Social Work

The pandemic’s impact on individual generosity

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect people’s volunteering, donating, and helping behaviors? A report by SP2 faculty and students summarizes a nationally representative study aiming to answer this question.

From the School of Social Policy & Practice

Researching depression in low-income women

The importance of addressing depression among low-income women in multiple contexts is a theme of recent research by April Ivey, Jacqueline Corcoran, and others at Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice.

From the School of Social Policy & Practice

Sex workers’ rights

A Fulbright award augments Toorjo Ghose’s work to document and support the social movement happening among sex workers in India against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kristina García

Understanding migration and the arts

In the latest episode of Penn Today’s “Understand This …” podcast series, Obed Arango of the School of Social Policy & Practice, alongside Wolf Humanities Graduate Fellow Shelley Zhang, discuss migration, the arts, and identity.

Brandon Baker

Fighting food insecurity

Students from the Fox Leadership Program have lent their time and expertise to hunger organizations for more than a decade, and during the pandemic they’ve upped their involvement to meet the growing need.

Kristen de Groot

‘Black Families Matter’

In a lecture organized by the Penn Program on Regulation, PIK Professor Dorothy E. Roberts argued that the U.S. child welfare system is designed to police Black families, not to protect children, and must be abolished and replaced with a new vision of family support and child safety.

Kristen de Groot



In the News


The New York Times

When Kentucky bans homeless camps, where do people go?

Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that criminalizing street camping will simply force homeless people to sleep somewhere else, saddling them with bench warrants and unpayable fines.

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CBS MoneyWatch

AI helps organization send poorest households impacted by Helene and Milton $1,000

According to Stacia West of the School of Social Policy & Practice, research on guaranteed income programs shows that recipients spend the money on essential needs.

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Associated Press

AI is being used to send some households impacted by Helene and Milton $1,000 cash relief payments

Stacia West of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that no one budgets better than a person in poverty.

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Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles is at a crossroads on homelessness

Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that rental-assistance programs are a less expensive solution for homelessness than building new housing, with lessened administrative costs and burdens.

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Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles’ $22-billion homelessness problem gives leaders a choice: Double down or change strategies

Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that Los Angeles should shift its focus from supportive housing construction to helping homeless and at-risk Angelenos pay their rent on the private market.

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AARP.org

Why we should normalize therapy for grieving caregivers

Lauren Rhodewalt of Penn Medicine shares what spousal caregivers facing a loss need to know about navigating a path forward with therapy.

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