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.

Menstrual poverty, or unmet menstrual hygiene needs, is defined as a lack of appropriate menstrual products in necessary quantities; access to soap and water for proper hygiene; or ways to dispose of or wash used sanitary materials. The experience of menstrual poverty can have far-reaching impacts on mental and physical health, the ability to work, and consistent school attendance.

For this episode, Dr. Anne Sebert Kuhlmann discusses her research on the impacts of menstrual poverty, and what practice and policy options are available to alleviate the burden on menstruating people.

Reference Papers:

The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Housing Affordability and the Living Arrangements of Families With Low Incomes

Students' Menstrual Hygiene Needs and School Attendance in an Urban St. Louis, Missouri, District

Unmet Menstrual Hygiene Needs Among Low-Income Women

When the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was expanded in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 crisis, it provided more support to parents and on a monthly basis. In addition, some very low-income families were eligible to access the CTC for the first time. In this episode, Dr. Katherine Michelmore shares insights from the paper that she co-authored with Natasha Pilkauskas and Nicole Kovski, titled, “The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Housing Affordability and the Living Arrangements of Families With Low Incomes.”

Katherine Michelmore is an Associate Professor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. A leading scholar and educator on the social safety net, education policy, labor economics, and economic demography, she is also an IRP Affiliate.

Paper to provide link for:

The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Housing Affordability and the Living Arrangements of Families With Low Incomes

Black-Led Organizations (BLOs) are organizations led by an Executive Director and have a majority of full-time employees identifying as African American. BLOs face challenges (e.g., limited funding, diminished agency, exploitation) which can be explained through the framework of racialization. In this episode, Dr. Greg Wilson discusses his research paper titled “An Invisible Impediment to Progress: Perceptions of Racialization in the Nonprofit Sector” that analyzes racialization of BLOs in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dr. Greg Wilson is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, a previous IRP Graduate Research Fellow, and previous IRP Dissertation Fellow. He is interested in understanding how, why, and in what ways the nonprofit sector is racialized and how this system impacts the work of nonprofits led by people of color, particularly those led by African Americans.

Reference Paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/08997640241252650