Cafferty Lecture: Safeguarding a Safety Net in Crisis: Building Durable Power Through Policy Design

Carolyn Barnes, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Her research examines how social policies affect low-income families, particularly in the areas of childcare, family services, racial inequality, and access to public benefits. Before joining the Crown Family School, Carolyn served as an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. She is the author of State of Empowerment: Low-Income Families and the New Welfare State, which explores how publicly funded after-school programs influence the political engagement of low-income parents. Her research has been supported by the William T. Grant Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Blue Cross Foundation of North Carolina.

Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, PhD is the Herbert H. Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University, where his research and teaching focuses on the intersection of politics and markets, labor policy and politics, and the design of public policy. He previously served in the Biden-Harris Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor and the Office of Management and Budget and is the author or co-editor of three books, most recently “The American Political Economy” (Cambridge, 2021). 

Jamila Michener, PhD is a professor of Government and Public Policy at Cornell University, and the inaugural director of the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures. She studies poverty, racism, and public policy, with a particular focus on health and housing. She is author of Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics (Cambridge University Press) and Uncivil Democracy: How Access to Justice Shapes Political Power (Princeton University Press). She is co-editor of Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis (Sage Publications). 

Chirag Mehta is the Policy and Ideas Director for Community Change. Mr. Mehta is an expert in economic and investment policy issues and has spent his career serving community-based and labor organizations in a policy and research capacity.  Prior to joining the Center for Community Change, he served as Economic Issues Director at the Service Employees International Union, a 2.2-million-member labor union. 

Danielle Perry is the Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Greater Chicago Food Depository. She brings more than 15 years of experience as a nonprofit and foundation executive and government relations expert. Before joining the Food Depository’s leadership team, Danielle served as the Head of Foundation and Federal Initiatives at Capital One Bank. In addition to Capital One, Danielle was appointed to serve in the Obama and Pritzker administrations leading equity centered work in agriculture. Danielle served as the Executive Director for Growing Home, Inc., an Englewood-based workforce development nonprofit that runs Chicago’s first and only USDA certified organic farm.