Poverty Research & Policy

Millions of households in the United States struggle to maintain access to the energy necessary to heat and cool their home, to have power to cook and have hot water, and to literally keep the lights on. And a disconnection—or even the threat of having your power turned off—can be devastating. For this episode, Dr. Diana Hernandez and Dr. Jennifer Laird join us to discuss their new book, "Powerless: The People's Struggle for Energy." They share their research on the impact of energy insecurity and provide detailed policy and practice recommendations to address it. Diana Hernandez is an associate professor of sociomedical sciences at in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, as well as co-Director of the Energy Opportunity Lab at the Columbia Center for Global Energy Policy. Jennifer Laird is an assistant professor in the department of sociology at Lehman College.

Material hardship like food or housing insecurity or inadequate access to medical care are routinely measured. But transportation insecurity has not been, despite its significance in the lives of people with low incomes, and the likelihood that it intersects with other forms of hardship.  For this episode, Dr. Alexandra Murphy joins us to discuss her recent co-authored paper, titled, "How Does Transportation Insecurity Compare and Relate to Other Indicators of Material Hardship in the U.S.?" She shares her work constructing and implementing the Transportation Insecurity Index, and explains how it is being used across the country.  Alex Murphy is a sociologist at the University of Michigan where she is an Assistant Research Scientist at Poverty Solutions in the Ford School of Public Policy and is the Associate Director of Social Science Research at Mcity.  

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of tremendous change politically and culturally in the United States. Federal legislation and policy enshrined voting rights and implemented measures to increase equality, but there were still many areas in which those changes fell short for people of color and those living in poverty. In her new book, "Poverty Rebels: Black and Brown Protest in Post–Civil Rights America," Dr. Casey Nichols examines the history and legacy of local, state, and national activism through the lens of Black and Brown communities in Los Angeles between 1964 and 1979. Casey D. Nichols is assistant professor of history at Texas State University. She is also an IRP Emerging Poverty Fellow.

The Clinton-era Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was a significant reform of the welfare system as it had been known. In this episode, Dr. Lucie Schmidt draws on her co-authored paper, "Did Welfare Reform End the Safety Net as We Knew It? The Record since 1996," to describe the safety net landscape before 1996, and how specific programs and overall coverage have changed since welfare reform was put in place. Lucie Schmidt is the Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She is also an IRP Affiliate.

Many countries use direct cash aid programs as an integral part of their social safety net. In the United States, there have been few national efforts, but more and more guaranteed income programs are being implemented at state, county, and local levels. In this episode, Dr. Lisa Gennetian draws on her co-authored paper, "Unconditional Cash Transfers for Families with Children in the U.S.: A Scoping Review," to provide an overview of cash assistance programs both in the US and in other countries, with a particular focus on programs aimed at families with children. Lisa Gennetian is the Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. She is also an IRP Affiliate.

There are many factors that influence whether Mexican immigrants to the United States are able to achieve upward mobility. In his new book, "Dreams Achieved and Denied: Mexican Intergenerational Mobility," Robert Courtney Smith shares research conducted over twenty years and involving nearly one hundred children of Mexican immigrants in New York City. He examines how being documented or not acts as a master status, and how that is expressed through choices about education, employment, social networks, expressions of masculinity, and romantic and familial relationships.   Robert Courtney Smith is a Professor of Sociology, Immigration Studies and Public Affairs at the School of Public Affairs and in the Sociology Department at the Graduate Center at CUNY. 

Between 5% and 20% of children in the United States live with a disability. The definition and measurement of disability are constantly changing. Therefore, people with disabilities have been inadequately represented and understudied in research. In this episode, Molly Costanzo shares her research on the economic well-being for households with children with disabilities and recommendations for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to improve their quality of life. Molly Costanzo is a scientist at the Institute for Research on Poverty. She has a PhD in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses broadly on policies that support children and families.

There are many ways to assess the quality of care that pregnant people receive pre- and post-partum, as well as during delivery itself. Dr. Kathryn Thompson shares her findings on how the care that pregnant Black Medicaid enrollees receive compares to their more affluent white peers, and the policy and practice opportunities for addressing the social determinants of health that are involved.  Kathryn Thompson is an Assistant Professor at Boston University's School of Public Health in the departments of Community Health Sciences and Health Law, Policy, and Management. She is also an IRP 2024–2025 Visiting Poverty Scholar. 

The federal Farm Bill expired at the end of September 2024 and was not reauthorized. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been extended through a Continuing Resolution, but that is a stopgap measure. For this episode, Dr. Colleen Heflin joins us to discuss the recent policy brief that she co-authored with Camille Barbin, titled, "How Does the Reauthorization of the Farm Bill Impact SNAP?" Colleen Heflin is a Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She is also a Senior Research Associate in the Center for Policy Research and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health. She is also an IRP affiliate.