Michael Sherraden

Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at the Brown School, has been named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation.

New federal legislation to create a national children’s savings account policy draws heavily on research from the university’s Center for Social Development.

Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at the Brown School, has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Career Achievement Award presented by the Society for Social Work and Research.

Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at the Brown School, has received the 2021 James Billups International Social Development Leadership Award from the International Consortium for Social Development.

The China Journal of Social Work has honored an international team of scholars with the 2020 Best Article award for their study on the rebirth of social work in mainland China. The team includes scholars from Washington University’s Center for Social Development, Saint Louis University, Peking University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Democrats have called for a permanent expansion of the monthly child tax credit. In making the expanded credit permanent, lawmakers can leverage the power of child development accounts to build assets for all children in the United States, says an expert on asset building at Washington University in St. Louis.

New research from the Center for Social Development at the Brown School shows that parents of newborns with Child Development Accounts respond by deepening their commitment to the child’s higher education and their own efforts to save for that education.

Now is the time for a prudent national investment to deliver full financial inclusion for all Americans. The reforms proposed here would leverage technology to provide basic financial services for everyone. The U.S. economy will recover more fully and grow stronger over time as a result.

As the U.S. once again prepares for national elections, we hope that voters in the St. Louis region will join with elections administrators in strengthening our democratic processes. On election day, it is critical that we all work to note and report voting process barriers.

The location and the physical aspects of the electoral process itself — the buildings, equipment, and election workers — can make it more difficult to vote in some communities, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Brown School’s Center for Social Development is conducting a third wave of research on Child Development Accounts (CDAs) in Oklahoma. Wave 3 of the SEED for Oklahoma Kids experiment expands the original CDA with an automatic progressive deposit and extends the research to examine the accounts’ impacts.

As economists float the proposal to give every U.S. newborn a “baby bond” account, Michael Sherraden, professor at the Brown School, says a solution already exists — Child Development Accounts, a policy concept first proposed in his groundbreaking 1991 book, “Assets and the Poor.”

The mayor of New York has announced a new child savings account to help thousands of New York City public school children save for college. City officials relied on research from the Center for Social Development at the Brown School to develop the three-year pilot program, which starts next fall.

Israel’s parliament has passed a law funding long-term savings accounts for all newborns, based on a proposal developed by Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and associate director of the Center for Social Development (CSD), and on research efforts led by Michael Sherraden, PhD, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor and director of CSD.

Three beloved longtime Brown School faculty — representing 102 years of scholarship, research and collaboration — were elevated to new positions within the faculty April 2 during an installation ceremony in Brown Lounge.

On March 6, the state of Maine became the first in the United States to make college savings for newborns universal and automatic, putting into practice research pioneered by Michael Sherraden, PhD, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor and director ofthe Brown School’s Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.

A college savings account in a child’s name not only gives parents hope for the future, it also results in improved social-emotional health for their children. That’s the result of a new study released Jan. 27 online in JAMA Pediatrics. The study, led by Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Social Development in collaboration with the state of Oklahoma, began in 2007 as SEED for Oklahoma Kids, an innovative policy experiment to invest in children at birth. The program automatically opened and deposited $1,000 in an Oklahoma college savings plan account for 1,360 newborns.

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in the continuing series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars held biweekly on the Danforth Campus beginning through April 14. The series begins Monday, Feb. 3, with Sean H. Williams, JD, professor at the University of Texas School of Law. His topic is “Dead Children: Tort Law and Parental Investments in Child Safety.”

Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, moderated a panel discussion April 6 at the sixth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U). The session was titled “Poverty and Promise in America’s Rust Belt” and was held in Umrath Hall on the Danforth Campus. Kailey Burger, third-year law student, served as a panelist.

President Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton announced the program and featured participants for the sixth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) to be held at Washington University in St. Louis April 5-7. In addition to President Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, Stephen Colbert, Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and WUSTL’s Michael Sherraden are among the featured speakers.

As China prepares to transfer its leadership in March, the potential exists for a more progressive government. With asset-based policies increasing throughout Asia in response to rising inequality and aging populations, there’s never been a better time for discussion and information. This past November, the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis co-hosted the conference “Lifelong Asset Building: Strategies and Innovations in Asia” at Peking University.

A groundbreaking study aims to find out whether the opportunity to save will entice youth in developing countries to bank their money. Representatives from the Center for Social Development at the Brown School traveled halfway around the world to Nepal to meet with colleagues from the YouthSave Consortium, and had the unique opportunity to talk with Nepalese youth and learn more about their savings experience.

Michael Sherraden’s book, Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy, broke new ground on social policy in 1991. Twenty years later, its impact still is being felt around the world. In Assets and the Poor, Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, writes that asset accumulation is structured and subsidized for many non-poor households, primarily via retirement accounts and home ownership. He argues that these opportunities should be available to all and proposes establishing individual savings accounts for the poor — also known as Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). Since Sherraden first proposed IDAs, they have been adopted in federal legislation and in more than 40 states.

