Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and founding director of the Center for Social Development, has been named a Social Work Pioneer. The honor, announced on July 19 by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation, has been previously bestowed upon such social work luminaries […]
New research from the Center for Social Development confronts the enduring legacy of slavery and racism by identifying a policy model for delivering reparations. Published in a special double issue of RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, the study draws upon CSD’s Child Development Account research and the long-running SEED from Oklahoma Kids experiment.
Shanks, T. R., Huang, J., Elliott, W., III, Zheng, H., Clancy, M. M., & Sherraden, M. (2024). Asset-building policy and Black reparations: Effective delivery and wealth accumulation (CSD Research Brief No. 24-07). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/4tyz-z454
Shanks, T. R., Huang, J., Elliott, W., III, Zheng, H., Clancy, M. M., & Sherraden, M. (2024). A policy platform to deliver Black reparations: Building on evidence from Child Development Accounts. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 10(3), 92–111. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2024.10.3.05
Research conducted by the Center for Social Development took center stage at the U.S. Senate Finance Committee’s May 21 hearing on proposed federal children’s account policy.
Elliott, W. (2024, May). Child Savings Accounts and other tax-advantaged accounts benefiting American children: Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance (CSD Perspective No. 24-05). Washington University, Center for Social Development, and University of Michigan, Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion. https://doi.org/10.7936/ezhm-qb08
Social work students in mainland China have a new tool for learning how to help families navigate financial challenges and build financial security. A landmark textbook from the Financial Capability and Asset Building initiative at the Center for Social Development has been translated into Chinese.
Amid a flurry of behind-the-scenes Congressional activity, key researchers and policy experts have endorsed central elements of a federal children’s account policy. Shaped in large part by research at the Center for Social Development, the elements and consensus are the subjects of a new brief from CSD.
Huang, J., Shanks, T. R., Clancy, M. M., Elliott, W., III, & Sherraden, M. (2024). Wealth-building for all children: Convergence and evidence to support a nationwide policy (CSD Policy Brief No. 24-04). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/kyht-rv07
Under the new policy, every child in the Central Asian nation is receiving an account with assets from natural-resource wealth.
In southern Africa and elsewhere, high vulnerability to poverty and false promises of employment lure many youth from their homes into the hands of traffickers who exploit them through forced labor. A new project from the Center for Social Development (CSD) initiative on Financial Capability and Asset Building in Africa (FCAB Africa) focuses on reducing […]
Aytakin Huseynli, postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Social Development (CSD), has received the 2024 Outstanding Social Work Doctoral Dissertation Honorable Mention Award from the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). Society President Sean Joe, a CSD faculty director, and Awards Committee Chair Gina Miranda Samuels presented the award to her on January 13, […]
On Wednesday, January 31, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania introduced federal legislation to create a national children’s account policy. The 401Kids Act is designed to empower all children, and particularly children from disadvantaged households, by providing a means for them to accumulate assets for developmental priorities like higher education.
Sherraden, M. (2024, January). Reflections, accomplishments, and opportunities: The CSD annual letter (CSD Perspective No. 24-01). Washington University, Center for Social Development.
Affiliates of the Center for Social Development (CSD) are once again making significant contributions at the annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR). The 2024 conference runs from January 10 through 14, 2024, in Washington, DC. Faculty Director Trina Shanks, the Harold R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work at the […]
Ray Boshara, a national expert on wealth inequality and household financial security, has joined the Center for Social Development (CSD) as a senior policy advisor. As part of this appointment, Boshara serves as a Legislative Fellow with the Office of U.S. Senator Bob Casey, where he is developing Senator Casey’s “401Kids” proposal. The proposal will […]
The Center for Social Development’s newest faculty director is a leading expert on financial social work and social policy in mainland China. Shu Fang, professor in the School of Sociology and Psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, is the newest faculty director at the Center for Social Development (CSD). Fang […]
CSD co-organizes international conference at gateway between East and West. Researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers came together in late November for the International Conference on Social Work and Social Research: Financial Capability and Asset Building for All. Organized by Azerbaijan University, the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis, Sakayra University […]
A new study captures parents’ perspectives on the influence that Child Development Accounts can exert over children’s educational attainment and parental saving for children’s higher education. Successful policymaking depends on public support. In policies affecting children, parents’ understanding and opinions matter. A new study from Center for Social Development researchers Jin Huang, Sondra G. Beverly, […]
In a recent seminar, Center for Social Development (CSD) researchers discussed the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment, Singapore’s leadership in asset-based social policy and a vision for global Children Development Accounts. Singapore is a global leader in asset-based social policy, providing citizens a cradle-to-grave structure for accumulating wealth. That interest in such policies and their […]
Huang, J., Beverly, S. G., Clancy, M. M., & Sherraden, M. (2024). Parental views on universal asset-building policy for all children. Child & Family Social Work, 29(2), 584–586. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.13103
Gena Gunn McClendon, esteemed director of community engagement at the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University, passed away on October 21, 2023. She leaves behind an enduring legacy as a fierce advocate for equity, a champion for the disempowered and a passionate defender of voting rights. “Throughout her career, Gena has been a […]
Natural resource wealth underpins a proposal for what may be the world’s next national children’s account policy.
Quint, C. J., & Clancy, M. M. (2023, June). My Alfond Grant CDA: Experience From 10 years of automatic deposits for all Maine newborns (CSD Policy Brief No. 23-19). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/9tx1-hf90
Huseynli, A., & Sherraden, M. (2023, June). Child well-being policies in post-Soviet countries: The potential of Child Development Accounts (CSD Policy Brief No. 23-18). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/8f0m-qs76
Li Zou has given many presentations on Child Development Accounts (CDAs) in other countries, but this one was different.
