CSD News

In recognition of his many contributions to social work research, policy, and practice, CSD’s Associate Director for Research, Jin Huang, was inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare on January 18. “I am honored and humbled to be counted among the nation’s finest social-work researchers and practitioners, and my team shares […]

The 29th annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) featured the work of 41 affiliates of the Center for Social Development (CSD) across 72 events. Faculty, staff, and associated researchers contributed to 11 symposia, three roundtables, 16 oral presentations, five flash talks, and 30 poster presentations. They convened five Special Interest […]

The new CSD will have expanded leadership, a broader research agenda and greater potential for policy and program impacts. The start of this integration is a key step in the broader beginning of a new era of leadership and excellence in social development and policy at Washington University’s Brown School.
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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.

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.

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.

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, […]

Participation in a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) apprenticeship program increased job happiness, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. This article reflects work originally conducted by the Social Policy Institute at Washington University. The Institute integrated with the Center for Social Development in January 2025.

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.

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 […]

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.

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.

Jason Jabbari, associate director of community partnerships, spoke about findings from a report he co-authored on the correlation between school security and academic performance.

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 […]

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.

In China, CSD’s new research with Child Development Accounts aims to build families’ capacity for managing autism and its costs.

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.

Join us virtually at 1:00 p.m. (CT) on September 8, 2022, for a conversation on designing a collaborative data process to evaluate programs and create more equitable outcomes.

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 […]

As a part of the St. Louis Research Practice Collaborative (SRPC) and in partnership with St. Louis University, Jason Jabbari, research assistant professor with the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, has joined a team that received a $255k grant awarded by the James F. McDonnell Foundation for research on student mobility. […]

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, […]

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 […]

Given the novel and rapidly changing nature of the labor market, learning new skills quickly will become an increasingly important aspect of workforce development and social mobility. The Social Policy Institute investigates LaunchCode, a St. Louis boot camp with an apprenticeship model, as a viable option to increase wealth-building opportunities and upskill a more diverse labor […]

How does a nation train over a million social workers to help build the financial capability and assets of their clients? What should social workers in China know about finance, and what is the best way to teach them? Weighing these matters, researchers and several of China’s top social workers proposed changes at the First […]

As colleges and universities begin the new academic year, educators in social work and other human-service fields have new tools for equipping students with the knowledge needed to guide clients with financial problems.

How can social sector organizations use data to increase their impact, and how can they ensure that impact will lead to equitable outcomes? These are guiding questions addressed in our roundtable series hosted by the Social Policy Institute’s Data for Social Impact initiative, which kicked off on October 20, 2021, and continues through November 19, […]

The International Consortium for Social Development has given Michael Sherraden the 2021 James Billups International Social Development Leadership Award. In presenting the award, Consortium President Manohar Pawar recognized Sherraden’s “distinguished contribution to social development theory and practice knowledge based on impactful action in strengthening the financial capacity and asset base for poor people and communities […]

On August 26, 2021, the China Journal of Social Work announced the 2020 Best Article Award, honoring a study by an international team of scholars that includes Center for Social Development (CSD) affiliates Michael Sherraden, Li Zou, Suo Deng, Jin Huang, Margaret Sherraden, and Nancy Morrow-Howell, as well as Shanti Khinduka, former dean of the […]

A group of experts and researchers is making the case for a nationwide Child Development Account (CDA) policy. The group, which includes CSD Founding Director Michael Sherraden and Policy Director Margaret Clancy, recently released the outline in a pair of CDA policy briefs. The briefs are entitled “The Case for a Nationwide Child Development Account […]

Mobile phones have become commonplace in sub-Saharan Africa. There, as in other parts of the world, financial technology has proliferated with the expansion of digital access, opening new doors to financial products and services. But this emerging landscape requires financial acumen, and sound guidance can be hard to find. On July 15, a multinational group of partners gathered virtually to mark the launch of Financial Capability and Asset Building in Africa (FCAB Africa), a new collaboration aimed at meeting these needs.

As she stood at the podium, Gena Gunn McClendon considered the moment. “We’re here to learn. We’re here to teach,” she told those gathered on Saturday, May 8. McClendon, director of the Voter Access and Engagement Initiative with the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University, leads research to identify voting […]

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 […]