U-M launches Youth Policy Lab

Researchers at the University of Michigan have launched a new lab designed to help state and local agencies, social service providers, nonprofits and educators improve life outcomes for Michigan youth, from birth through age 25.

The Youth Policy Lab is a hands-on initiative to support the growing demand for rigorous evidence about the likely outcomes of proposed policy interventions. A partnership between U-M’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Survey Research Center at U-M’s Institute of Social Research, it is led by professors Brian Jacob and Susan Dynarski and associate research professor Robin Tepper Jacob.

Through a competitive selection process, the lab chooses different organizations each year and provides pro bono technical assistance, including needs and feasibility assessments, analysis and evaluation, policy design, placement of an onsite technical expert and support from content area and methodological experts. Some of the lab’s first partnerships include projects with City Connect, the Detroit Police Department, Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, MDRC, the Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Poverty Solutions and U-M’s Child and Adolescent Data Lab.

“Michigan’s public sector organizations provide critical services and we are excited to offer technical support to help bolster their capacity,” Robin Jacob said.

The lab has collaborated on projects with organizations such as City Connect, the Detroit Police Department, Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, MDRC, the Michigan Department of Education and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The initiative, which builds upon the researchers’ experience partnering with service providers and agencies to evaluate programs, is made possible by a $2.6 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.