University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice

Work by alum Harvey Finkle, SW’61, is now on view at Woodmere Art Museum, and coverage of the exhibit traces Finkle’s career in social work and photography. Finkle’s images of disability rights activists were the subject of an Art@SP2 exhibit in the Caster Building this past spring.

50 Years of Social Justice Through the Lens of Harvey Finkle A new retrospective at Woodmere Art Museum puts an accomplished Philadelphia photographer in the spotlight

An article on MacKenzie Scott’s philanthropy in Georgia cites research coauthored by ’s Dr. Femida Handy and the six motivations it identifies for donating to charity.

Why do MacKenzie Scott, others donate so much money? Science of philanthropy Ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has donated millions to Georgia institutions over the years

Rooted in the need to leverage cross-sector data to improve child outcomes in Philadelphia, ’s Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) today helps 43 states and local governments responsibly integrate data to improve lives. In a recent Q&A, AISP co-founder and faculty director Dr. Dennis Culhane traces AISP’s development as the International Population Data Linkage Network conference on 9/15-9/18 approaches.

Q&A with IPDLN Co-Director Dennis Culhane - IPDLN Q: What’s your background?  A: I am a social scientist (PhD in Social Psychology) with primary interest in homelessness.  I have studied homelessness for almost 40 years.  My principal approach has been through the analysis of administrative data, and the linkage of homeless shelter data with a...

As schools and communities seek effective ways to interpret online threats, ’s Dr. Desmond Patton recommends a multifaceted approach that combines contextual insights, mental health expertise, community involvement, and supportive emerging tech tools.

The Urgent Need to Address Online Threats: Insights and Recommendations In recent years, social media has become a crucial part of our lives, influencing everything from our daily routines to our safety. Yet…

How have housing costs and current events affected young Americans’ priorities? ’s Amy Castro gives perspective on the American dream of home ownership in a New York Times piece.

The American Dream Without a House? Believe It As housing costs soar, younger adults are trying to reimagine prosperity — without the white picket fence.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded over $100K to a group of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and New York University to develop a program that supports STEM researchers from underrepresented backgrounds.

At Penn, the research team is led by Brian and Randi Schwartz University Professor Desmond Upton Patton of and the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and Sarah J. Jackson, Associate Professor at Annenberg.

The partnership aims to provide more opportunities for historically underrepresented researchers conducting critical technology research.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3Xn32ky

Professors Sarah Jackson and Desmond Patton Awarded NSF Grant To Create Cross-Institutional Program Supporting STEM Researchers From Underrepresented Backgrounds News 4 Sep 2024 Professors Sarah Jackson and Desmond Patton Awarded NSF Grant To Create Cross-Institutional Program Supporting STEM Researchers From Underrepresented Backgrounds A partnership between Penn, Northwestern University, and New York University aims to provide more opportunities for histor...

The University of Pennsylvania today announced $10 million in funding dedicated to its new Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy. The Center will be housed in the Penn School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering) and will operate in partnership with five other schools at Penn, including the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2). “SP2 is well poised to advance this center, given the School’s interest in and commitment to the impact of AI and emerging technology on society,” says SP2 Chief Strategy Officer Desmond Upton Patton, Brian and Randi Schwartz University Professor, SAFELab director, and Penn Center for Inclusive Innovation & Technology (PCIIT) faculty director. Read more:

Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) among partner schools for Penn Center on Media, Technology, and Democracy - School of Social Policy & Practice The University of Pennsylvania today announced $10 million in funding dedicated to its new Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy. The Center will be housed in the Penn School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering) and will operate in partnership with five other schools at Penn,....

“Your Child’s Mental Health Diagnosis," a new book by 's Dr. Jacqueline Corcoran, provides valuable information, support, and strategies for parents navigating their children’s mental health conditions and emotional well-being.

Rowman & Littlefield published the book in June 2024, describing it as “an empathetic guide backed by up-to-date research.” Corcoran is director of SP2’s Doctorate in Clinical Social Work Program and a private practice psychotherapist.

Learn more about Corcoran's new book:

Jacqueline Corcoran publishes “Your Child's Mental Health Diagnosis” - School of Social Policy & Practice The new book by SP2’s Doctorate in Clinical Social Work Program director is described as a “go-to guide for those raising children with mental disorders” that provides valuable information, support, and strategies.

