About the Center

Overview

Our Goals

The Center for Poverty Research facilitates research using a diverse set of approaches across academic disciplines to answer critical questions about poverty and its solutions. The Center engages faculty research affiliates in the departments of Economics, Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, Agricultural Economics, Human and Community Development, Chicano Studies, and the Schools of Education, Engineering and Law.

Understanding poverty, shaping the future of poverty research.

The Center was established in 2011 with core funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as one of three federally designated Poverty Research Centers whose mission is to facilitate non-partisan academic research in the United States. 

The Center has four primary poverty-related research themes: 

  • Labor Markets and Poverty
  • The Non-cash Safety Net (including education and health policies)
  • Children and Intergenerational Mobility
  • Immigration and Poverty

Center Activities:

  • State-of-the-art interdisciplinary research and training opportunities
  • Conferences and seminars featuring renowned poverty scholars
  • Dissemination activities that bring Center research studies to the widest possible audience of policy-makers and stakeholders at state and national levels
  • Visiting scholar and visiting graduate student programs designed to expand the network of poverty researchers beyond the UC Davis campus
  • An extramural grant program aimed at mentoring a new generation of scholars
  • An interdisciplinary course on Poverty and Public Policy for graduate students and advanced undergraduates

The Center is located at UC Davis and is led by a director, deputy director, and executive committee consisting of UC Davis faculty, along with a national advisory board consisting of nationally known poverty scholars. Three staff positions support the Center, a manager, a program assistant and a senior writer.

Research Funding

Funding for our research projects between September 2011 and September 2016 were made possible by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). All projects funded by the Center for Poverty Research during that period should include the following language:

“Funding for this project was made possible in part by grant number 1H79AE000100-1 to the UC Davis Center for Poverty Research from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Analysis (ASPE), which was awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services.”