The international director for the Center for Social Development (CSD) was at the World Bank to deliver invited remarks on the bank’s plan to evolve its mission and operations. The bank’s roadmap affirms commitments to poverty reduction and shared prosperity while calling for changes to better meet global challenges.
At the bank’s April 11 Evolution Forum, Zou sketched a strategy for meeting all three of those goals, a strategy for developing a global CDA policy based on research by the Center for Social Development.
Brown School honors Clancy with 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award Passion and patience. Margaret Clancy has devoted a generous dose of each during her 24-year career with the Center for Social Development (CSD) in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. They have paid off not only for her career, but for millions of […]
As Bulgarian social workers assist thousands of Ukrainian refugees, CSD’s Aytakin Huseynli is leading a group that offers global support.
Bringing together evidence from a diverse network of researchers and practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the March special issue of Global Social Welfare highlights the Center for Social Development’s focus on improving economic well-being for marginalized populations on the continent. The issue, “Financial Capability and Assets for Socioeconomic Development,” was developed through the Financial Capability […]
For decades, deeply entrenched policies have made Greater St. Louis one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the United States. A new briefing book offers policy options for change.
Social policy is a part of social work at almost every turn, yet many of the insights from the profession never find their way into the programs and rules that govern social workers’ efforts. What prompts helping professionals to take up policy work, and which strategies are most effective for influencing policy? Social workers and scholars around the world gathered virtually to discuss these subjects at Social Work in Social Policy: Engagement Strategies for Today and the Next Generation—A Book Event.
The award recognizes a career of applied research innovations, major contributions to social work knowledge. On Saturday, January 14, 2023, the Society for Social Work and Research honored Michael Sherraden with the 2023 Distinguished Career Achievement Award. Sherraden is the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Codirector of the […]
Huseynli, A. (2023). Asset building policies to lift the resource curse: child development accounts in oil-and-gas-rich countries. Children and Youth Services Review, 145, 106717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106717
Sherraden, M. (2023, January). Comments on receiving the Distinguished Career Achievement Award of the Society for Social Work and Research (CSD Perspective No. 23-02). Washington University, Center for Social Development.
Huseynli, A. (2022). Social work education in post-Soviet countries: Progress of Azerbaijan. British Journal of Social Work, 53(5), 2560–2580. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcac225
A special issue of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues charts an agenda for new practice and research on financial capability, assets, and family financial well-being.
Huseynli, A., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2022). Child well-being in post-Soviet countries: Discipline practices in families in Azerbaijan. Child Indicators Research, 16, 317–336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-022-09976-8
In China, CSD’s new research with Child Development Accounts aims to build families’ capacity for managing autism and its costs.
Sherraden, M., & Zou, L. (2022, October). Global Child Development Accounts: A “moon shot” to develop every child and the planet (CSD Perspective No. 22-27). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/s6qa-9q90
In Singapore, an innovative project is training frontline staff and volunteers to give financial guidance to low-income families.
The state enrolls 3.4 million children in CalKIDs, which CSD experts helped to shape. Today Governor Gavin Newsom publicly launched CalKIDS, the California Kids Investment and Development Savings program. With 3.4 million children in the first cohort of enrollees and more than $1.8 billion in assets, CalKIDS leaves the starting gate as the nation’s largest […]
On June 29, Faculty Directors Jin Huang and Minchao Jin delivered keynote addresses at the 2022 Financial Literacy Education Forum in mainland China. Carried by state news agency Xinhua, Sina Weibo, Youku, and numerous other platforms, the event drew an audience of over 2.65 million viewers.
New estimates on the number of children around the globe who are building assets in CDAs. Over 15 million children have built assets in Child Development Accounts (CDAs), according to new estimates in a brief by Li Zou and Michael Sherraden with the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University. Zou […]
Zou, L., & Sherraden, M. (2022, June). Child Development Accounts reach over 15 million children globally (CSD Policy Brief No. 22-22). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/yfyb-r646
New research from the Center for Social Development shows that a children’s account policy reduces obstacles to higher education. As the cost of higher education continues to grow, families in the United States struggle to save enough for children’s education. State 529 college savings plans are investment vehicles that assist families in meeting this need, […]
Clancy, M. M., Beverly, S. G., Schreiner, M., Huang, J., & Sherraden, M. (2022, June). Financial facts: SEED OK Child Development Accounts at age 14 (CSD Fact Sheet No. 22-20). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/13ge-kt42
Policies to strengthen vulnerable families typically focus either on boosting income for present needs or assets for future priorities. A recent event spotlighted policies to integrate the two approaches for vulnerable families – as we already do for other families.
Two recent events illuminated restrictions on ballot access and strategies to increase voting. Both featured national experts on voting rights.
Events to feature Barbara Arnwine, national voting rights experts, and elections officials As the United States prepares for the 2022 elections, voting rights are under threat. What can be done to protect access to the ballot? Civil rights leader Barbara Arnwine of the Transformative Justice Coalition, Elizabeth Hira of the Brennan Center for Justice and […]
How can vulnerable families overcome barriers to financial security, and what has made it difficult for them to do so? New research in a special issue of Families in Society seeks answers to those questions. Guest edited by Jin Huang, Margaret Sherraden, Jenny L. Jones, and Christine Callahan, the collection developed from papers presented during […]