In 2015, Congress asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a comprehensive study of child poverty in the United States, and to provide a nonpartisan, evidence-based report that would provide its assessment of the most effective means for reducing child poverty by half in the next 10 years. The National Academies appointed a committee with expertise in economics, psychology, cognitive science, public policy, education, sociology, and pediatrics to conduct the study and issue a report.
Dr. J. Lawrence Aber, Willner Family Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at NYU Steinhardt, and Dr. Benard Dreyer, Director of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics for NYU School of Medicine served on the expert committee, and co-authored A Roadmap to Reducing Childhood Poverty. The comprehensive report concludes that poverty causes negative outcomes for children, and recommends “packages” of evidence-based policy and program packages that could cut the child poverty rate while increasing employment and earnings in low-income families.
On Wednesday, October 30th, Drs. Aber and Dreyer will offer their perspectives on the report and will discuss the proposed policies and programs with Jennifer Jones-Austin, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and Dr. Xavier de Souza Briggs, Senior Advisor at the Ford Foundation.
This event is co-sponsored by the Institute of Human Development and Social Change, NYU Strategies to Reduce Inequality at the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, and the Office of the President.