About the National Poverty Center
Our Mission | At the U-M | History | Area Centers
The National Poverty Center (NPC) was established in the fall of 2002 as a university-based, nonpartisan research center. We conduct and promote multidisciplinary, policy-relevant research on the causes and consequences of poverty and provide mentoring and training to young scholars.
Located within the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the NPC benefits from close proximity to an extensive and diverse group of University of Michigan-based scholars from such units as the Institute for Social Research; the Department of Economics; and the Schools of Education, Public Health, and Social Work. In addition, the NPC draws on the work of over forty nationally recognized scholars from around the country, our Senior Research Affiliates.
Major funding for the NPC is provided through a cooperative agreement with the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. University of Michigan funders include the Ford School, the Office of the Vice-President for Research, the Institute for Social Research, and the Rackham School of Graduate Studies.
The National Poverty Center is directed by Sheldon H. Danziger.
Our mission
The National Poverty Center is charged with promoting high-quality research on the causes and consequences of poverty, evaluating and analyzing policies to alleviate poverty, and training the next generation of poverty researchers.
At the U-M
The NPC is administered by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and linked with many other schools, units, and research centers at the University of Michigan.
The historical strengths of U-M in social science data collection, survey design, data analysis, and mentoring and training emerging poverty researchers give the NPC a uniquely broad base of experience and abilities.
- Links to other Ford School poverty research initiatives
- Links to affiliated U-M research centers
- Links to affiliated U-M academic units
- University of Michigan and Local Research Affiliates
History of the national poverty center
For nearly forty years, the federal government has supported a “national poverty center,” a university-based research institute where experts work to improve our understanding of poverty in the United States and to evaluate poverty-related programs and policies.
In October of 2002, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded funding to the University of Michigan to establish the National Poverty Center within the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
Between 1996 and 2002, The Joint Center for Poverty Research (Northwestern University/University of Chicago) was funded as a national poverty research center. The history of the JCPR.
From 1966 to 2002, the federal government funded The University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) as a national poverty center. The history of the IRP.
Area Poverty Research Centers
In 2002, ASPE announced a new poverty research initiative, the Area Poverty Research Centers.
Three Area Poverty Research Centers were funded by ASPE. Each will tackle poverty-related issues of regional or state interest. Like the National Poverty Center, the Area Centers seek to improve our understanding of the nature, causes, correlates, and consequences of poverty and to inform program and policies to alleviate poverty.
The three Area Poverty Research Centers are:
- The Institute for Research on Poverty's (IRP) Area Poverty Research Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
The research agenda of the IRP's Area Poverty Research Center focuses on the Midwestern states. - The University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research
The UKCPR is an interdisciplinary area center with a research focus on Kentucky and the South. - The Rural Poverty Research Center (University of Missouri)
The RPRC is an interdisciplinary research center focused on the causes and effects of poverty in rural areas.