Cheers to the successful start of a new academic year! 🎉

Check out some more snapshots of our Convocation and New Student Orientation activities this week 📷

Join on 9/6 at 12 p.m. EST for a virtual conversation about civic engagement, activism, and the political process. This event features host Ben Jealous, whose roles at Penn and beyond include Professor of Practice, Annenberg School for Communication, Penn Carey Law, and School of Social Policy & Practice; Executive Director, Sierra Club; and Former National President & CEO of NAACP. Jealous will be in conversation with featured speakers Katherina Rosqueta, Founding Executive Director of SP2’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy, and Virginia Kase Solomón, President and CEO of Common Cause. Register at the link below. This event qualifies for a Continuing Education Unit. If you attend, email Caitlin Benyi at [email protected] to request the certificate. Center for High Impact Philanthropy Jealous
https://upenn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kd1krzbuQy6ZUwl_BidDXA #/registration

Happy first day of classes, ! 🎉

Yesterday, we kicked off the new academic year with Convocation and program orientations — welcoming 292 new students to our amazing community. 💙♥️💙

Following the release of the nation’s largest guaranteed income study, Dr. Stacia West of ’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research shared her perspective via nationally broadcast public radio. Listen at the 33:20 mark to hear her discuss the public policy implications of guaranteed income’s promising impact on specific populations, such as women experiencing intimate partner violence, people returning from incarceration, or youth aging out of foster care.

The results are in on America's largest universal income experiment For three years, hundreds of people in Texas and Illinois received payments of $1,000 a month, no strings attached. It was the biggest study of its kind. And after eight years of research – the results are in. What did we learn?

alumna and 2024 Hall of Fame awardee, Amy Blank Wilson, PhD ’06, is the co-director of the Tiny Homes Village in Chatham County, North Carolina. The 15-home village opened last year and was built for veterans and other residents with physical and mental health needs. Hear more about Wilson, who is an associate professor at UNC School of Social Work, and the Tiny Homes project on WCHL and Chapelboro.com's Hometown Hero segment:

Hometown Hero: Amy Blank Wilson - Chapelboro.com This week's Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Dr. Amy Blank Wilson

Preliminary findings of the first guaranteed income pilot for teenagers show that students who receive direct cash transfers experience improved school attendance, reading level, and financial capability. ’s Stacia West discusses how The $50 Study helped young people invest in their futures.

apnews.com

Penn Today highlights ’s Jisung Park among the latest authors on Wharton’s Ripple Effect podcast. Interviewed about his book “Slow Burn,” Dr. Park “breaks down the surprising ways that global warming impacts health, transportation, education, and more.”

Wharton faculty on investment strategies, birth rates, and climate change | Penn Today The latest episodes of the faculty research podcast, ‘Ripple Effect,’ showcase recent books from three experts.

Congratulations!!

National LGBTQ+ Bar's Student Leadership Award For their leadership on LGBTQ+ equality, Charlie Ferguson SP2'23, L'24 has earned the National LGBTQ+ Bar's Student Leadership Award.

The American Political Science Association (APSA) has announced that Assistant Professor Alice Xu is the recipient of the 2024 Harold D. Lasswell Award, presented annually by the APSA to honor the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public policy. The citation from the award committee says of Dr. Xu's work, “It is theoretically ambitious, methodologically creative, deeply rigorous, expertly executed and elegantly crafted. This dissertation develops a new and more enlightened understanding of the factors that underlie support for the provision of public goods in urban settings, in the process opening up new methodological possibilities and theoretical lines of inquiry.” Read more:

Alice Xu awarded 2024 Harold D. Lasswell Award for best dissertation in the field of public policy - School of Social Policy & Practice The American Political Science Association (APSA) has announced that SP2 Assistant Professor Alice Xu is the recipient of the 2024 Harold D. Lasswell Award, presented annually by the APSA to honor the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public policy. The APSA is the leading professional orga...

‘Slow Burn' | Penn Today From lower test scores to higher crime rates, economist R. Jisung Park of the School of Social Policy & Practice looks at the daily consequences of climate change.

Guaranteed income functioned as a “super vitamin” for the social safety net during a Los Angeles pilot program, ’s Dr. Amy Castro tells Business Insider in an article about the groundbreaking results announced this week.

Los Angeles gave families $1,000 a month in the biggest basic income pilot in the country. Now the results are in. A basic income pilot in Los Angeles saw increases in the quality of life for participants and their families. Some even left abusive situations.

The success of a guaranteed income pilot program in LA City has inspired a proposal for an expansion. Watch the news conference at 1:48 to see ’s Dr. Amy Castro explain research results that show recipients of guaranteed income were able to exit violent circumstances and establish safety for themselves and their children.

L.A. City Council considering guaranteed income for abuse victims, foster kids Three Los Angeles city council members are proposing an expansion of a guaranteed basic income program Tuesday to help victims of domestic abuse and foster youth. Curren Price, Marqueece Harris-Daw…

A groundbreaking guaranteed income pilot in the City of Los Angeles helped people living in deep poverty to pursue better jobs, leave abusive relationships, and improve their health. Drs. Amy Castro and Stacia West of ’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research describe the “overwhelmingly positive” results to the LA Times:

Study details 'transformative' results from L.A. pilot that guaranteed families $1,000 a month L.A.'s BIG:LEAP experiment gave monthly payments to poor families for a year with no strings attached. Recipients saw lasting benefits, a study finds.

City of Los Angeles residents who received $1000 monthly cash payments for a year as part of the Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot (BIG:LEAP) program reported positive trends in financial well-being, food security, intimate partner violence, parenting, sense of community, and reduced fear of community violence.

