The University of Michigan and Harvard University are forming two new partnerships designed to spur economic mobility and reduce poverty in Detroit, as well as combine resources and expertise in response to the national opioid crisis.
The Equality of Opportunity Project — led by Harvard faculty members Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren and Brown University’s John Friedman — will work with U-M’s Poverty Solutions initiative, directed by Luke Shaefer, associate professor of social work and public policy, according to the announcement.
The universities will collaborate with the city of Detroit and local partners on an action plan to identify promising, results-based interventions for improving the livelihoods of low-income Detroit residents.
In addition to the economic mobility efforts in Detroit, the universities announced plans to convene cross-disciplinary experts and practitioners from government, medical, public health, criminal justice, policy and other fields to address the growing opioid epidemic in cities and rural areas around the country.
