Note: The catalog copy refers to both issues 2 and 3.
 
Over 40 million Americans live in poverty with limited opportunities for upward mobility. With an economy characterized by large numbers of unstable and low-wage jobs, a fraying social safety net, and stagnant wages, what public policy reforms might increase the number of low-income families and individuals escaping poverty? This special double issue of RSF, edited by poverty researchers Lawrence M. Berger, Maria Cancian, and Katherine A. Magnuson, includes many innovative, evidence-based anti-poverty policy proposals crafted by leading social science researchers and policy analysts.
 
The first issue highlights initiatives that restructure tax and transfer programs to extend greater support to low-income families, regardless of work status. H. Luke Shaefer and colleagues would replace the current child tax credit and child tax exemption in the federal income tax with an unconditional universal child allowance. They estimate that this would reduce child poverty by about 40 percent. Maria Cancian and Daniel Meyer propose a new child support initiative that institutes a guaranteed minimum monthly support payment for every child living with a single parent, using public funds to bridge the gap when that amount exceeds what the noncustodial parent can reasonably pay. Sara Kimberlin and colleagues propose a renter’s tax credit in the federal income tax for poor households facing increasing rental costs that would benefit 70 percent of renters struggling with high rents.
 
The second issue analyzes policies that would reduce the extent of low-wage work by boosting education, training, and access to better jobs. Teresa Eckrich Sommer and colleagues propose expanding the Head Start program to combine parental education, job training, and employment opportunities along with existing early childhood education programs to better serve the needs of both parents and children. Mark Paul and colleagues propose a federal jobs guarantee of full-time employment, at a living wage and with benefits, for all adults seeking work. Diana Strumbos and colleagues propose a national community college program, based on a successful model used by the City University of New York, to provide disadvantaged students who enroll full-time with advising, academic, career, and financial supports.
 
Together, the policies proposed in this double issue provide an evidence-based blueprint for anti-poverty reforms that would benefit millions of people in need.
 
 

Lawrence M. Berger is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the School of Social Work and director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Maria Cancian is professor of public affairs and social work and former director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
 
Katherine A. Magnuson is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor and doctoral program chair at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Social Work.
 

Contributors
Lawrence M. Berger, Marianne P. Bitler, Maria Cancian, Sophie Collyer, Greg Duncan, Kathryn Edin, Melissa Favreault, Irwin Garfinkel, Craig Gundersen, Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Madonna Harrington Meyer, David Harris, Pamela Herd, Annie Laurie Hines, Sara Kimberlin, Brent Kreider, Ezra Levin, Katherine Magnuson, Daniel R. Meyer, Marianne Page, John V. Pepper, H. Luke Shaefer, Timothy M. Smeeding, Sara Sternberg Greene, Laura Tach, Jane Waldfogel, Christopher Wimer, Hirokazu Yoshikawa