Join the Urban Institute and the Berkeley Opportunity Lab as we explore the impacts of providing cash assistance to low-income families with children and discuss how policymakers and researchers can leverage these insights to improve the well-being of some of our nation’s most vulnerable children. With the upcoming 2025 expiration of temporary modifications to the child tax credit enacted under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Congress will soon reexamine whether and how much to expand this benefit and, fundamentally, the value of investing in children.

Building on the insights from the 2023 convening, this session will explore new research on cash assistance and children that will be particularly relevant to the upcoming debate, including the impact of cash assistance on investments on early childhood outcomes, reductions in child maltreatment, and long-term employment and educational outcomes of children. Our conversation will also explore how research findings have influenced and improved policies for children at the state level.

Opening Remarks

• Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute
• JooYeun Chang, Program Director for Child Well-Being, Doris Duke Foundation
   

Keynote Conversation

• Michael Bennet, US Senator, Colorado
• Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute (moderator)
   

Fireside Chat

• Natalie Foster, Founder and President, Economic Security Project
• Michael Tubbs, Founder, Mayors and Counties for a Guaranteed Income
• Jason DeParle, Senior Writer, New York Times (moderator)
   

New Findings on the Effects of Cash Benefits on Child Well-Being

• Lisa A. Gennetian, Pritzker Professor of Early Learning Policy Studies, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
• Katherine Rittenhouse, Assistant Professor, University of Texas
• Kevin Werner, Research Associate, Urban Institute
• Hilary Hoynes, Codirector, Innovations in Cash Assistance for Children Initiative; Director, Berkeley Opportunity Lab (moderator)
   

Lessons from Research and Policy Partnerships

• Mona Hanna-Attisha, Associate Dean for Public Health, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
• H. Luke Shaefer, Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy and Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
• Aparna Ramesh, Chief, Research and Data Insights Branch, California Department of Social Services
• Jesse Rothstein, Director, California Policy Lab; Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
• Margot Crandall-Hollick, Acting Codirector, Innovations in Cash Assistance for Children Initiative; Principal Research Associate, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (moderator)

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. Please email [email protected] if you require any accommodations or have any questions about this event.

Support for this event is provided by the Doris Duke Foundation. For more information on the Urban Institute’s funding principles, go to urban.org/about/organizational-principles.