The Alliance for the American Dream is a new community-university collaboration funded by Schmidt Futures that aims to promote shared prosperity and increase American competitiveness. The University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW) is one of four public universities chosen by Schmidt Futures to partner in this work.
Four La Follette School faculty members have received funding from the Herb Kohl Public Service Research Competition’s third round of awards. The Kohl Competition supports nonpartisan research that informs critical public policy and governance debates and advances evidence-based decision-making.
J. Michael Collins, Faculty Director of the Center for Financial Security and Associate Professor in Consumer Science, was awarded the H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowships Award. This program, funded by WARF in recognition of the leadership of the late WARF Trustee President H. I. Romnes, is designed to bridge the gap between the Research Committee’s initial research support for new faculty and the Mid-Career Award for Faculty Research. Dr. Collins research on consumer behavior insights focus primarily on the role of information in consumer decision making, especially for low-income and vulnerable households. Dr. Collins serves UW Cooperative Extension as a state specialist in family economics and household finance.
Read more about the award here.
Governor Scott Walker announced recipients of the 2017 Governor’s Financial Literacy Award, as selected by the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy. Eighteen individuals, businesses, and organizations were chosen as recipients for the award. The UW-Extension Family Living Program’s Check Your Free Credit Report Campaign was announced as one of the recipients of the award. Since 2013, the Family Living Program has conducted a “Check Your Free Credit Report Campaign,” which seeks to increase Wisconsin residents’ access to, and understanding of, their credit histories. Residents can sign up for e-mail reminders every four months (2/2, 6/6, and 10/10) to check their credit scores with one of the three major credit reporting bureaus. Since 2013, 940 Wisconsin residents have signed up for the reminder e-mails – 181 of them in 2017 alone.
2017 was a busy and successful year for the Center for Financial Security. Download a summary of our outreach work, research projects, notable events, and accomplishments from throughout the year. We look forward to future collaborations in 2018!
