Moving Forward from SECURE 2.0: Building on the Law’s Most Effective Provisions, Closing the Access Gap, and Reforming Social Security

Sprick, E. (with Despard, M., & Roll, S.). (2025). Moving forward from SECURE 2.0: Building on the law’s most effective provisions, closing the access gap, and reforming social security. Bipartisan Policy Center. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/download/?file=/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Moving-Forward-from-SECURE-2.0-BPC-CSD-Report.pdf

PCCI Direct Cash Transfer Project: Final Report

Hamilton, L., Roll, S., & Zhang, G. (2025). PCCI Direct Cash Transfer Project: Final Report. Appalachian State University, Family Economic Policy Lab. https://fepl.appstate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/PCCI-Cohort-2-Final-Report.pdf

The Case for Early Wealth Building Accounts

Abstract Aspen FSP research on the Future of Wealth has shown that to succeed in the United States economy, people need to enter adulthood–a life stage when many critical investments are made – with a substantial amount of money to invest in themselves and their future. The importance of what we’re calling “investable sums” in young adulthood […]

HomeGrown StL 5th Annual Regional Summit on the State of Opportunities for Black Boys and Young Men: Organizing for Solutions That Unleash the Elite Potential of Young Black Males

Joe, S., Clifton, M., & Carlton-Brown, D. (2023, May). HomeGrown StL 5th Annual Regional Summit on the State of Opportunity for Black Boys and Young Men: Organizing for solutions that unleash the elite potential of young Black males (CSD Conference Report No. 23-17). Washington University, Center for Social Development, Race & Opportunity Lab, HomeGrown StL. https://doi.org/10.7936/64jx-0x32

Expanded Child Tax Credit payments have not reduced employment

Approximately 60 million American children living in 35 million households received monthly payments from the federal government as part of the temporary Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion. Discourse over whether or not the expanded CTC caused parents to leave the workforce emerged during the period of the expanded credit. On one side, a large number […]

Policy & Practice Strategies for Inclusive Growth in St. Louis

A 6-part event series, Inclusive Growth in St. Louis investigated who is left out of St. Louis’ economic growth benefits, the policies that have led to the unequal distribution of opportunities, and actionable recommendations to become a more inclusive economy. This report summarizes those discussions and recommendations.

HomeGrown StL 4th Annual Regional Summit on the State of Opportunities for Black Boys and Young Men: Closing the Health, Growth, and Opportunity Gaps

Joe, S., Clifton, M., & Carlton-Brown, D. (2021, December). HomeGrown StL 4th Annual Regional Summit on the State of Opportunities for Black Boys and Young Men: Closing the healing, growth, and opportunity gaps (CSD Conference Report No. 21-34). Washington University, Center for Social Development, Race & Opportunity Lab, HomeGrownStL. https://doi.org/10.7936/cej1-ds84

Impact of COVID-19 on Households with Children

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions in employment, child care and education. As a result, both parents and children experienced a variety of hardships in their work and education. While these hardships had reverberating effects throughout households, they were not equally distributed across families with children. In this brief, we explore the effects of COVID-19 […]

Housing Hardships During COVID-19

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. households were burdened by the cost of rental and mortgage payments, burdens which disproportionately fell on Black and Hispanic families. Using a 5-wave survey, we examined whether disparities in housing cost burden continued throughout the pandemic and trends in how households fell behind on rent and mortgage payments. […]

The Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Study: Survey Methodology Report

Roll, S., Bufe, S.., Chun, Y., & Grinstein-Weiss, M. (2021). The Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 Study: Survey methodology report (Social Policy Institute Research Report). Washington University, Social Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.7936/r4cj-5041

Timely and Well-Targeted Financial Assistance during Covid-19

The Social Policy Institute (SPI) at Washington University in St. Louis partnered with PerkUp Financial Health LLC, a financial services technology company, to study an emergency financial assistance program offered to employees of three hotels in New Orleans, LA who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. PerkUp serves as a technology hub for a […]

Data for Social Impact: Roundtable Discussion Summary Report

To inform the Data Science for Social Impact initiative, SPI hosted a series of public roundtable discussions in partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, data.org, and the St. Louis Regional Data Alliance in 2021. This report documents the information gathered at the first two discussions.

