So many things happening, I nearly missed the @newrepublic.com piece I was quoted in last week. It raises the possibility of continued political threats to SNAP, underscoring a point I make often: the best way to politically protect the safety net is to build the power of those who rely on it.

" @povertyscholar.bsky.social said that losing food benefits is not only a crisis in itself, but it can lead to other crises...'Crises tend to cascade and compound...As this happens, people are less likely to vote.” www.salon.com/2025/11/08/h...

Happening today @1pm ET. Join the discussion if you're able! I'll be starting things off with grounding thoughts on Medicaid & structural racism. The conversation to follow will center on strategies community-based orgs can take to keep folks on Medicaid. meetattheintersection.org/a-crucial-mo...

I am grateful to work alongside colleagues in the health/public health space who are intentional about building our power as academics in service of advancing health equity. We are the Health and Power Organizing Project (HPOP). Read our AJPH paper here: ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/...

Super excited for this discussion on the structural determinants of health, moderated by Paula Braveman. A powerhouse panel - @tyson-brown.bsky.social @povertyscholar.bsky.social and Jonathan Heller

My book w/@profsorelle.bsky.social will be out in January! These ideas have brewed since I interned at Queens Legal Services 20 years ago. The book is for anyone who cares about people, justice, power & democracy. Much more to share more in the coming months! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

For the #EGEssaySeries, @povertyscholar.bsky.social points to how forces fueling right-wing populism are evident in the housing market and how tenant organizing can be powerful for creating better economic policies and strengthening U.S. democracy. Read more 🔗: equitablegrowth.org/housing-inse...

Medicaid turned 60 this week! My piece in Health Affairs Forefront argues that its future "hinges on who has the power to direct its course." Building & organizing power among Medicaid beneficiaries is the path towards transformative change. Read more here 👇🏾 www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

Me & @joanalker1.bsky.social on @npr.org's "It's Been a Minute" talking about the erroneous stereotypes that drive Medicaid cuts & the fundamental connections between all of us. When we harm those whom government deems "underserving," we ultimately harm everyone. www.npr.org/2025/07/04/1...

July 4th has never resonated. Too many people remained unfree after the U.S. declared independence & too many would be made unfree as a result of that declaration. Today, as so many devastatingly harmful policies unfold, charting a course towards freedom is unfinished work that depends on us.

*Update: Deep thanks to those who shared links, contacts, & encouragement. My brother helped find this family temporary housing. The road ahead for them will be hard. For low-income people, being evicted in NYC means navigating a confusing maze of programs that too often demoralize & discourage.

I don’t normally do this but I am posting w/an ask today. Please read the thread 🧵 My brother took in the family from the apartment across the hall from him last night. They were evicted w/ their 4-month-old. My brother, who has few resources of his own, could not bear to see them on the street.

Sadly, must share this again today: Most. People. Don’t. Want. Medicaid. Cuts. And as @povertyscholar.bsky.social and I argue, there could (should) be political repercussions for this undemocratic act.

During a bleak time (w/massive Medicaid cuts looming), I'm inspired by ordinary people organizing to fight displacement & harm. As @mperezbrower.bsky.social so powerfully writes, democracy hinges on efforts to "transform how power operates in our community." www.seattletimes.com/opinion/in-r...

Though some elected officials are no longer even pretending to represent the preferences of their constituents, it remains important to underscore the gaping chasm between what people want (RE: Medicaid) & what is actually happening. Read our piece for more on this democratic disconnect👇🏾

Looking forward to this discussion today. Join us.

It is a hard, but important time to be thinking and talking collectively about Medicaid. Join us next week (June 12th) for a historically grounded, future facing discussion.

I am under no illusion that the elected officials pushing Medicaid cuts care about the facts. But it is still important to state them clearly, publicly, and incessantly: “Work requirements are simply Medicaid cuts by another name. They serve little other purpose." www.newsweek.com/medicaid-wor...

I enjoyed this discussion today. I learned a lot from my fellow panelists (even those I disagreed with). And as moderator, @jerusalem.bsky.social wasn’t afraid to challenge us with tough questions. I find that approach super generative.

We cannot harm those deemed “undeserving” without also harming many who are supposedly “deserving.” These false dichotomies serve only the most wealthy/elite. MLK was on point when he said that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We ignore that wisdom to our own peril.

I'm glad to be part of this team of scholars. I'm not an experimentalist, but by working closely with colleagues who use experiments as a primary research tool, I've been able to explore one of the core preoccupations of my own research agenda (centering the marginalized) in new and novel ways.

I learned about civil legal inequality 20+ years ago, when I did an internship at a legal services org serving low-income people in the community I grew up in. That internship didn't make me want to be a lawyer, but it made me ask the questions at the root of some of my current research (1/n).

How do life changes shape political behavior? Authors Ojeda, @povertyscholar.bsky.social, and Haselswerdt explore this question in the article, “The Politics of Personal Crisis: How Life Disruptions Shape Political Participation”. Read more at the open access link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Compelling perspective from the reliably incisive Christina Greer. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...

