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For a week in June 2021, the Center for Financial Security (CFS)—in collaboration with Howard University’s Center on Race and Wealth—held the annual summer workshop of Junior Scholar Intensive Training (JSIT) program. JSTI is an intensive training program for emerging researchers, and made possible with funding from the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium of the Social Security Administration (SSA).
This year’s JSIT workshop was virtual, allowing participation from Minnesota to Mississippi, and California to Cambridge (England!). Scholars are first-generation and/or are economically disadvantaged and/or are from historically underrepresented populations.
“I’ve participated in a lot of junior scholar workshops, but none were as beneficial as JSIT. JSIT provided the opportunity to develop and get feedback through “hands on,” iterative activities. I’m still amazed at how much I developed in just one week!”
Mila Turner, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Florida A&M University was part of this year’s JSIT cohort.
U.S. Social Security Administration approves 13 major research projects, investigating a range of social insurance topics, including the Child Tax Credit, the geography of long-term care, the effects of COVID-19 on older adults, and improving trust among those targeted by scams and frauds.
The University of Wisconsin—Madison’s Center for Financial Security (CFS), as part of the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC), has been awarded a fourth year of funding for $2.2 million from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA). One of just four RDRC centers in the country supported by SSA, the UW-Madison center has a particular focus on the financial well-being of economically vulnerable families, older people, people with disabilities, low-wealth households, and children.
“The pandemic has really highlighted the financial vulnerability of many families, and how important safety net programs are to keep people financially stable,” says CFS Faculty Director Dr. J. Michael Collins, Fetzer Family Chair in Consumer and Personal Finance in the School of Human Ecology and Professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs. “We are grateful for the Social Security RDRC to be able to support this research, including work related to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 for disability, retirement and social insurance programs.”
The goal of the Center for Financial Security (CFS) is to develop evidence–high quality, rigorous research–that can guide policies, programs and financial systems that reduce inequities, and that include and support economically vulnerable people. We are driven by serious concerns about racial injustice, and its attendant economic insecurity, especially in light of the current pandemic and social issues that have only intensified disparities.
Our Fall 2022 HHF Seminars will be held in-person in 1199 Nancy Nicholas Hall and virtually via Zoom. Click HERE for Zoom link and meeting invitation.
With over 50 faculty affiliates across departments at UW-Madison, as well as more than 50 fellows at other institutions throughout the nation, The Center for Financial Security is pleased to provide a platform for sharing some of the most exciting and innovative early stage research in the household finance realm. Join us every Thursday of the academic year for a seminar from 3:45-4:45 pm for this multi-disciplinary exploration of household finance research.
The Center for Financial Security and the Asset Funders Network (AFN) collaborated on a case-study investigation of employer-based financial coaching programs in the latest research: Supporting Employee Financial Stability: How Philanthropy Catalyzes Workplace Financial Coaching Programs. This brief shares innovative approaches employers believe increase recruitment and retention while impacting employee financial well-being.
Human Development and Relationships Educator
University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension
Assistant Professor Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Areas of Research Interest: Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Consumer Finance
Ph.D Student in Consumer Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Areas of Research Interest: Consumer Behavior and Family Economics
January 27: Corina Mommaerts, Naoki Aizawa, and Stephanie Rennane, Exploring Worker and Firm Characteristics that Drive Use of Accommodation for Workers with Disabilities
February 3: CFS hosts information session on Year Five of the RDRC
February 10: Katie Fitzpatrick and Keisha Solomon, Health, Health Insurance, and Financial Security
February 17: Mary Hamman, Stephanie Robert, Gargi Chaudhuri, and Milanika Turner, The Geography of Long-Term Care: Implications for SSI and Understanding Disparities in Living Arrangements Among Older Adults
February 24: Timothy Smeeding, Madelaine L’Esperance, and Jevay Grooms, Social Security Interactions with Child Tax Credit Expansion
March 3: Lawrence M. Berger, J. Michael Collins, and Hilary Shager, The Power of Linked Administrative Data: Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in SSA and Means-Tested Benefit Receipt and Their Anti-Poverty Effects for Children in Multi-generational Families
March 10:Molly Costanzo and Lisa Klein Vogel, All in the Family: Parents of Children with Disabilities and Retirement
March 24: Megan Doherty Bea, Family Proximity and Co-Residence in Retirement: Heterogeneity in Residential Changes Across Older Adults’ Economic and Care Contexts
March 31 (Zoom Only): Chris Herbert, Jennifer Molinsky, Samara Scheckler, and Bonnie Albright, Household Composition, Resource Use and the Resilience of Older Adults Aging in Community During COVID-19
April 7: Erik Hembre, Housing for SSI Recipients: Expenditures, Quality, and Trends
April 14: Katie Jajtner and Yang Wang, The Effect of Public Policies on Work Disability
April 21: Cliff A. Robb, Mari DeLiema, and Steve Wendel, Enhancing Trust in the Social Security Administration and E-Government Among People Targeted by Fraud
April 28: Sebastian Jilke, Pamela Herd, and Donald Moynihan, The Downstream Health Effects of SSI Take-up Among Older Adults
May 5: Stephanie Moulton, Meta Brown, J. Michael Collins, Donald Haurin, and Cäzilia Loibl, The COVID-19 Pandemic and Older Adults’ Employment and Economic Security: Insights from Earnings and Credit Panel Data