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The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the Columbia University School of Social Work produces cutting-edge research to advance our understanding of poverty and the role of social policy in reducing poverty and promoting opportunity, economic security, and individual and family well-being in New York City and the United States. 

• Congressional co-authors of House and Senate bills utilize our work on the potential of an expanded Child Tax Credit in reducing poverty. Discussions include analysis of the impacts across racial and ethnic groups as well as geographic locations. (rephrased from JPB Application)
• Administration officials use our work on the American Rescue Plan and American Families Plan for information on how safety net program changes may benefit different population sub-groups and those at risk of missing out. (rephrased from JPB Application)
• We have a proven track record in thoughtful engagement and dissemination of results. For poverty research to be instrumental in informing public debates, it must be timely, relevant, and rigorous.

• The United States has historically had one of the highest poverty rates of any wealthy nation, particularly among children. The US has a less generous safety net in place to combat poverty.
• Rigorous and accurate evidence on poverty and the role of the safety net in poverty reduction has been critical to building the case for enhanced investments in reducing poverty in the US. 
• Legislation passed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has significantly, albeit temporarily, bolstered anti-poverty programs in ways that – if sustained – could be transformative. 
• Understanding the effects of these new initiatives, such as the creation of something akin to a universal child allowance through the transformation of the Child Tax Credit, as well as other proposed reforms to the safety net, requires timely, objective, rigorous, and accurate evidence about poverty and the effects of these new investments.

• We examine the effects on poverty overall and by race/ethnicity, with particular attention to Black individuals and families. Such disaggregated analyses are essential given the persistently high poverty rates among Black individuals and families and given that policies (such as minimum wage or EITC reforms) may have different anti-poverty impacts for different racial and ethnic groups. 
• In 2019, poverty rates among Black and Hispanic Americanswere over twice as high as among white non-Hispanics, despite decades of progress in poverty reduction across the population at large. 
• Suppose anti-poverty programs are not just to reduce poverty but also mitigate pernicious gaps in poverty by race. In that case, it is critical to build evidence based on how and in what ways existing programs do or do not contribute to closing racial and ethnic gaps in poverty and what reforms to programs (or new programs) could meaningfully close such gaps.