Research Office News

Professor William Elliott III spoke with Forbes about how San Francisco’s Kindergarten 2 College program, which begins with just a $50 deposit in a college savings account can make a difference. “When you have an asset, it allows you to begin thinking about your future in a more tangible way.”

Assistant Professor Fernanda Cross spoke with WEMU about the Latinx Teen Empowerment Group at Ypsilanti Community High School. Cross’ research focusing on Latinx immigrants in southeast Michigan lead to the program, which provides small group therapy in Spanish to support mental health and create community. The digital news magazine Concentrate has a companion story to the radio conversation.

“I'm a Latinx immigrant like them. And I know how much support our community needs, and I know all of our strengths. I know what we're capable of,” said Cross. “If we are able to support the kids, they would be able to accomplish so much more and really be able to demonstrate their strength and just have a better experience — better outcome — for their lives.”

Professors Shawna Lee and Andy Grogan-Kaylor have been awarded a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for the Global Families project. Their project will use data from over 520,000 families in 57 low- and middle-income countries to examine the similarities and differences in parenting and child development, and the effects of social factors, including parental physical abuse and violent norms and crimes, worldwide. 

"We are thrilled that the grant provides us with the opportunity to look at the relationship of gender inequality, parenting and child development in a large number of countries worldwide, and that the grant also gives us an opportunity to carry out this project working with undergraduate students at UM-Flint," said Grogan-Kaylor.

Professor Luke Shaefer was quoted in a New York Times op-ed which examines how quick action from the government at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the shortest recession on record. “This is the best, most successful response to an economic crisis that we have ever mounted, and it is not even close,” said Shaefer.

Professor William Elliott III had an in-depth discussion with CBS News Detroit about President Biden’s new student loan forgiveness program. “For those who have received a degree and come out with debt, this is going to strengthen the return on the degree,” he said. “The money they are making from having gone to college will benefit them far more by not having all this debt on them for really years and years — decades even.” 

Elliott also spoke with The Guardian about how student loan debt can affect and delay financial decisions such as owning a home, getting married and starting a family. “You’re not going to achieve a sense of the American dream at a period of your life when it means a lot,” said Elliott.

Andrea Mora, Joint PhD in Social Work and Psychology, has successfully defended her dissertation, “An Examination of Community Violence Exposure and Sexual Harassment Among Latino/a Adolescents.”

Todd Herrenkohl and Lorraine Gutiérrez (co-chair) served on her committee. Mora has accepted a position as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh for fall 2023.

Anne Blumenthal, Joint PhD in Social Work and Sociology, has successfully defended her dissertation, "Essays on Child Well-Being and Parenting During the Covid-19 Pandemic."

Todd Herrenkohl, Katie Maguire-Jack and Sandra Danziger (co-chair) served as on her committee. Blumenthal has accepted a position as the Harold A. Richman Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.

In 2018, ENGAGE launched the Small Grants Program to encourage faculty to build partnerships with Detroit community-based organizations and to support resident-led efforts to strengthen Detroit neighborhoods. These awards are supported by the Office of the Provost and are part of the School of Social Work’s strategic effort to connect Detroit engagement efforts and increase impact in the city. ENGAGE partners with the Ford School’s Detroit Urban Research Center in the administration of the small grants program.

Here are this year’s grant recipients:

1) It's not just me! Black young adults' views of what it takes to live on the right side of the law: An intersectional-CBPR study

Faculty Member: Associate Professor Camille Quinn (Michael Kloc, research assistant)

Community Partner: Rai LaNier, Executive Director, MI Liberation

2) Neighborhood Initiatives Examining Organizational Impact: A Quality Team Project

Faculty Member: Associate Professor Katie Richards-Shuster

Community Partner: Alexandra Bolin, Impact and Improvement Coordinator, United Project 

3) Community-led Storytelling in Detroit

Faculty Member: Lecturer Maureen Okasinski

Community Partner: Erik Howard, Executive Director, Inside Southwest Detroit

4)  D-Boy Dads: Exploring Fatherhood in Detroit

Faculty Member: Professor Rich Tolman

Community Partners: Sam Donald, Director Detroit Musix; Marcus Hille, Parent Think Tank; Willie Bell, Director: Family Assistance for Renaissance Men; John Miles, Children’s Center, Fatherhood Coordinator; Bomani Gray: Metro Detroit Father Policy Group