Registration for this conference is currently closed. If you are interested in attending, please email povertycenter@ucdavis.edu.

The Poverty and Place conference will bring together scholars from across many disciplines—sociology, economics, law, education, social work, geography, planning—to present and discuss their work on the ways in which space and place inflect various dimensions of poverty.

Among other topics, scholars will address the ways in which place can aggravate poverty, as in persistent poverty counties and regions, but also how place-specific interventions can effectively ameliorate poverty.  Papers addressing different aspects of urban, suburban and rural poverty will be part of the conference agenda.

Day 1

Places in Need:  The Geography of Poverty and the American Safety Net
Presented by Scott Allard, University of Washington
Discussed by Ann Stevens, University of California, Davis
Download Professor Allard's Presentation

Driving Mobility: The Role of Automobiles and Public Transit
Presented by Evelyn Blumenberg, University of California, Los Angeles
Discussed by Deb Niemeier, University of California, Davis
Download Professor Blumenberg's Paper

‘Just Leave Me Alone’:  Social Isolation and Civic Disengagement for the Small-City Poor
Presented by Jennifer Sherman, Washington State University
Discussed by Sheryl-Ann Simpson, University of California, Davis
Download Professor Sherman's Paper

Poverty Districts
Presented by Bertrall Ross, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
Discussed by Chris Elmendorf, University of California, Davis, School of Law
Download Professor Ross' Paper

Middle Class Poverty Politics: Making Place, Making People
Presented by Victoria Lawson & Sarah Elwood, University of Washington
Discussed by Adrienne Hosek, University of California, Davis
Download Professors Elwood and Lawson's Paper

Placing Environmental Justice and Opportunity in Rural California
Presented by Jonathan K. London, University of California, Davis
Discussed by Tracey Farrigan, United States Department of Agriculture
Download Professor London's Paper

Day 2

Bust Amidst the Boom:  The Creation of New Insecurities and Inequalities within Pennsylvania’s Shale Gas Boomtowns
Presented by Kai Schafft, Pennsylvania State University
Discussed by Jonathan K. London, University of California, Davis
Download Professor Schafft's Paper

Perpetuating the Poverty of Place
Presented by Bruce D. Haynes & Jesus Hernandez, University of California, Davis
Discussed by Kenneth A. Stahl, Chapman University

Springboard or Trap?  Governance and Opportunity in Diverse Suburbs
Presented by Margaret Weir, University of California, Berkeley
Discussed by Michelle Wilde Anderson, Stanford University School of Law
Download Professor Weir's Paper