The Evidence to Action series elevates the voices of leaders and changemakers responding to the unprecedented social, economic, and structural challenges Americans are facing. The Urban Institute was built for this moment: we have studied what it takes to strengthen social safety net programs, dismantle structural racism, protect workers and families, and build community resilience for more than 50 years, answering tough questions with unbiased, rigorous research and evidence-based solutions. Today, we are working with changemakers to reimagine how structures, systems, and institutions must evolve to produce a more equitable society. Using advanced analytics, data science, technology, and decades of expertise, we produce facts and insights to accelerate solutions.

Building AAPI Inclusion in Federal Policy
July 14, 2021
To mark the launch of The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and build on new Urban Institute research sponsored by TAAF on AAPI organizations, please join the Urban Institute and TAAF for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. Urban President Sarah Wartell will moderate a panel discussion about strategies for targeting federal programs to meet the needs of AAPI communities and increasing AAPI visibility in federal data.

Creating a Just Approach to Disasters
April 22, 2021
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. To commemorate Earth Day, Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) will discuss how the federal government can enable a more just and equitable approach to disaster response. Following that, Carlos Martín, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, Zoe Middleton, Houston and Southeast Texas codirector at the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (Texas Housers), and Sarah Saadian, vice president of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, will join Wartell to discuss the most essential steps communities, state and local governments, and the federal administration can take to ensure underserved communities’ risks are minimized and their protection is prioritized.

Restoring Immigrant Families’ Connections to the Safety Net
April 1, 2021
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Congresswoman Judy Chu (D- CA), who represents California’s 27th district, will discuss immigrants’ inclusion in and connection to the safety net. Following that, Hamutal Bernstein, principal research associate at the Urban Institute, and Huma Zarif, former staff attorney at Northwest Health Law Advocates, will join Wartell to address the ways federal policies and practices could improve immigrant families’ access to safety net and relief programs, fostering well-being and boosting the economy.

Advancing Fair Housing and Racial Equity through Federal Housing Policy
March 5, 2021
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Solomon Greene, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, Gustavo Velasquez, director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and  Lisa Rice, president and chief executive officer of the National Fair Housing Alliance, will join Wartell to address what states and localities need from the federal government to advance fair, equitable housing and explore the most impactful actions the Biden administration could take.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Enhancing the Child Tax Credit
February 11, 2021
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Samuel Hammond, director of poverty and welfare policy at the Niskanen Center, Myra Jones-Taylor, chief policy officer at Zero to Three, and Elaine Maag, principal research associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, will join Wartell to discuss a key question facing Congress as it considers a new relief package: How should the child tax credit be expanded and enhanced to respond to families’ needs amid the pandemic and economic crisis?

Using Data for Justice: How Changemakers Can Center Racial Equity in COVID-19 Recovery
January 25, 2021
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for a special installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action, to launch Urban’s Racial Equity Analytics Lab (REAL). 

How the Federal Government Can Support Community-Driven Public Safety Effort
November 2, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Rip Rapson, president and chief executive officer of the Kresge Foundation, will discuss the federal government’s crucial role in reversing place-based disparities and ensuring every neighborhood allows its residents to thrive. Following that, Jesse Jannetta, senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute, and Fernando Rejón, executive director of the Urban Peace Institute, will join Wartell to discuss their proposal for how the federal government can support community-driven public safety efforts.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Mitigating the Risks of a 2020 Census Undercount
September 29, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Diana Elliott, principal research associate at the Urban Institute, Arturo Vargas, chief executive officer of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, and Thomas Wolf, senior counsel and Spitzer Fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program, will join Wartell to discuss the continuing risks to the 2020 Census and how they can be mitigated.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap in the Shadow of the Pandemic
August 12, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) will discuss his efforts to close the racial wealth gap through federal legislation. Following that, Kilolo Kijakazi, Institute fellow at the Urban Institute, and Darrick Hamilton, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University, will join Wartell to address how the racial wealth gap has exacerbated the harms of the pandemic, how the pandemic may be exacerbating the wealth gap, and how tools like baby bonds can help reduce racial inequities.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Protecting Student Borrowers amid the Pandemic
August 5, 2020
Join Kimberlyn Leary, senior vice president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Fenaba R. Addo, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, James Kvaal, president of The Institute for College Access and Success, and Sandy Baum, nonresident senior fellow at the Urban Institute, will join Leary to discuss how pandemic relief efforts should support vulnerable student borrowers.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Providing Direct Cash Assistance to DC Residents
July 23, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, George A. Jones, CEO of Bread for the City, Tonia Wellons, president and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation, and Mary Bogle, principal research associate at the Urban Institute, will join Wartell to discuss how the THRIVE East of the River program’s direct cash and food assistance are helping DC residents weather the pandemic.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Treating Essential Workers As Truly Essential
June 26, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Ai-jen Poo, cofounder and executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Elisabeth Jacobs, interim executive director of WorkRise, a new research-to-action network for jobs, workers, and mobility hosted by the Urban Institute, will join Wartell to discuss how to translate “essential” work in policy and practice to ensure all workers are treated with dignity and respect.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Policies to Build Food Security
May 29, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the next installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Elaine Waxman, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, and Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, chief executive officer of Feeding America, will join Wartell to discuss food insecurity during the pandemic and what policymakers and practitioners can do to ensure everyone has access to sufficient food—both now and as we begin recovering from the crisis.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: The Role of Health Philanthropy
May 15, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the fifth installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Faith Mitchell, Institute fellow at the Urban Institute, and Julie Morita, executive vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will join Wartell to discuss how health philanthropy can help communities recover from the pandemic.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Subsidizing Jobs for Economic Recovery
May 7, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the fourth installment in Urban’s conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D- WI) will discuss her efforts to create a subsidized employment program. Following that, Demetra Nightingale, Institute fellow at the Urban Institute, and Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co–executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, will join Wartell to explore why subsidized jobs could be integral to our economic recovery.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Equitable Lending to Boost Small Business Recovery
April 28, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the third installment in Urban’s new conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Brett Theodos, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, Noel Poyo, executive director at the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, and Jason Tepperman, managing director at Promontory Local Credit, will join Wartell to discuss how robust and equitable small business lending can help us recover from the economic consequences of the pandemic.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Automatically Tying Federal Relief to Economic Conditions
April 22, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the second installment in Urban’s new conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Tracy Gordon, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, and Sharon Parrott, senior vice president for federal policy and program development at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, will join Wartell to discuss why key components of federal relief should be tied to labor market conditions and how to ensure future aid neither ends prematurely nor lasts too long.

Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Making Direct Cash Payments Work
April 14, 2020
Join Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, for the first installment in Urban’s new conversation series, Evidence to Action. During this virtual event, Jack Smalligan, senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute, and David Kamin, professor of law at New York University School of Law, will join Wartell to discuss a key question facing federal policymakers: How can we get economic resources to those who need them most in time to respond to their urgent needs?