Blog

This blog is part of the series, Learning from Diverse Indigenous Communities: Centering Culture to Support Child and Family Wellbeing. Read the intro blog to learn more about our work. An emphasis on family and community well-being is a deeply embedded value in Native American communities. Core to the approach to child well-being and child welfare is that children grow up in what they define as their families, and these [...]

This blog is part of the series, Learning from Diverse Indigenous Communities: Centering Culture to Support Child and Family Wellbeing. Read the intro blog to learn more about our work. Across the country, early educators, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other loved ones are providing enriching care and education to young children, often under very [...]

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) works in partnership with communities across the country to support the health and well-being of children and families. In the blog series, Learning from Diverse Indigenous Communities: Centering Culture to Support Child and Family Wellbeing, we take a closer look at some of the efforts underway in our partnership with Native [...]

Immigrant families and communities are experiencing unprecedented threats to their health and wellbeing—from indiscriminate enforcement and family separation that traumatizes children and violates families' most basic rights, to sweeping exclusions from basic supports including health coverage, food assistance, and early childhood education. Protecting immigrant families in this moment requires both responding to immediate harm and dismantling the structural barriers [...]

Access to consistent health coverage and a comprehensive array of community-based supports is one of the most effective ways to promote children’s health and wellbeing – and to prevent families from being pulled into systems designed to respond to crisis rather than support children’s health. When families can access the care and services they need [...]

Young people play an important role in shaping our society and contributing to their families, their communities, and our collective future. Policies that promote their health, wellbeing, and stability can help ensure young people are able to pursue and achieve their goals and set us all up for success. Unfortunately, in a step backward last [...]

Good health and wellbeing are essential to living fulfilling and productive lives. When parents are healthy, they are better able to meet their families’ daily needs and care for themselves and their children—supporting children to grow into healthy adults. When young people are healthy, they have a strong foundation from which to pursue education, work, [...]

As we come to the close of this year, I am reminded of the collective strength that can be found in shared purpose. Even amid shifting and challenging circumstances, the Center for the Study of Social Policy has much to be proud of, as we worked together to advance anti-racist, human-centered policies, so that all [...]

As a preteen growing up on Detroit’s east side, I used to say I was “one demerit away from being written off” by society. Luckily, my English teacher, Ms. Liggins at Whitney Young Middle School, chose to believe in me. She didn’t erase the consequences of my actions but rather showed me how to be [...]

Two recently-published papers coming out of the Rx Kids cash program in Flint, MI reveal that universal, unconditional cash transfers can have significant positive effects on birth outcomes as well as on maternal economic stability, mental health, and well-being. These findings further support a growing body of evidence that unconditional cash for families with children [...]