According to a new report produced by the Center for Guaranteed Income Research (CGIR) at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), in partnership with The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Fielding School of Public Health, recipients benefited from GI in several ways over the duration of the program:
🔵 Improved safety and autonomy
🔵 Strengthened sense of community
🔵 Improved financial well-being
🔵 Enhanced food security
🔵 Increased enrichment for children

BIG:LEAP marks a number of milestones — the first large-scale randomized controlled trial of unconditional cash positioned to determine how much change can occur in recipients’ lives within a 12-month period, the largest GI study that has concluded since the U.S. government’s experiments with income tax in the 1960s and 1970s, and the first GI study since the 1970s to consider intimate partner violence and community violence.

Read more:

Report: Landmark guaranteed income program in City of Los Angeles produces “overwhelmingly positive” results - School of Social Policy & Practice Groundbreaking study demonstrates impact of direct cash over a 12-month period, showing increased ability of recipients to exit intimate partner violence, decreased food insecurity, and improved quality of life across a number of additional domains.

As a graduate of ’s Nonprofit Leadership Program at Penn, Jonathan Muruako, CAS’17, NPL’24, has completed his collegiate career while working to help others navigate education as the founder and CEO of Fitalyst. For this initiative, Jonathan was named the winner of an inaugural innovation competition launched by the Penn Center for Inclusive Innovation and Technology (PCIIT). We asked Jonathan to tell us more about his journey and what he hopes to accomplish through the competition’s non-equity prize.

🔵 Why did you choose Penn and SP2?
In 2013, as a wide-eyed Black kid born in Mississippi with Nigerian roots, I chose Penn for my undergraduate college experience. My initial visit to Penn was during the Multicultural Accepted Student Weekend, which was also my first time on a flight, my first time in the Northeast, and my first time surrounded by peers with whom I could fully relate. I eagerly embraced the chance to spend the next four years at a place that felt unfamiliar yet brimming with hope and charm. This four-year experiment transformed into eleven years of earning degrees in behavioral science, public health, and bioethics, culminating in a Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership from SP2 with a focus on social entrepreneurship.

🔵 What are your career goals?
My company, Fitalyst, leverages learning analytics and behavioral design to provide first-generation, low-income students with timely and personalized wellness and academic support, meeting them where they are. I will be leading this initiative to guide every first-generation student to success, and if our approach helps these students, it will one day help all college students navigate their academic journeys. SP2 is my last stop in my collegiate career, and it has fully contextualized what it truly means to do good by doing well.

Read the full interview:

Q&A with PCIIT innovation competition winner Jonathan Muruako - School of Social Policy & Practice As a new graduate of the Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership Program at SP2, Jonathan Muruako, CAS’17, NPL’24, has completed his collegiate career while working to help others navigate education as founder and CEO of Fitalyst.

Penn Today recently spoke with ’s Dr. Amy Hillier about her academic journey. Hillier began her career studying historical mortgage redlining and moved into supporting trans youth.

From the benefits of finding representation and community to the harms of encountering discrimination, cyberbullying, and conflict, ’s Dr. Desmond Patton discusses the impact of social media on youth of color and offers 8 tips for building digital literacy. Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Social Media Can Be Good for Black and Latine Youth—If They're Digitally Literate Black and Latine youth can be the targets of racism and conspiracy theories online—they can also become activists and build community there. The difference depends on their digital literacy.

“We’re always trying to point the conversation in a direction that will [result in policies that] do the most for the most people,” says ’s Dr. Dennis Culhane about his homelessness research, in a conversation with writer Jennifer Egan, C’85. “I’m always spending a lot of time with people to understand the complexity and nuance because this is not a simple problem.” Read more of the Penn Gazette’s look back Culhane and Egan’s spring event at Kelly Writers House:
https://thepenngazette.com/supporting-supportive-housing/
Jennifer Egan

to our lively Alumni Weekend activities in Caster Courtyard! It's quiet on campus now, but soon we'll be back to celebrate New Student Orientation in August - we can't wait to see you! 💙

Hear alumna Terri Broussard Williams, NPL’20, discuss her journey as a changemaker and leader, along with her “Fire Starter Formula” for success. A graduate of SP2’s Nonprofit Leadership Program at Penn and a member of the Dean's Alumni Advisory Board, Williams is an award-winning lobbyist, nonprofit executive, and public speaker.

Social Justice Expert: How You Can Find Your Why & Succeed in Life and Business w/ Terri Williams In this episode, Terri Broussard Williams recounts her journey as a change-maker and leader, highlighting her work in anti-smoking initiatives and social jus...

How can parents prepare children for digital exposure and its possible negative effects? ICYMI, hear ’s Desmond Patton discuss practical suggestions for navigating social media, texting, and cell phone use by young people:

Episode 208 - Effects of Social Media and Cell Phone Use in Children and Adolescents - Your Radio Doctor This episode shares concerns about the negative effects of social media, texting, and cell phone use in children and teens.