Co-Sponsor: West Coast Poverty Center

Please join CSDE and the WCPC for this special panel reflecting on the past, present and future of the field of population and poverty research. In honor of Professor Robert Plotnick’s long and distinguished career as a leader in this field, he and three esteemed UW poverty researchers will highlight the overarching issues that demographers have grappled with in poverty and policy research, as well as current research in the areas of poverty and geography, financial inclusion and asset building, and income supports for populations experiencing poverty.

James Gregory, CSDE Affiliate and Professor of History at UW, spoke with KUOW in advance of this year’s “May Day” demonstrations in order to clarify the movement’s roots and shed light on its trajectory in the future. The movement began in 1886 as an attempt to negotiate a lighter, eight-hour workday for laborers. Gregory notes that the Fair Labor Standards Act, which legislated this standard and introduced overtime requirements, is now under attack in Congress.

Thaïsa Way—CSDE Affiliate, UW Professor of Landscape Architecture, and Director of Urban@UW—recently wrote an opinion piece for Crosscut that examines the relationship between demographic groups and the effects felt from pollution. From concentration of air pollution to asphalt “heat islands,” many environmental problems disproportionately impact poor communities. Way unpacks these issues, explains the link between them and particular demographic groups, and then recognizes some efforts advancing environmental justice. You can read the full story below.