Our faculty and staff are committed to advancing racial equity, and one of the most important vehicles is the national Grand Challenges for Social Work. We’ve created four webinars to highlight this initiative.
About 50 researchers, practitioners, policymakers and funders met this month in Washington, D.C., to discuss how to advance the field of Child Development Account programs by making them sustainable and scaleable to reach millions.
The Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy will hold the fourth annual Social Work Day on the Hill on March 21, in Washington, D.C.
As economists float the proposal to give every newborn in the United States a “baby bond” account with between $500 to $50,000 in cash, Michael Sherraden, director of the Center for Social Development, says a solution already exists — Child Development Accounts.
Michael Sherraden, PhD, received the Society for Social Work and Research’s 2018 Social Policy Researcher Award, which is “in recognition of Dr. Sherraden’s record of accomplishment that demonstrates distinguished achievement across an extended career of research in social policy.”
The book “Asset-Building Policies and Innovation in Asia” – a valuable resource for students and scholars of Asian social policy – is now available in paperback.
In a joint appearance, the authors of “The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty” headlined an October 24 event co-sponsored by the Center for Social Development and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The Global Social Development Innovations research center will focus on developing community-driven initiatives that address economic security, workforce development, financial inclusion, social protection, health and education.
The Center for Social Development congratulates Shanondora Billiot, PhD, and Jessica Black, PhD, on their new faculty positions at the University of Illinois School of Social Work and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, respectively.
Gina Chowa, Center for Social Development faculty director for Global Asset Building, is director of the new Global Social Development Innovations Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Financial Capability and Asset Building for All is one of the 12 Grand Challenges for Social Work and a growing practice in the social work profession. The Center for Social Development is committed to working with its partners to increase the financial capability of individuals, families, and communities across the globe!
Social Work Month may be ending, but social work’s professional commitment to addressing society’s challenges continues in earnest! Today the Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative is sharing insights on moving ideas and evidence into policy, including policy strategies and actions to address critical national problems.
Springing from work at the Center for Social Development, a Financial Capability and Asset Building initiative is underway in Singapore. Soon social workers there will develop knowledge and skills for working with low-income families on their household finances.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, spent part of December with Israel’s leading media providing insight on the country’s new law creating Child Development Accounts, the Savings for Every Child law.
More than 130 people attended the international symposium “People and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation, Social Justice” on November 18 at the Brown School.
The mayor of New York has announced a new child savings account to help thousands of New York City public school children save for college. City officials relied on research from the Center for Social Development to develop the three-year pilot program, which starts next fall.
President Barack Obama awarded Elouise Cobell, an advocate for Native American financial independence, the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.
International experts on flooding, drought, extreme heat, land change and more will gather for a symposium on Friday, November 18, at the Brown School of Social Work.
“Financial capability and asset building” is the theme of the 60th anniversary issue of Social Work. Articles by several researchers at the Center for Social Development were published in the October 2016 issue of the flagship journal of the National Association of Social Workers.
The Center for Social Development hosted a seminar this month for social workers and others from South Korea, part of a larger training program focused on developing financial capability for Korean youth.
To contribute to public discourse on how to make the United States more equitable, safe and livable for everyone, Michael Sherraden and Richard P. Barth submitted the opinion piece “12 questions for the presidential debate” to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare has developed a list of 12 questions for candidates for president, Congress, and state and local offices. The questions stem from work at the Grand Challenges policy conference, September 15-16, which drew more than 250 experts, advocates, and leading academics from all over the United States.
Our photo album from the September 2016 “Social Innovation for America’s Renewal” features more than 130 pictures. If you or your organization would like to use a some to promote the Grand Challenges, you may download them.
More than 250 experts, advocates, and leading academics from all over the United States converged this week on the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis to outline a comprehensive range of solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing the nation and the next administration.
National experts, advocates and leading academics will gather at Washington University in St. Louis on Sept. 14-16 as part of a policy conference designed to hammer out constructive solutions to pressing social issues facing the country and the next administration.
More than 60 people from 10 states and the District of Columbia participated in the “Child Development Account Forum” on August 16 at the Brown School.