Financial Capability and Asset Building: Achievements, Challenges, and Next Steps

Johnson, L., Sherraden, M. S., McClendon, G., Birkenmaier, J., Frey, J., Callahan, C., Huang, J., & Rothwell, D. (2021). Financial Capability and Asset Building: Achievements, challenges, and next steps (CSD Conference Report No. 21-11). Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/vnr6-ys64

Saving for a Rainy Day: Making it Easier for Employees to Build Emergency Savings

In this study, we examined Onward, an employer-based mobile app that enables workers to save via payroll deduction and receive financial education and coaching as a means to address financial challenges such as difficulty paying bills on time, managing debt, and accruing savings. An important feature of Onward is that employees can save automatically through […]

Financing Workers’ Health Care Cash Flow Needs: A Pilot Study

MedPut offers a way for employees to pay their out-of-pocket health care expenses through payroll deducted or Health Savings Account (HSA) payments capped at 5% of gross pay. Employees that use MedPut are much more likely to report having problems paying medical bills and to report putting off health care due to cost concerns. Nearly […]

Employer-Sponsored Financial Planning: A Study of the Brightside Platform

In this report, we explore employee usage trends of Brightside, an employee financial health platform that is designed to improve the financial health of working families. Using this platform, employees can open “cases” to address a financial need or goal they have. Brightside connects these employees with financial assistants who, in turn, connect the employees […]

Accountable Policing: Policies to Advance the Personal Safety of Black Boys and Young Men

Motley, R. O., Jr., Finner, A., Walker, M., & Joe, S. (2020, June). Accountable policing: Policies to advance the personal safety of Black boys and young men (Race and Opportunity Lab Brief Report No. 3). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development, Race and Opportunity Lab. https://doi.org/10.7936/b0kj-hn71

The Impact of the Gig-Economy on Financial Hardship among Low-Income Families

New work arrangements coordinated by gig-economy platforms offer workers discretion over their work schedules at the expense of traditional worker protections. We empirically measure the impact of expanding access to gigs on worker welfare, with a focus on low-income families. We are interested in the likelihood that a family experiences hardship, meaning they fail to […]

When a job is not enough: Employee financial wellness and the role of philanthropy

Employee financial wellness programs provide workplace products and services such as financial coaching and small-dollar credit products that may help employees address the various challenges that are at the root of their financial stress. This report is intended to offer guidance to grant makers to understand the role philanthropy can play in promoting the development […]

Dependent care FSAs: The uneven playing field for employers and workers

This research was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. We thank them for their support but acknowledge that the findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.The authors are grateful to Don Baylor at the Annie E. Casey Foundation […]

Healing Policies for Black Boys and Young Men in St. Louis: Priorities in 2019

Joe, S., Motley, R., Ivory, A., Finner, A., & Frederick, J. (2019). Healing policies for Black boys and young men in St. Louis: Priorities in 2019 (Race and Opportunity Lab Brief Report No. 2). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development, Race and Opportunity Lab. https://doi.org/10.7936/a3gh-8d26

Social Mobility: The Necessary Focus of St. Louis Investment in Black Males

Joe, S., & Motley, R. (2019, February). Social mobility: The necessary focus of St. Louis investment in Black males (Race and Opportunity Lab Brief Report No. 1). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Cen¬ter for Social Development, Race and Opportunity Lab. https://doi.org/10.7936/s7h3-ct03

Statewide Child Development Account Policies: Key Design Elements

Clancy, M. M., & Beverly, S. G. (2017). Statewide Child Development Account policies: Key design elements (CSD Policy Report No. 17-30). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/K7G44PS2

Employee Financial Wellness Programs Project: Comprehensive Report of Findings

Frank-Miller, E., Covington, M., Despard, M. R., Hannon, G., & Grinstein-Weiss, M. (2017). Employee Financial Wellness Programs project: Comprehensive report of findings (CSD Research Report No. 17-31). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development. https://doi.org/10.7936/K7S46RFZ

Guideposts for the Era of Smart Decarceration

Pettus-Davis, C., Epperson, M., & Grier, A. (2017, February). Guideposts for the era of smart decarceration [Report]. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University College of Social Work, Institute for Justice Research and Development, Washington University Center for Social Development, and University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.