Kristin Seefeldt

Faculty by courtesy

Kristin Seefeldt

Associate Professor of Social Work; Associate Professor of Public Policy; Associate Faculty Director for Educational Programs

Seefeldt’s primary research interests lie in exploring how low-income individuals understand their situations, particularly around issues related to work and economic well being. Currently, she is conducting research on families’ financial coping strategies and is a Principal Investigator of a survey examining the effects of the recession and recovery policies on individuals’ well being.

News

Applications open Oct. 2-13 for Ann Arbor’s guaranteed income for low-income entrepreneurs

Sep 8, 2023

Entrepreneurs, self-employed people, owners of formal or informal small businesses, gig workers and people with side hustles who have low incomes can apply Oct. 2-13 to receive monthly payments from Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor (GIG...

News

Ford School teams receive Boost support from U-M Bold Challenges Initiative

Sep 6, 2023

Three research teams with Ford School affiliations have been selected among eight programs across the U-M campus to participate in the first cycle of the Bold Challenges Initiative's newly-launched Boost program. The Boost program supports new...

In the Media

Seefeldt: "Poverty is a policy choice"

Jun 22, 2023 Newsweek

Kristin Seefeldt, Newsweek: n terms of age, race, and gender identity, America's poor are "a heterogeneous group of people," Kristin Seefeldt, associate director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek. "But children are...

News

Ann Arbor to pilot guaranteed basic income program in partnership with University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions

Jun 6, 2023

Ann Arbor City Council voted June 5 to approve an agreement with the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions to pilot a guaranteed basic income program aimed at low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor. In April 2022, city...

In the Media

Seefeldt discusses gaps in poverty alleviation systems

Dec 2, 2021 Shared Prosperity Podcast

Kristin Seefeldt appeared on the Shared Prosperity Podcast to discuss some of the issues that block peoples’ opportunity to exit poverty. “On one hand there are resources available in the community, but knowing how to get them and how to access...

In the Media

Increase in SNAP benefits will combat rising food prices, says Seefeldt

Oct 1, 2021 News Channel 5 Nashville

As food prices continue to rise, an increase in SNAP benefits nationwide will help many low-income families, says Kristin Seefeldt. "We've all heard about and probably felt in our own pocketbooks, the increase in grocery prices. So this will make...

In the Media

Government interventions buffered families against pandemic hardships -Seefeldt

Sep 22, 2021 Michigan Radio

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of Michiganders living in poverty dropped. Kristin Seefeldt, associate professor of public policy, attributes this to the economic support the government offered. "What we're seeing is really...

News

U-M awarded grant to support Detroit entrepreneurs in bridging digital divide

Sep 7, 2021

An interdisciplinary team from the University of Michigan was awarded $300,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to train local residents and U-M students to provide one-on-one technology support to Detroit entrepreneurs. The project aims to...

In the Media

A looming crisis as Covid-19 relief, protections set to expire, says Seefeldt

Dec 16, 2020 Detroit Free Press

“I think there is a looming crisis … people are going to have to make choices about what they pay,” said Kristin Seefeldt. “They're already making choices about what bills to pay. It becomes this heat or eat choice that is really devastating for...

Poverty Solutions releases Michigan COVID-19 pandemic resource guide

Mar 27, 2020

March 27 press release from Poverty Solutions: A new Michigan COVID-19 Pandemic Resource Guide provides information on how to access various resources aimed at supporting Michiganders through the coronavirus pandemic and related economic...

Seefeldt joins Poverty Solutions as new associate faculty director

Aug 20, 2019

In some ways, Kristin Seefeldt’s (MPP '96, PhD '10) career will come full circle this fall as she takes on a new role as associate director for educational programs at the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions.Seefeldt served as assistant...

Seefeldt offers insight on student debt trends on Michigan Radio

Jul 19, 2019

A new report shows Michigan college graduates borrow on average 42 percent more today than 10 years ago. Michigan Radio’s Kate Well and Caroline Llanes interviewed Kristin Seefeldt, professor of public policy and social work, to help interpret the...

Greetings from the Dean - Feed June 2018

Jun 1, 2018

Dear friends:Greetings from beautiful springtime Ann Arbor! We’re feeling tremendous pride and excitement in our newest alumni (view videos from a beautiful Commencement Ceremony here), our growing faculty, and in our school’s momentum and bright...

Faculty appointments, promotions grow and strengthen the Ford School

May 17, 2018

Earlier this afternoon, the University of Michigan Board of Regents approved several key faculty appointments at the Ford School, as we continue to grow and strengthen our outstanding faculty.Shobita Parthasarathy has earned a promotion to professor...

Seefeldt talks about financial advice for low-income families in MarketWatch

Apr 9, 2018

Typical financial advice doesn’t always apply to families under constant financial pressure, writes Maria LaMagna in her April 3 article for MarketWatch: “Low-income families are getting terrible financial advice online.” Families who experience...