United Way of Greater St. Louis and Emerson are creating an Individual Development Account program for families in north St. Louis County, United Way announced June 28. The program is part of an effort to improve the financial stability of low-income families in the St. Louis region.
Building on a longtime working history, leadership from the Center for Social Development formally advised the Israeli government in May on best practices for implementing the country’s new law to confer universal savings accounts on children born in Israel. The law takes effect in January 2017.
CSD Director Michael Sherraden was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy in May at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Just days before this year’s April 18 tax filing deadline, U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) proposed a plan to encourage Americans to build emergency funds.
Social entrepreneur Peter Nares, the founder of Prosper Canada and longtime friend of the Center for Social Development, died on April 5. He was 66.
We are pleased to share news from and highlight ongoing collaborations with our global partners the Centre for Social Development Asia, at the National University of Singapore, and the Centre for Social Development in Africa, at the University of Johannesburg.
The Singapore government announced on March 24 that it significantly expanded Child Development Accounts as of that date.
Every student in public, private and home schools in Salem City, N.J., will have access to a seed deposit in a 529 college savings account starting in April, officials announced.
Dean Khinduka built the modern research-oriented George Warren Brown School of Social Work. He is also a dedicated leader committed to furthering the social work profession.
An ambitious call to action on pressing social problems in America was issued January 14 at the Society for Social Work and Research annual conference in Washington, D.C.
Nearly 50 scholars, educators, researchers and macro social work practitioners met in January in Washington, D.C., for the convening on Financial Capability & Asset Building: Moving Forward.
“What It’s Worth: Strengthening the Financial Future of Families, Communities and the Nation” includes 40 essays by the nation’s leading experts on economics, financial services, public policy and philanthropy from across a broad range of sectors.
Israel’s parliament has passed a law funding long-term savings accounts for all newborns, based on a proposal developed by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, associate director of the Center for Social Development, and on research efforts led by Michael Sherraden, director of CSD.
In 2010, researchers in the vast YouthSave Initiative started investigating whether low-income youth can build savings in the developing countries of Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal. Now their findings are summarized in a newly released report.
YouthSave researchers gathered recently in Washington, D.C., to discuss what they learned over five years about how to provide scalable saving mechanisms to low-income youth—and what their findings could mean for youth development and financial inclusion.
The Ferguson Commission in its report released this week called for universal Child Development Accounts that are statewide and automatic.
The United States faces the tremendous challenge of reducing its overreliance on prisons and jails. As the social and economic costs of incarceration rise, great need—and opportunity—exists to reverse the trend. The new Smart Decarceration Initiative, based at the Center for Social Development, is taking up the challenge.
Israel’s parliament will consider a state budget this fall that includes funding for long-term savings accounts for all newborns, a proposal authored by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, the associate director of the Center for Social Development, and based on research efforts led by Michael Sherraden, PhD, the director of CSD.
An experimental Individual Development Account had no effect on whether participants opened a retirement account or on the adequacy of their retirement savings, according to a newly published article in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work.
At the Center for Social Development, we believe that financial security should be lifelong, starting at birth and extending from childhood through adulthood. Today CSD is proud to join CFED and more than a dozen other partners in launching the Campaign for Every Kid’s Future.
In the United States, the largest Child Development Account (CDA) programs have been built on existing college savings plans, often called 529 plans after the relevant section of the Internal Revenue Code.
CSD Director Michael Sherraden, PhD, was awarded the Richard Lodge Prize for 2015. He received the prize on May 8 at the Adelphi University School of Social Work’s annual Alumni and Friends Day.
Singapore’s innovative response to its rough and vulnerable beginning has shaped the first 50 years of the island country, Michael Sherraden said Wednesday, speaking to a crowd gathered at the National University of Singapore for his public lecture marking Singapore’s 50th Anniversary as an independent nation.
The Financial Capability & Asset Building initiative was highlighted Tuesday during a celebration showcasing four Washington University in St. Louis initiatives funded by a $5.3 million gift from Wells Fargo Advisors.