Children Caught in the Immigration Crackdown

May 18, 2026 — Fellow Maria Cancian, PhD, Professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, co-authored a new Brookings Institution report estimating that approximately 205,000 children — including 145,000 U.S. citizen children — have likely experienced a parental immigration detention since the start of the current administration's enforcement push. Cancian and her co-authors also developed an interactive tool that allows users to explore the data across detention scenarios.

Read more from Brookings.

Federal Cuts and the Cost to America's Mothers

May 2026 — Fellow Harold Pollack, PhD, the Helen Ross Professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, was cited in The Bulwark in a feature arguing proposed federal cuts to WIC, Medicaid, and childcare programs would harm America's mothers and children. Pollack emphasized that the evidence base for investing in children's health care and education is strong — and that reducing those supports works against decades of research on what helps families thrive.

Read more from The Bulwark.

Where Rideshare Drivers Are Left After Fatal Shootings

April 24, 2026 — Fellow Daniel J. Flannery, PhD, the Semi J. and Ruth Begun Professor and director of the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University, weighed in for cleveland.com on why rideshare drivers remain largely unprotected even after a string of fatal shootings of Lyft and Uber drivers. Flannery brought a violence-prevention researcher's lens to a workforce-safety story that has frequently been treated as isolated tragedy.

Read more from Case Western Reserve University.

A Fragmented Picture of the U.S. Drug Supply

February 9, 2026 — Fellow Nabila El-Bassel, PhD, University Professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, led a JAMA Network Open study finding that fentanyl exposure is nearly universal among out-of-treatment people who inject drugs across five major U.S. cities. Xylazine and stimulant exposures vary sharply by location and, in some settings, are rising over time. The study analyzed urine biomarkers from 444 adults across New York City, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., revealing a more fragmented overdose crisis than national headlines often capture.

Read more from Columbia University's Social Intervention Group.