In October 2016, the University of Michigan announced the establishment of Poverty Solutions, a university wide research center headed by Ford School faculty member Luke Shaefer. I had an opportunity to talk with Julia Weinert, who was recently named as the assistant director of the center, to gain more insight into their work.

According to Julia, Poverty Solutions originated from a faculty dinner hosted by University of Michigan (UM) president Mark Schlissel, to garner opinions from the faculty of the university as to the societal problems they believed the university could impact the most. This issue of poverty was at the top of the list. Given the wide range of work being done across campus, the decision was made to designate an initiative to help track and harness these efforts. One of the main goals for Poverty Solutions is to leverage the breadth and depth of resources of the university to put research into action.

An early project that Poverty Solutions is tackling is a summer jobs program for youth in Washtenaw County.  The Summer Youth Employment Program brings together the University of Michigan’s Ginsberg Center, the Youth Policy Lab, University Human Resources and Washtenaw County community partners to leverage the resources of UM to help at risk students find summer employment, both on campus and at other partner sites in the community.  In addition to helping with job placement, Poverty Solutions is also focused on helping to identify and alleviate the barriers these students often encounter, such as transportation or equipment. Students in the program will also participate in professional development activities. By gathering data from the program participants and comparing it to similar youth jobs programs taking place around the country, the Poverty Solutions team hopes to gain a better understanding of those factors that really contribute to success and develop a set of best practices to share.

While Poverty Solutions is in the early stages of development, the programs they are sponsoring provide an exciting beginning to the work they hope to accomplish. You can learn more about the center by visiting their website at http://poverty.umich.edu/

Best wishes, Beth