historic strength in social welfare policy research helped the NPC achieve so much over the past five years.”

NPC is internationally recognized for its research on the causes and consequences of poverty and the evaluation of anti-poverty policies. It sponsors research and conferences, as well as mentors and trains the next generation of poverty scholars. NPC activities are carried out by a multi-disciplinary team of U-M faculty members, as well as scholars from other universities nationwide.

“The support provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services enables scholars and policymakers from across the country to contribute to this important work,” U-M Provost Teresa Sullivan said.

Blank said the center has worked with researchers nationwide to deepen the understanding of issues such as changing trends in marriage and fertility, the impact of labor market changes on less-skilled workers, and the interactions that low-income families have with the banking and loan industries.

“This research has, in turn, led to a richer policy discussion, from ways to increase savings among low-income families, to ways to better assist single mothers who have difficulty staying employed,” said Blank, who is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution this year.

Danziger said: “We are very pleased to have won this national competition for a second time. Our proposal was greatly enhanced by the support we received from the Office of the Vice-President for Research, the Institute for Social Research and the Rackham Graduate School.”

Some of the center’s accomplishments include:

• Produced four books based on NPC conferences: one on how low-wage workers were affected by economic changes and government policies; another on the health effects of social policies that are not primarily targeted on health-related issues; a forthcoming volume on issues related to the high poverty rates of minorities; and a forthcoming volume on the role of assets in the lives of the poor.

• Hosted mentoring workshops and summer institutes in which almost 100 emerging scholars have participated and learned to access Census data and longitudinal data sets and utilize appropriate statistical methodologies, and to study prominent recent contributions to poverty research.

• Awarded grants that supported the research of more than 60 scholars at Michigan and other universities.

• Created and maintained a widely-utilized website that contains working papers, policy briefs, syllabi for teachers and students, useful facts about poverty trends, videos of past seminars, and announcements about ongoing events, projects, and funding opportunities

Links:

National Poverty CenterHHS