New research from the Center for Social Development (CSD) shows that parents of newborns with Child Development Accounts (CDAs) respond by deepening their commitment to the child’s higher education and their own efforts to save for that education. The findings come from two newly released publications: a research summary of account and savings data from […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic worsens America’s already deep income and wealth divides, how can financial capability be increased for vulnerable families? What role can social workers play? To take up these questions, more than 100 scholars and practitioners gathered virtually on February 25 for “Theory, Evidence, Education, and Practice in FCAB,” Part 2 of the convening “Financial […]
On January 30, Center for Social Development (CSD) research associate professor Jin Huang delivered the first national financial capability training for Chinese social workers. Speaking to more than 800 attendees, Huang discussed broadening the term “financial literacy” to the concept of “financial capability,” or having both the knowledge to make optimal financial decisions and also […]
In 2021, the Center for Social Development (CSD) celebrates over 25 years of inquiry, innovation and impact. The newly published report, In the Community, highlights our work’s advancements and illustrates directions in ongoing and future work in St. Louis, the United States and around the world. Founded in 1994, CSD continues to generate pathbreaking innovations in […]
Enabling felons who have completed their sentences to return to productive lives was the theme of a Congressional Briefing conducted online on December 2. The briefing was hosted by the Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy (CRISP) and the Center for Social Development. Moderated by Charles Lewis Jr. of CRISP, Undoing Racism by […]
Dozens of Brown School students, staff and faculty volunteered at polls across the St. Louis region November 3, helping voters to cast their ballots in what would turn out to be the largest vote total in U.S. history and the highest turnout rate since 1900.
Asset-building policies have taken root and are growing in countries across the globe, thanks in large part to strong international partnerships and applied social research. One robust example includes Korea, which marked a decade of asset building on November 12, 2020.
From across a nation struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic and a generally difficult year, over 150 scholars and practitioners gathered virtually on September 21 for “FCAB Policies: Race and Inequality in the COVID-19 Era,” Part 1 of the two-part convening “Financial Capability and Asset Building: Achievements, Challenges, and Next Steps.” They gathered to set an […]
Trina R. Shanks, a Center for Social Development faculty director and a Brown School alumnus, was installed September 30 as the Howard R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.
On September 22, Gena McClendon, Cori Bush, Tishaura Jones, and others gathered for the John Lewis “Good Trouble” March to the Ballot Box.
What would it take to ensure that every child in every state has an account accumulating assets for education beyond high school? How would those assets shape the children and their families? State officials, researchers, nonprofit leaders, program managers, and funders gathered July 16 to take up those questions.
Sicong (Summer) Sun, a PhD candidate at the Brown School, has been selected as the 2020-21 Jane B. Aron/Social Work HEALS Doctoral Fellow by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation.
Thirteen years after they began, researchers in a landmark study of asset building in Oklahoma are poised to receive new information gathered despite obstacles posed by COVID-19.
Four experts on policing told a congressional briefing on June 30 that the values and training of social workers can be useful tools in re-imagining the nation’s approach to public order and reducing racist violence of police. The online briefing, Black Lives Matter: Social Work and the Future of Policing, was sponsored by the Congressional […]
In May, the National Endowment for Financial Education honored CSD Research Associate Yingying Zeng with an award for “Workplace Financial Counseling: Credit Outcomes Among Lower-Paid, Entry-Level Workers,” a paper she wrote with Mathieu Despard and Sophia Fox-Dichter. Zeng has been working on financial well-being issues since she came to the United States in 2015. As […]
Negative emotional responses tied to identity of the perpetrator.
The report summarizes findings and recommendations from CDA research to inform policymakers and practitioners operating or considering CDAs in the midst of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.
The Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition Inc. (ONAC) has released its Native Children’s Savings Initiative in the United States report.
Nearly 30 years after the publication of Michael Sherraden’s seminal Assets and the Poor, Child Development Account (CDA) policies and programs are emerging across the globe. Now, a new book edited by Jin Huang, Li Zou and Sherraden showcases the global context of those advancements.
With the presidential election looming this year, voting is as important as ever. For Black History Month, Gena Gunn McClendon, director of CSD’s Voter Access and Engagement initiative, participated in numerous events to discuss voter suppression and the crucial importance of the black vote.
In 2018, China celebrated its 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of social work in the country. Both that year and in 2019, Center for Social Development (CSD) Director Michael Sherraden provided keynote addresses for conferences at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing. Emphasizing the importance of longstanding partnerships between Washington University and China, Sherraden said they […]
A study from the Center for Social Development’s SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment has been nominated for an award given to the best paper published in the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
Sherraden was among 19 fellows inducted into the academy on Jan. 17, 2020.
CSD research and expertise shape proposal for a universal policy in the Show-Me state.
An expanding partnership is pursuing legislation for Missouri children in 2020.
Singapore initiated training in Financial Capability and Asset Building in 2017. It is kicking off its third phase: expanding to a nationwide scale.
