CCFP researchers study the impact of poverty and economic inequality on children, families, and communities. Our teams study and evaluate the effectiveness of programs and policies designed to help low-income families, the day-to-day experiences of working parents and their families, and the impact of living in poverty on children and families. CCFP researchers also study and evaluate efforts that have been successful at disrupting systemic inequities affecting low-wealth families and building on the strengths of communities to improve outcomes for children and families.
Inequalities in the distribution of wealth among families with children may have deleterious health consequences, especially for adolescent children. This review discusses what is known about wealth-related inequalities in adolescent physical health and proposes four psychosocial mechanisms that may explain how wealth shapes adolescent physical health.
This study examines how net worth poverty and its subcomponents of asset and debt poverty relate to Black and White children’s academic and behavioral outcomes.
Using data on families who received cash transfers as part of a casino-funded family transfer program introduced in a Southeastern American Indian Tribe in the late 1990s, the authors find that large cash transfers have the potential to reduce intergenerational cycles of poverty-related educational outcomes.
This study uses data from the Baby’s First Years randomized control trial to identify the causal impact of unconditional cash transfers on maternal reports of early childhood development.
Project Description In the U.S., food insecurity (FI), or the inconsistent access to food of the quantity or quality needed to fuel a healthy life, is an important source of socioeconomic and racial inequality in youth outcomes. Decades of research finds that FI undermines youths’ physical, socioemotional, and cognitive development, and their academic outcomes as…
learn more about Reducing Structural Barriers in a School-Based System of Food Assistance to Reduce Inequality in Food Security and Child OutcomesThis project looks at the impact of rental housing sales on children’s residential mobility, school switches, and school performance.
learn more about Property Sales and Residential Displacement of Black and Hispanic Children in the American South: Implications for School Mobility and Educational InequalityProject Description The North Carolina Community Schools Coalition aims to improve the academic, mental, and physical health of North Carolina students through the development of Full-Service Community Schools across the state. Full-Service Community Schools prioritize partnerships between schools and the community to promote the overall success and well-being of children and families. The community schools model…
learn more about Evaluation of NC Community Schools CoalitionThis project aims to advance research on the relationship between economic well-being, wealth, adolescent functioning and mental health.
learn more about STEPS: Study of Teen Experiences that Promote SuccessThis brief summarizes findings from The Baby’s First Years study, examining the design and delivery of the BFY cash gift and how families experience and use the BFY cash gift. The BFY cash gift design provides an example of how cash transfers can be delivered in a way that can center families and entrust them with using the money as they see fit to support their families.
Examination of the impact of the Child Tax Credit on families’ food security by family size and participation in other federal programs. Results suggest that the effectiveness of cash payments like the CTC in reducing economic hardships may depend on family characteristics like receipt of other federal benefits and household size.
This study uses data from the Baby’s First Years (BFY) randomized trial to examine whether an unconditional cash transfer causes families to make opportunity moves to better quality neighborhoods.
Using data from Baby’s First Years, this paper assesses the causal impact of monthly, unconditional cash transfers on child-directed speech and child vocalizations among a large, racially diverse sample of low-income U.S. mothers and their 1-year-olds.