Debt | Middle Class | Inequality | Student Loans and Student Loan Debt | Economic Challenges of Young People | Asset Building | Distribution of Wealth & Income | Work Supports | Retirement Security | Poverty

Nancy K. Cauthen is Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos. She brings two decades of experience researching and analyzing public policies that promote opportunity and reduce economic hardship. Prior to coming to Demos in February 2009, Nancy spent 10 years at the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, where she served as Deputy Director and Director of Family Economic Security.

Nancy's recent work has focused on expanding opportunity for young people, with an emphasis on ensuring that low- and moderate-income young adults have the chance to complete a postsecondary credential. Previously, she conducted research on federal and state work support policies such as earned income tax credits, child care assistance, and health insurance. She has written extensively about the connections between family economic status and children's chances for success, measures of poverty and income adequacy, welfare reform, why Social Security matters for children, and other policy issues that affect low- to moderate-income workers and their families. She speaks nationally on these topics and has testified before Congress and state legislatures.

A political and historical sociologist by training, Nancy is a recognized authority on the history and dynamics of American social welfare policy since the New Deal. Her published historical work focuses on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Social Security, general assistance, and the Depression-era Works Projects Administration (WPA).

Nancy received her PhD in Sociology from New York University and also holds degrees from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

ncauthen@demos.org
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