I recently visited Brown University and gave a talk at the Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs about the changing geography of poverty in America.  During the visit, I recorded a podcast with Brown University professors Susan Moffitt and Margaret Weir, where we discussed my book, Places in Need.  It’s a great discussion about important topics relating to poverty in America today.  Click here to listen to the podcast.

The news cycle at the end of last week highlighted the persistent “rising tide” of inequality cast over the U.S. economy.  Persistent reporting of the facts about the widening gap between the very wealthy and the rest of society leads to statements more commonly used to describe sea level rise and climate change: The forces of income inequality are becoming stronger with more intense and extreme consequences. As I argue in an op-ed at The Hill, it appears that there are no solutions forthcoming at the federal level – in fact, federal policy coming from Washington is likely to make things worse. Instead, as often is the case with innovative climate policy action, we need to look to states and local communities for promising solutions to rising inequality in the coming years.

Click here to read the full post.

Places in Need has been selected as the November 2017 Feature of Columbia University’s National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) Online Book Club.

Join us for the online discussion:  Tuesday, November 14, 2017 – 2pm EST/ 11am PST

Click Here to Register!!!

Please join NCCP Director Renée Wilson-Simmons on November 14 as she talks with the author Scott W. Allard about Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty (Russell Sage Foundation 2017). Using a unique combination of data, field work, and in-depth interviews in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.—Allard’s most recent book offers several important original insights into the interconnections among place, poverty, and the safety net in contemporary America.

Click here to read the Introduction to the Book

Click the left edge of the audio bar above or click here to listen to my interview on Wednesday, August 16th with Herb Weisbaum of KOMO Radio in Seattle about President Trump’s recent press conference comments about race relations, the economy, and poverty.

A few media pieces on Places in Need are starting to appear, with more to come. I appreciate the efforts of journalists to help get the word out about the poverty problems the book confronts and actions we can take to address those problems.

Michelle Chen write a great piece in The Nation  entitled, “Why Are America’s Suburbs Becoming Poorer?”  I like this line from the article, which summarizes the argument of the book well: “ The poor aren’t exceptional in any community, and dealing with the roots of poverty requires coming together instead of pulling apart.”

Click here for a .pdf of the Save the Date invitation.

As the book release date later in June approaches – feel free to check out the introductory chapter to the book posted online at Russell Sage Foundation Press. Pre-orders will ship soon!!!

A fixture in the community of scholars focusing on issues of poverty, inequality, and social policy for more than 40 years – Robert Plotnick – is retiring this spring from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. Bob has long been a mentor and friend, and his retirement announcement provided me with a nudge and opportunity to read, Progress Against Poverty: A Review of the 1964-1974 Decade, published in 1975 with co-author Felicity Skidmore. Apart from being one of the first scholarly efforts to assess the impact of the War on Poverty, Progress Against Poverty has the distinction of being the first book volume commissioned by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (IRP).

As minimum wage rates rise across many cities and states, there is a renewed discussion around how such laws affect workers and businesses.  Less often discussed, however, is the impact of such laws on nonprofit organizations — in particular organizations that employ low-wage workers to provide care or services to the most vulnerable residents in our community. The latest report from the Minimum Wage Study at the University of Washington, examines initial nonprofit responses to the local move to $15 an hour.

My new book, Places in Need: The Changing Geography of Poverty, is available at the Russell Sage website.  You can buy it direct by clicking here, or purchase it from Amazon by clicking here.