Our future is collectively built. Let's bring the best of what we have.
Research and practice, together via our Speaker-led Sessions.
What happens when you bring the brightest minds in a (virtual) room together? We learn, listen, and share what we can in service to our collective growth. These videos feature the content shared by our speakers from their sessions.
Session 1: October 13, 2020 (11.30am - 1.00pm CST)
How Does The System Hurt Or Help?: Exploring Material Hardship And Administrative Burden About Colleen Heflin:
Colleen Heflin is a Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs, and a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Policy Research. Dr. Heflin conducts policy-relevant research that sits at the boundaries of sociology, economics, public health, public administration, and women’s studies. The broad aim of her research is to understand the processes that create systems and patterns of social stratification and, more specifically, to examine welfare policy and the well-being of vulnerable populations, with a particular emphasis on the causes and consequences of material hardship. In a recent project, Dr. Heflin analyzed how specific shocks to family stability, such as unemployment or becoming disabled, lead to particular kinds of material hardship, such as medical or housing hardship. Other recent projects have examined how the population using food stamps and unemployment insurance has changed with the Great Recession; how the experience of material hardship affects couples’ decisions to marry; how children’s participation in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) affects their households’ overall food insecurity; and how veterans’ well-being and social program participation compares to that of other groups. |
Session 2: October 19, 2020 (11.30am - 1.00pm CST)
Recent Changes In Child Support Agency Culture and Practice About Lisa Vogel:
Lisa Klein Vogel (MSW, PhD) is an Associate Scientist with the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on how policies and program implementation affect engagement with public programs. She specializes in qualitative and mixed-methods research and the evaluation of state and federal programs. She recently served as Project Director for the evaluation of the National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED), a federally funded project designed to identify more effective child support policies. Her work seeks to provide insights into mechanisms for engaging disconnected and vulnerable populations; to improve access to supportive services for low-income individuals and families; and ultimately, to improve child and family well-being. |
Session 3: October 27, 2020 (11.30am - 1.00pm CST)
Serving Clients And Nonprofit Concerns During The COVID-19 Pandemic About Marci Ybarra:
Marci Ybarra is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago. Her research examines the relationship between social provisions, including means-tested safety net programs, social insurance, and nonprofit services and families’ socioeconomic well-being. Dr. Ybarra considers these outcomes for a diverse set of families in the U.S. including the children of undocumented immigrants, women who have recently given birth, and public program participants. Dr. Ybarra is a member of the Family Self-Sufficiency Research Technical Working Group sponsored by the Administration for Children & Families and the Poverty, Employment, and Self-Sufficiency Network sponsored by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin and the Administration for Children & Families. She received her doctorate in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin and was a Ford Foundation postdoctoral scholar at the University of Michigan. |
Session 4: October 30, 2020 (11.30am - 1.00pm CST)
Reforming Programs: Homelessness and Advocacy in 2020 About Nicole Esparza:
Nicole Esparza, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University in 2007 and spent the past two years as a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar at Harvard University. Her work has been published in the American Sociological Review and has received support from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Esparza’s dissertation examined homeless assistance nonprofits in twenty-six metropolitan areas with a special focus on organizational networks in Los Angeles, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Her current research asks two major questions: How do social, economic, and political forces shape the size and growth of the urban nonprofit sector? How do interorganizational dynamics influence the effectiveness and distribution of services? |