News

Poverty Solutions announces 2018 grantees, including two Ford School projects

Jan 31, 2018

Poverty Solutions has announced its grant awards for 2018 and two Ford School professors, Shobita Parthasarathy and Kristin S. Seefeldt, have been chosen as Faculty Grant Award recipients. Parthasarathy’s project, “The Politics of Technology...

Fewer avenues to the middle class, says Seefeldt on Michigan Radio’s “Stateside”

Jul 13, 2017

Kristin Seefeldt spoke with Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” this Wednesdsay for a new series that explores the lives of America’s working poor, including “who they are, what challenges they face, and what policy changes might help the most people.” In...

Seefeldt on Making Sen$e: Fix social safety net—don’t shame those who need it

Feb 6, 2017

Kristin Seefeldt’s (MPP '96, PhD '10) recent op-ed, featured in Making Sen$e on February 2, highlights the need to “fix the social safety need, not shame those who need it.” Seefeldt notes that “the [social] safety net is perpetually under...

Seefeldt pens op-ed for Newsweek: “Meet the real ‘left behind’ voters: Black women”

Dec 13, 2016

Kristin Seefeldt's (MPP '96, PhD '10) December 9 op-ed, published by Newsweek, describes "the real ‘left behind’ voters: black women.” After the 2016 election, Seefeldt says, common wisdom among pundits was that Donald Trump won because of the...

Kristin Seefeldt interviewed by Lakeshore Public Media's “Regionally Speaking”

Dec 7, 2016

Kristin Seefeldt (MPP '96, PhD '10) recently spoke with Lakeshore Public Media’s "Regionally Speaking" for a podcast about research from her forthcoming book, “Abandoned Families: Social Isolation in the twenty-first century.” Seefeldt’s research...

"Redline with Bankole Thompson," airs live from the Ford School's great hall

Oct 7, 2016

Bankole Thompson, host of “Redline,” a public affairs program that airs daily on 910 AM Super Station Detroit, delivered a live broadcast from the Ford School on October 7. Thompson interviewed a number of guests, including Josh Rivera (MPP ’17), a...

News

U-M launches new initiative to address one of humanity's most critical problems: poverty

Oct 5, 2016

The University of Michigan has launched a new initiative to address one of humanity's most critical and seemingly intractable problems: poverty. Called Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, the initiative will explore and test models...

New book, "Abandoned families: Social isolation in the 21st century," by K. Seefeldt

Aug 5, 2016

Kristin Seefeldt’s new book, Abandoned families: Social isolation in the 21st century, is set to release on December 25, 2016. Published by the Russell Sage Foundation, the book is described as “a timely, on-the-ground assessment of hardship in...

News

Discourse, Ford School faculty in the news roundup from spring 2016 State & Hill magazine

May 1, 2016

“The mantra in Michigan was a job, a better job, a career: Through work you would experience upward mobility. There was never any evidence that was the case.” Kristin Seefeldt on the false promise of U.S. welfare reform, The Atlantic, Dec. 1,...

Seefeldt questions Massachusetts' welfare and work program in The Atlantic

Dec 15, 2015

A recent Atlantic article, "When the Government Tells Poor People How to Live," profiles A Better Life, an intensive case management program that requires residents of Worcester, Massachusetts’ state-subsidized public housing system to work or...

State & Hill

Discourse, Ford School faculty in the news roundup from fall 2015 State & Hill magazine

Dec 4, 2015

“The focus and moral certainty that have fueled the Black Lives Matter movement have opened a rare window of opportunity for real and lasting change.” David Thacher, advocating for a reformed version of Broken Windows policing in U.S. cities,...

Seefeldt shares new research on poor single motherhood in The Atlantic

Dec 3, 2015

According to “How Poor Single Moms Survive,” an article by Alana Semuels for The Atlantic, the number of single-parent households in the US has soared since 1960, just as the amount of government assistance available to these largely female-headed...

Increasing work opportunities, reducing poverty two decades after Welfare Reform

Nov 6, 2015

A research article by Sandra K. Danziger, Sheldon Danziger, Kristin S. Seefeldt, and Luke Shaefer, "Increasing work opportunities and reducing poverty two decades after Welfare Reform," was published in the November 2015 edition of the Journal of...

Michigan Radio interviews Kristin Seefeldt for "Up by your bootstraps," a State of Opportunity special

Apr 15, 2015

In “Up by your bootstraps,” a State of Opportunity special that aired today on Michigan Radio, Sarah Alvarez interviews Kristin Seefeldt about “policymaking by anecdote.” “Seefeldt says the number-one myth about poverty she sees making its way into...

Photo of Kristin Seefeldt seated and working at a computer in her office