Instead of weaponizing efficiency to bludgeon government, let's cultivate more responsive, effective government. My new white paper @responsivegov.bsky.social argues for governance rooted in "the robust & systematic centering of the voices of the denizens who most rely on public social programs."

Courage and conviction are a choice. Not the easiest choice, not the path of least resistance, not the safest route to go, but a choice nonetheless. Dean Jackson of the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design is showing us what this looks like and I love to see it 💯 mailchi.mp/04bd06b0c03c...

How can we rebuild our political economy to uplift the health and wellbeing of all Americans? Join us on April 1 at The New School to explore the health investments and policies, power-building strategies, and narratives we need to see real change. RSVP: event.newschool.edu/fromparadigm...

Really looking forward to this! Eager to learn from my (never disappointing) UMich colleagues & excited for any conversation that involves @motorres.bsky.social & @robmickey.bsky.social

Seeing my 15 year old and his (politically varied) friend group analyze politics with razor sharp wit & astonishing insight is giving me a slither of hope. These kids are talking about the debacle w/Zelensky (while gaming) & their takes are smarter than anything I’ve seen in the mainstream media.

If you want to read a great book about Medicaid and understand a big part of why it's under attack now (and is always under attack from the right), read Fragmented Democracy by the brilliant @povertyscholar.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/books/f...

In case anyone needs a break from reality (me, by 9 a.m. every day), my coauthor Anna Berg and I have a new, open access essay out in Perspectives! buff.ly/4gN6cFR. We describe the marginalization of qual methods in the study of American political behavior and make a case for their revival.

Say it louder for the (many, many) folks in the back who think that the most reasonable way to respond to blatant racism is by accepting the twisted terms of the debate & insisting that their behavior is justified per those ahistorical, illogical, empirically unsound terms (“we uphold meritocracy!”)

Today I would like to highlight the-ever-so-salient book #FragmentedDemocracy: #Medicaid #Federalism and #Unequal #Politics by @povertyscholar.bsky.social #BlackHistoryMonth

I am looking forward to this @nationalacademies.org workshop on economic systems as a structural driver of population health. I'll talk about the role of power in shaping the political-economic systems that structure population health. Register (below). Come through in person or log-in virtually!

i think it is important to say that the open and explicit racism of the president and the vice president isn’t just uncouth or “controversial” but a direct attack on tens of millions of americans and a dereliction of their duty to represent the entire country

The #Medicaid work requirement train is revving up again. Let's be clear about this: Medicaid is a health insurance program, not a jobs program. There is no evidence that Medicaid work requirements improve health or produce other benefits. They are a barrier to care & a driver of inequity (1/n)

There is so much to fight in this moment. For some of us, years of struggle lie ahead. But I will not let that necessary struggle define me. It is not the entirety of who I am, what I do, what I talk about, or how I feel. I am more than that. And “I not have my life narrowed down.”

It has been quite a week. For some of us, the fundamental premises of our ideas, contributions, worthiness, & belonging are under attack. Maybe some of you, like me, are feeling vulnerable, afraid. Maybe, like me, you're feeling angry, resolute. How do we find strength in this moment? (1/n)

Excellent 🧵 for an accessible and compelling breakdown of our recent @pnasnexus.org paper.

I've been doing some work on Child Tax Credit policies (especially on the state level). Much of this work is still in progress, but I am glad to see this first paper (co-authored with a larger team of scholars from the @commhsp.bsky.social) come out. Here are a few key learnings (1/n)

Just spent 2 hours replying to email. No where near done, but I am stopping b/c the next two hours are writing time. Not sure who needs to hear this but here it is: this is a bad way to sequence work. Write first. Now I'm trying (failing) to focus on writing in the midst of distraction/overwhelm.

THIS is my Sentiment

working on a (very instructive) final assignment, pulling together a syllabus for a hypothetical class called "Power & Inequality in US Health Policy" revisiting this piece from @povertyscholar.bsky.social to guide the structure of the course, so many gems in here www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

God i love @propublica.org so much

Wrote this op-ed (with my colleague Gretchen Purser) making the case for tenant protections (via Good Cause Eviction) and tenant power (through organizing) in Syracuse, NY.

On a flight just now, a man in my row was spouting false info RE: increasing numbers of small kids getting gender affirming surgery w/out parental consent. I really do prefer to mind my own business, but I calmly told him he was wrong. He looked stunned & said “okay sorry, I didn’t know.” Sigh.

This heart wrenching story painstakingly traces the inner workings of cumulative structural disadvantage, showing how our many broken systems proliferate precarity & harm in the lives of marginalized folks while also enabling & enriching the people that perpetrate that harm. Hard but important read.

Shout out to the skeptics of “evidence based policy making.” Evidence matters, but it is always political—so how and whether it shapes policy making is a function of power.

There are many layers here, but I want to comment on one aspect of these findings for now--the editorial board representation. Some will see this and immediately think: we need to get more POC on our boards! I understand that impulse, but encourage you to think a few steps down the game tree 1/n.

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