Announcements

The combined fiscal years of 2018 and 2019 marked a pivotal period in the growth of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. Our scholarship achieved new prominence, and we educated a wider audience and shaped policy goals at the local, state and federal levels. Learn more about our progress, achievements and highlights in the 2018-2019 Annual Report.

On Monday, January 20, the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research will kick off the second season of their Webby-nominated podcast Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative. The inaugural episode will feature a discussion with Mayor Frank Scott Jr. of Little Rock, Arkansas. He discusses what it is like to be the first black elected mayor of an iconic city in civil rights history and among the growing vanguard of Black Millennial mayors in the South, as well as what it means to be an effective role model to young Black boys.

Dr. Michael A. Lindsey, the Executive Director of the NYU McSilver Institute, has been elected to the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in Social Work as a Distinguished Fellow. NAP is an interdisciplinary non-profit organization dedicated to affordable, accessible, coordinated quality healthcare for all. Members, elected by their peers, include healthcare practitioners and scholars who have demonstrated excellence in their profession and a commitment to furthering practice, scholarship, and policy in support of interprofessional care.

Following months of listening events and meetings in Washington, DC and across multiple Congressional districts, The Congressional Black Caucus’s Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health today released a report, “Ring the Alarm: the Crisis of Black Youth Suicide in America,” outlining the state of Black youth mental health and detailed policy recommendations for consideration by Congress. Chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, the task force was formed in April to explore the causes of and solutions to increasing rates of suicide among Black children. The report was assembled with the help of the task force’s working group, led by Dr. Michael Lindsey, PhD, MSW, MPH, Executive Director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.

Adding to what is known about the growing crisis of suicide among American teens, a team led by researchers at the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University have uncovered several troubling trends during the period of 1991-2017, among Black high school students, in particular. Their findings were published in the November 2019 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University has received a five-year renewal of its contract with the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) to provide statewide technical assistance to the child mental health workforce.

The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University continued to ring the alarm about rising suicide rates in Black youth on Tuesday, June 4th. Our Executive Director, Dr. Michael A. Lindsey, testified at a New York State Senate Joint Public Hearing on Suicide and Prevention before the Senate Standing Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, chaired by Senator David Carlucci; and the Senate Standing Committee on Health, chaired by Senator Gustavo Rivera.

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) launched a new, emergency taskforce focused on the growing problem of suicide and access to mental health care among Black youth. Chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), The CBC Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health will convene experts in Washington, DC and around the country, raise awareness among Members of Congress and staff, and identify legislative recommendations to address this mental health crisis.

The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University has received a three-year research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the effectiveness of a novel treatment intervention for keeping Black adolescents engaged in depression treatment.

Teaching in prison takes an unexpected toll on the health of college faculty and staff. And if educators don’t have the tools and resources they need to counteract those impacts, the sustainability of their programs — and the fates of thousands of students — are put at risk. The McSilver Institute and Corrections to College are teaming up to address this challenge, partnering with faculty and staff from 17 community colleges to launch Sustaining Futures.