Washington DC

Cities and suburbs occupy well-defined roles within the discussion of poverty, opportunity, and social welfare policy in metropolitan America. Research exploring issues of poverty typically has focused on central-city neighborhoods, where poverty and joblessness have been most concentrated. As a result, place-based U.S. antipoverty policies focus primarily on ameliorating concentrated poverty in inner-city (and, in some cases, rural) areas.

On June 12, 2019, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm (EDT), the Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse (SSRC) hosted a free webinar entitled Pathways to High-Quality Jobs for Young Adults.  The webinar explored: (1) which job characteristics are relevant to measuring job quality, (2) how education, training, and work-related experiences across the lifespan may contribute to job quality at age 29, and (3) the ways in which interventions and policies can support youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain higher quality jobs.

On June 12, 2019, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm (EDT), the Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse (SSRC) hosted a free webinar entitled Pathways to High-Quality Jobs for Young Adults.  The webinar explored: (1) which job characteristics are relevant to measuring job quality, (2) how education, training, and work-related experiences across the lifespan may contribute to job quality at age 29, and (3) the ways in which interventions and policies can support youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain higher quality jobs.

On June 12, 2019, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm (EDT), the Self-Sufficiency Research Clearinghouse (SSRC) hosted a free webinar entitled Pathways to High-Quality Jobs for Young Adults.  The webinar explored: (1) which job characteristics are relevant to measuring job quality, (2) how education, training, and work-related experiences across the lifespan may contribute to job quality at age 29, and (3) the ways in which interventions and policies can support youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain higher quality jobs.

Washington, DC, is a city of contrasts with respect to residents’ financial security. While some residents are among the country’s most financially secure, others find it hard to make ends meet. High housing costs, unequal opportunity, and economically segregated neighborhoods make it challenging for some residents to feel financially secure and to weather unexpected expenses and emergencies.

We use longitudinal administrative tax data from Washington DC (DC) to study how EITC expansions undertaken by Washington DC affect income and inequality in the city. We find that DC EITC credit expansions between 2001 and 2009 are associated with recipient pre-tax earnings growth of roughly 3-4 percent, primarily among single mothers. Together these credits reduce post-tax inequality for the 10th percentile relative to median households. However, composition changes in the city and growing overall inequality mitigates this inequality reduction towards the end of the period.

Most public school students in Washington DC do not have access to yellow bus service to school, travelling instead by public transit, car, or on foot. In this study, we follow all kindergarten, 6^th grade, and 9^th grade students enrolled in DC public traditional and charter schools from the 2013-14 school year to the 2015-16 school year. We calculate transit and drive times for each student, estimating their typical time to school and its relationship to transfers between schools, both during the school year and between school years.

School voucher, which allows families to have the opportunity to send their children to a school of their choice, has been the subject of much debate over the last few decades. While for some voucher serve as a useful vehicle for expanding school choice for the disadvantaged students, for others it might exacerbate the already severe racial and social segregation among schools, without extensive investments in schools' capacity in the beginning (Elmore 2002; Kim & Sunderman, 2005).

To identify solutions to hunger, Congress created the bipartisan National Commission on Hunger “to provide policy recommendations to Congress and the USDA Secretary to more effectively use existing programs and funds of the Department of Agriculture to combat domestic hunger and food insecurity.”

Drawing on research from California, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., this session explored many facets of TANF. Three researchers shared findings from recent evaluations of a significant policy change in California’s TANF agency; a subsidized employment program in Washington, D.C.; and a transitional jobs program in Colorado. This session was moderated by the director of Washington, D.C.’s TANF agency, Anthea Seymour (D.C. Department of Human Services). Various methodologies were used across the presentations. (Author introduction)