I am honored to accept NASPAA's

2020 Social Equity Award on

behalf of the Gerald R. Ford
School of Public Policy.

The Ford School is a community

dedicated to the public good,

committed to taking on

our community's and the world's
most pressing challenges.

Structural inequality
is an urgent

challenge as Black and Brown
Americans continue to face

differential outcomes and
experiences in education,

in health and housing,

economics and finance,
and so much more.

In the past year, we've added

three new endowed
professorships that will

support research and
action to address

social and structural injustices.

Poverty Solutions led by
Professor Luke Shaefer,

is vital to our work
in social equity.

Since 2016, Luke and

his team have connected our
top-flight students and

faculty with communities around

Michigan and across
the United States.

At Poverty Solutions, we
partner with communities and

policymakers to find

new ways to prevent
and alleviate poverty.

We try to build on basic
research on the causes and

consequences of poverty, really

to figure out what
can be done about it.

We understand that we don't
have all the answers.

Sometimes we don't even know
the right questions to ask.

But if we work with communities,
if we partner,

if we start with listening,

and we work with
policymakers to figure out

how things can really
be implemented.

We can learn and we can
make meaningful change.

So in our work and the Partnership on

Economic Mobility at the City of

Detroit, at the state level

in our work with
the Department of

Health and Human Services,

and in advising
national policymakers.

But a big part of
that is trying to

bring social equity to the fore.

Have it not be sort of

our priorities and what we
see as the biggest issues,

but those of the communities
that we're seeking to serve.

At the Ford School,
we're committed

to researching, teaching,

and speaking out about

structural inequality and doing

the hard work to advance social change.

Thank you NASPAA for
this recognition of

the Ford School's work to
advance social equity.

We know there is still
much more to be done.