CRJ | Center for Racial Justice

Publication

Immigration enforcement fears are reshaping daily life for Michigan immigrants, U-M study finds

May 19, 2026

A new report documents widespread immigration enforcement fears among immigrant Michiganders in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Ypsilanti. The report from the University of Michigan's Center for Racial Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public ...

Immigration enforcement fears are reshaping daily life for Michigan immigrants, U-M study finds

News

Ostfeld conducting research on political status in Guam

Sep 10, 2025

Since the end of World War II, the United States has rhetorically championed the principle of “self-determination.” Yet today, more than four million Americans live in U.S. territories whose homelands are excluded from most maps and remain invisible ...

Ostfeld conducting research on political status in Guam

News

U-M report exposes the hidden labor of families supporting formerly incarcerated women

Jun 19, 2025

A new report from the University of Michigan’s Center for Racial Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy sheds light on the essential and largely overlooked role family members play in supporting women after incarceration. Drawing on or...

U-M report exposes the hidden labor of families supporting formerly incarcerated women

News

Rico comments on Trump policies' impact on immigrant communities

Feb 23, 2025

Center for Racial Justice Postdoctoral Fellow Kristina Fullerton Rico explores what she calls the dangerous implications of President Trump's deportation policy in an essay in The Conversation. Citing extensive social science research on U.S. immigr...

Rico comments on Trump policies' impact on immigrant communities

In the Media

Ostfeld highlights attitudes in cities with high-immigrant populations

Oct 14, 2024 Michigan Public

Speaking with Michigan Public, the Ford School's Mara Ostfeld discusses results from her recent research on public opinion in Michigan on immigration policy. Ostfeld stated, “U.S.-born residents living in cities with a higher proportion of foreign-bo...

Ostfeld highlights attitudes in cities with high-immigrant populations

News

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

Mar 12, 2024

The Ford School of Public Policy is happy to announce the Dean’s Symposium, which will take place April 11 and 12 at Weill Hall, with the theme, “Policy Innovation for Our Times.” The two days will feature keynote appearances by voting rights advocat...

Stacey Abrams, other policymakers and leading scholars to join Ford School symposium

State & Hill

The Rules of Attention: A poem by Airea D. Matthews (MPA ’07)

Dec 10, 2023

Philadelphia Poet Laureate and educator Airea D. Matthews (MPA ’07) returned to the Ford School this fall to discuss her memoir-in-verse with writing instructor Molly Spencer at an event hosted by the Center for Racial Justice. The following day, she...

The Rules of Attention: A poem by Airea D. Matthews (MPA ’07)

State & Hill

Spotlights, fall 2023

Dec 10, 2023

What’s on the barbie? Economists Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson were on the guest list as the White House hosted a State Dinner for Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in October. Skills match More than fifty...

News

Majority of Flint residents support reparations for Black Americans, CRJ survey shows

Nov 7, 2023

More than half of Flint residents favor reparations for Black Americans, although levels of support vary depending on whether the proposal refers to reparations as a broad concept or specific reparative policies like cash payments or financial suppor...

Majority of Flint residents support reparations for Black Americans, CRJ survey shows

Publication

Dean Watkins-Hayes salutes her mentor, editing the Speechifying compendium

Aug 30, 2023

Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes is honoring one of her great mentors, Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole — noted Black feminist anthropologist, the first Black female president of Spelman College, former director of the Smithsonian Institution's Natio...

Dean Watkins-Hayes salutes her mentor, editing the Speechifying compendium

News

The Ford School, LSA, and Wallace House Partner for Public Discourse

Aug 25, 2023

On a Monday evening in late November, throngs of University of Michigan students, faculty, staff, and Ann Arbor residents waited expectantly outside the Michigan Theater to attend the premier showing of the film, “She Said.” The movie chronicles th...

The Ford School, LSA, and Wallace House Partner for Public Discourse

News

PPIA students reflect on their summer of study and social life

Aug 2, 2023

What are the dynamics of inequity in labor markets? How do we determine appropriate categories for people in a multicultural society? How is the U.S. approach to ethnicity and nationality different from what they are doing in Europe? These were s...

