Center for Social Development

Nebraska’s legislature, assisted by research and guidance from Washington University in St. Louis, on May 24 unanimously  approved a universal Child Development Account (CDA) policy that will cover every resident born in the state on or after Jan. 1, 2020. Margaret Clancy, policy director for the Center for Social Development at the Brown School, advised lawmakers on the policy.

Michael Sherraden, director of the Center for Social Development at the Brown School,  and Li Zou, international director, represented Washington University in St. Louis during a conference on “The 30th Anniversary of the Re-establishment of Social Work in China.”

If you are on Obamacare, you are likely a better tenant or homeowner. Families who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are significantly more likely to make their rent and mortgage payments than are those who remain uninsured, suggests a new study from the Brown School and Olin Business School.

Washington University in St. Louis has partnered with the National University of Singapore to establish the Next Age Institute, an international collaboration to design, study and test social innovations. The institute, a program of WUSTL’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy, will address global challenges facing many families and communities, among them aging populations and rising inequality.

On March 6, the state of Maine became the first in the United States to make college savings for newborns universal and automatic, putting into practice research pioneered by Michael Sherraden, PhD, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor and director ofthe Brown School’s Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.

Last year, almost 900,000 low- and moderate-income tax filers participated in a unique tax preparation savings intervention program, depositing approximately $5.9 million more into savings accounts than they would have without the intervention. As the 2014 tax season opens, the Refund to Savings initiative continues with adjustments designed to help more Americans build savings. “The intervention is promising,” says Michal Grinstein-Weiss PhD, associate director of the Center for Social Development, which helped develop the program.

A new academic survey conducted by Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Social Development and national veterans nonprofit group The Mission Continues points to community volunteerism as an effective tool for addressing veterans’ reintegration challenges.

Sherry Salway Black, director of the Partnership for Tribal Governance, National Congress of American Indians, will be on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis at 12:15 p.m. Monday, May 13, in Brown Hall’s Brown Lounge (Room 218). Her talk “Securing Our Futures: Building Financial Capability for Life” is sponsored by the Brown School’s Center for Social Development and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The lecture is free but registration is required. Lunch will be provided.

Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, will be among a distinguished list of speakers for the sixth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) to be held at Washington University in St. Louis April 5-7. The announcement was made by President Bill Clinton and by Chelsea Clinton.

The recent $2.5 million grant will support the creation of a permanent endowment for the center directed by Michael W. Sherraden.