Read the New Report: Addressing Transportation Challenges for Maine Families

Upward Mobility Data Dashboard

The dashboard provides Mobility Metrics data for 24 predictors. The predictors are indicators that are strongly associated with upward mobility, according to the Upward Mobility Framework’s three-part definition of the term that encompasses long-term economic success, dignity and belonging, and power and autonomy. The predictors fall within one of five pillars, which represent supports people need from their … Read more

Maine Eviction Report, 2019-2023

With support from John T. Gorman Foundation, Pine Tree Legal releases important information about rental evictions in Maine, 2019-2022.

Clinic-based financial coaching with low-income families improved attendance to pediatric appointments and infant vaccination rates

A pilot study in Pediatrics explores whether embedding financial coaching for low-income families at their pediatric primary care clinic would impact attendance to pediatric preventive care appointments and infant vaccination rates. In this Los Angeles clinic-based approach, participating parents received financial coaching during their babies’ well-child visits. Through a randomized controlled trial, authors assessed pediatric … Read more

Boston Medical Center’s approaches family health through antipoverty programming

The latest issue of Health Affairs describes the implementation of a “medical-financial partnership” program called StreetCred at Boston Medical Center (BMC) as an example of an antipoverty strategy as a path to child and family health. At BMC, families are routinely screened for social determinants of health like employment status and housing stability. The BMC … Read more

Subsidized housing during childhood linked with higher earnings in adulthood

A study from the American Economic Journal finds that participating in the Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) program or public housing as a teenager is linked with higher earnings at age 26. The authors construct an ambitious and detailed longitudinal dataset drawing on confidential demographic, employment, and location data from the U.S. Census Bureau and administrative … Read more

Social Security narrows wealth gap between high- and low-income households

A working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston presents a new conceptualization of household wealth that accounts for the patterned availability of wealth components across the population. Specifically, the authors extend the definition of wealth beyond market-based assets to also include estimated pension and Social Security distributions, which are critical elements of retirement-financing … Read more