Worldwide, people aged 60 and above will comprise 13.6 percent of the population by 2020, and 22.1 percent of the population by 2050. China is the most rapidly aging country with older adults making up 13 percent of their population. “All countries will need to develop policies and programs that support productive engagement during later life,” says Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. “There is evidence that productive engagement in later life benefits both older adults and society at large. Expanding opportunities for productive engagement may increase the health and well-being of the older population. At the same time, older adults can be a valuable resource for growth in volunteering, civic service, caregiving, employment, and social entrepreneurship.”

What does it take for a family in the U.S. to have long-term economic security and not just “get by”? This question inspired the creation of the Basic Economic Security Tables Index (BEST), a joint effort of Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) and the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. The BEST is different from other ‘living wage’ indexes in that it aims to capture what is needed for household stability and development rather than focusing on subsistence. Findings suggest that families’ largest economic security challenges are rent and utilities, transportation, and childcare. The report calls the high cost of quality childcare “the greatest threat to many families’ security.” Childcare is so expensive that income needs for a one-parent family with two preschoolers are equivalent to those of a one-parent family with five teenagers.

University City Council member L. Michael Glickert (left) presents Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, with a proclamation during a city council meeting Oct. 18. The proclamation celebrates Sherraden, a University City resident, being named to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

A 10-year study on Child Development Accounts (CDAs) has confirmed their viability as a tool for long-term asset building. Beginning as early as birth, CDAs are investment accounts that allow parents and children to accumulate savings for post-secondary education, homeownership or business initiatives. 

The MasterCard Foundation announced a partnership with a consortium of four organizations to conduct a landmark, global research initiative that will test how to sustainably deliver savings services to low-income youth in the developing world.  The initiative — YouthSave — is based on emerging evidence that suggests linking youth to savings may improve their economic, educational and health-related futures.  The four organizations participating in the consortium are Save the Children, the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, the New America Foundation, and CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor).

TIME magazine has named Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Sherraden, the founder and director of the Brown School’s Center for Social Development (CSD), is known for his pioneering work on asset building for low-income people.

Child Development Accounts are savings accounts that begin as early as birth and allow parents and children to accumulate savings for post-secondary education, homeownership or business initiatives. “There is evidence that when there are savings and assets in the household – particularly savings in a child’s name – that children have greater educational attainment, are more likely to do well in high school, attend college and graduate from college,” says Michael Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School. Sherraden recently was named to TIME Magazine’s TIME 100.

The New America Foundation and Center for Social Development at Washington University announced May 21 a new College Savings Initiative to examine and improve 529 college savings plans so more people have the opportunity to attend and complete college.

The New America Foundation and Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis announce a new College Savings Initiative to examine and improve 529 college savings plans so more people have the opportunity to attend and complete college. “Saving money is not easy, but research shows many people can save when they have incentives and a way to do so. More low-income families may save with well-designed 529s and incentives,” said Margaret Clancy, Policy Director at CSD. “We will study 529 innovations to see which ones are effective. This will inform 529 policy so that it can benefit families of all income levels.”

More than 1,000 Oklahoma babies have received a $1,000 jump-start on saving for college, thanks to SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK), a seven-year study designed to determine the economic and educational impact of “seeding” a college savings account for children at birth. SEED OK is a collaboration between the Oklahoma State Treasurer and the Center for Social Development at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

More than 1,000 Oklahoma babies are receiving a $1,000 jumpstart on saving for college thanks to SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK), a seven-year study designed to determine the economic and educational impact of “seeding” a college savings account for children at birth. SEED OK, announced June 3 by Governor Brad Henry and State Treasurer Scott Meacham, is a collaboration between the Oklahoma State Treasurer and the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.

The recent $2.5 million grant will support the creation of a permanent endowment for the center directed by Michael W. Sherraden.

At the Center for Social Development (CSD) in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Michael Sherraden, Ph.D., and his faculty colleagues, staff, and graduate students are dedicating themselves to addressing the root causes of poverty and finding solutions. To this end, CSD has found a partner in the Ford Foundation, a philanthropic organization whose goals include asset building to create better societies.

Photo by David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoWendy F. Auslander, Ph.D. (left), works with St. Louis-area peer counselors in the “Eat Well, Live Well” program she pioneered with colleagues at the School of Medicine.As the cases of type 2 diabetes in African-American women increase at an epidemic rate, researchers are examining risk factors involved with this disease in order to create programs that will hopefully slow this growing problem. According to a recent study at the George Warren Brown (GWB) School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, African-American women at risk for type 2 diabetes experience long periods of depression due, in part, to a lack of economic and social resources. “At the beginning of our study, 40 percent of our sample of African-American women at risk for type 2 diabetes reported clinically significant depression,” says Wendy Auslander, Ph.D., professor at GWB and co-author of the study. “Unlike their nondepressed peers, these women reported fewer economic assets and greater economic distress. Issues such as unemployment, low self-esteem and a low appraisal of their economic situation contributed to their depression.”