The fight for fair and affordable housing has new momentum in one of the nation’s most segregated metropolitan areas.
As financial social work emerges in China, Michael Sherraden and Li Zou highlight its potential at two Chinese universities.
For her work, Dr. Gena Gunn McClendon has been honored with the Ambassador Andrew J. Young Award for Outstanding Ethics, Service, and Commitment to Family and Community.
Robert E. Friedman believes we can close the racial wealth divide in a generation. “I believe in the promise of this country … and in this community. St. Louis has become a symbol to the country of the results of racial inequity, and I think it’s leading the way to close the racial wealth divide, and to let America live up to its ideals.”
Isabel Sawhill thinks too many researchers are more interested in publishing papers than making sure their work has major impact. “An awful lot of researchers are not asking the right questions,” says Sawhill, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. “We need to push scholars to do more research on big questions.”
Amendments enacted on Wednesday, October 2, will affect all newborn children in California. The state became the third this year to adopt a universal, at-birth Child Development Account (CDA) policy.
Research from the Center for Social Development shows that where voters live can influence their ability to vote. “In volunteering at the polls, I noticed that equipment malfunctions and other issues seemed relatively common at some sites, explained Gena Gunn McClendon, director of CSD’s Voter Access and Engagement initiative and a co-author of “Will I […]
On September 12 at the Brown School, representatives from regional universities, Missouri and Illinois election board members and community organizations convened for the second Campus and Community Voter Engagement Summit. “The summit presented opportunities for key stakeholders to have a dialogue about the significance of strategies that promote student participation in voting and the importance […]
Illinois became the most recent state in the U.S. to adopt universal Child Development Accounts on August 23, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation to open a 529 college savings plan account with deposits for every child born or adopted in Illinois after Dec. 31, 2020.
Awareness about voter suppression is gaining momentum, in part through screenings of “Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook.” Building on a positive response to the first screening on Washington University’s campus, the Center for Social Development’s Voter Access and Engagement (VAE) project collaborated with community partners to host a second screening on August 3, 2019 at […]
The Centre for Social Development Africa—CSD’s sister center at the University of Johannesburg—recently published the Siyakha Youth Assets Study. It examines whether the combination of a youth employability program and a financial capability intervention can have an impact on young people’s job outcomes.
Nebraska’s legislature today approved a universal Child Development Account (CDA) policy that will cover every resident born in the state on or after January 1, 2020.
More than 100 guests turned out Wednesday afternoon for a screening of the documentary “Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook.” “Voter suppression is wrong, and it’s real,” Mac Heller, the documentary’s executive producer, said before the show. The event at the Brown School was a joint effort between the Voter Access and Engagement (VAE) initiative and […]
Listen to an excerpt from Lisa Reyes Mason’s interview on the inSocialWork podcast. In it, she describes how climate change is connected to social, economic and political contexts, which is why it is such an important issue for social work.
FSU has launched a new research institute aimed at advancing science, policy and practice to improve the well-being of individuals, families and communities impacted by the criminal justice system. The Institute for Justice Research and Development was founded and is directed by Carrie Pettus-Davis, Associate Professor at FSU and CSD Faculty Director of the Smart Decarceration Initiative.
Robert Motley Jr., manager of the Center for Social Development’s Race and Opportunity Lab, has received a two-year $60,936 grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and a $5,000 grant from the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation.
Assistant Professsor Molly Metzger, faculty director of Thriving Communities at the Center for Social Development, discusses three myths about the causes of segregation during the keynote speech at the 2019 Fair Housing Conference.
Experts from the Center for Social Development traveled to Asia in mid-April to advise Taiwanese leaders about social policy and social work education.
More than 225 people from various parts of the country gathered at the Brown School for the Collaboration on Race, Inequality, and Social Mobility in America’s inaugural conference March 28-29. The event, entitled “Race at the Forefront: Sharpening a Focus on Race in Applied Research,” brought together scholars who are working toward the elimination of […]
Washington University’s Molly Metzger and Hank Webber took to the airwaves on April 9 to discuss segregation.
Brown School doctoral student Aytakin Huseynli has received a national award in recognition of her contribution to the development of social work in Azerbaijan, her home country. The Ministry of Women, Family and Children Affairs in Azerbaijan gave her the award on March 7. Or, rather, the ministry presented it to her mother in Aytakin’s […]
Child Development Accounts take center stage in a newly released special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development. The sweeping, seven-article issue shows the global context of the emerging asset-building policy. “Many countries are exploring new policy innovations that encourage asset building,” said Michael Sherraden, who co-edited the issue and co-authored […]
The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy hosted its fifth annual Social Work Day on the Hill on March 20 in Washington, D.C.
Michael Sherraden will discuss potential federal policy for inclusive and progressive Child Development Accounts (CDAs), so that all U.S. children can accumulate assets, on March 20 at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C. Several states have already enacted statewide CDA policies, and a nationwide policy is possible. Sherraden is the George Warren Brown Distinguished […]