Terri L. Friedline

Dr. Friedline's research focuses on financial system reform and consumer protections to ensure that people and communities have access to safe and affordable financial products and services. Basic financial products like checking and savings accounts are essential for conducting a wide range of transactions, including securing affordable credit, obtaining auto insurance, and paying bills and utilities. People and communities that cannot access and use basic financial products pay higher costs to participate in today's capitalist economy. It is within this context that Dr. Friedline conducts research to envision, redefine, and move financial and economic justice—particularly with people and communities that have been historically excluded from and marginalized by the financial system. Her most recent research, Mapping Financial Opportunity, investigates the financial system from a macro or structural perspective and the racialized ways that banks, credit unions, and payday lenders invest in communities. Dr. Friedline's research has been published in top journals such as Social Service Review, Social Science Research, and the Journal of Consumer Affairs, and covered by national media including The Washington Post, Huffington Post, Bloomberg Business News, CBS News, and TIME. She conducts this research as an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, Faculty Director within the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion, and Research Fellow at New America in Washington, DC. She holds an MSW and PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. Before entering academia, she worked for several years as a clinical social worker in the juvenile justice system.