Co-published with Jacobin. When schools offer universal free meals, hungry kids eat. They also have better academic performance, behavior, attendance, and psychosocial functioning.

Co-published with Jacobin. School meal programs across the US are in disarray due to major staffing shortages and exploitative business practices, and kids are shouldering the burden.

Co-published with Jacobin. The true goal of public policy shouldn’t be nudging people over the poverty line but enabling people to lead good lives, writes Elliot Haspel.

Co-published with Believer Magazine. In low-income communities, a nickname becomes a means to combat hardship — and an avenue for reinvention.

Co-published with The New York Times. In clear, spare prose, Jeff Madrick lays out a proposal for something akin to a basic income guarantee for parents of children under 18.

Co-published with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In Glasgow, Scotland, anti-poverty programs coordinate services and give voice — and hope — to kids in disadvantaged areas.

Co-published with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In southwestern Pennsylvania, an 8-year-old child copes with poverty in her community with the power of storytelling.

Co-published with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. As family financial woes mount and his mother's cancer encroaches, Anthony Brown's mind drifts to a place where he can still be a kid: Horseshoe Island.

Co-published with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Violence in Hawkins Village drove Jared Todd, 16, to a largely indoor existence in which his anxious energy bursts forth in art and gaming.