PPIA students reflect on their summer of study and social life

News

CLOSUP and Poverty Solutions to examine Michigan’s approach to criminal justice reform

Jul 20, 2023

In the wake of racial justice movements across the country, the State of Michigan and some of its communities have been implementing new public safety and criminal justice policies. The perspective of Michigan's local government, public safety, and p...

CLOSUP and Poverty Solutions to examine Michigan’s approach to criminal justice reform

News

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

Jun 29, 2023

During the Winter Term 2023, Ford School students were involved in projects with federal, state, county, city, and township governments, school districts, non-profit organizations, and commissions. They worked with the school’s numerous research cent...

Engaged Learning Student Projects Catalog: Preparing Ford School students for leadership

News

Ford School welcomes PPIA 2023 cohort

Jun 19, 2023

The 2023 Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI) has welcomed 23 students from 11 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This year’s cohort will spend seven weeks taking classes, participating in polic...

News

Detroiters' views on reparations connected to perception of racial wealth gap, other inequality

Mar 29, 2023

Detroiters' perceptions of the racial wealth gap, the legacy of slavery and other forms of racial inequity are strongly connected to their support for reparations and policies that address racial inequity. Overall, 63% of Detroit residents support...

Detroiters' views on reparations connected to perception of racial wealth gap, other inequality

News

Ford School welcomes local and state elected officials to boost collaborative work

Feb 16, 2023

Elected officials from local, county, and state government came to the Ford School to hear about the potential for collaborations with their offices and the School’s faculty, research centers, and students. Fifteen members of the Michigan State Se...

Ford School welcomes local and state elected officials to boost collaborative work

News

Research centers give U-M students hands-on, practical policy experiences

Jan 27, 2023

With the guidance and support of the Ford School’s research centers, graduate and undergraduate students are creating a real-life impact in a range of areas by working with external partners. The Ford School is deeply integrated with a wide range of ...

Research centers give U-M students hands-on, practical policy experiences

News

Lewis to moderate U-M Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture

Dec 20, 2022

The theme of the 37th University of Michigan Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture is “The (R)evolution of MLK: from Segregation to Elevation,” which will explore King’s activism after 1964, highlighting the evolution of King’s primary fo...

Lewis to moderate U-M Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Lecture

State & Hill

Diversity, equity, and inclusion highlights

Dec 19, 2022

The University of Michigan is currently in an interim period between its strategic plans for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with the next plan set to launch in early fall 2023. The Ford School community did not pause, however, and is hard at...

Diversity, equity, and inclusion highlights

News

Making the case for public policy education

Dec 14, 2022

In an event on December 5, 2022, Ford School interim dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes told a group of Capitol Hill staffers and other DC professionals that a public policy education can lead to community impact. “I'm a firm believer in the idea that our...

Making the case for public policy education

News

Detroiters say quality K-12 schools is top policy priority for November elections

Nov 3, 2022

Detroit residents say the quality of K-12 schools is their top priority for the November elections, followed closely by inflation, affordable housing, affordable health care, and crime. That's according to a new representative survey of Detroiters ...

Detroiters say quality K-12 schools is top policy priority for November elections

News

Candidate support for reparations would mobilize Detroit voters

Nov 2, 2022

While most Detroiters intend to vote in the November midterm election, those who are uncertain about voting or unlikely to vote could be motivated to cast a ballot by a candidate's support for reparations, according to a new survey from the Universit...

Candidate support for reparations would mobilize Detroit voters

News

Ford School events for fall 2022 explore racial justice, international affairs, the state of democracy and more

Aug 30, 2022

The Ford School is pleased to announce an exciting lineup for the fall 2022 Policy Talks @ the Ford School series and other special public events hosted with partners from across campus. We are hosting distinguished policymakers, scholars, activists,...

Ford School events for fall 2022 explore racial justice, international affairs, the state of democracy and more

News

Center for Racial Justice calls for inaugural visiting fellows applications

Jun 9, 2022

The Center for Racial Justice has opened applications for the inaugural cohort of the Visiting Fellows Program for the 2022-23 academic year. The program is a nine-month, non-residential fellowship that offers social justice leaders, activists, ar...

Center for Racial Justice calls for inaugural visiting fellows applications

News

U-M virtual series to explore racialized health, economic disparities stemming from COVID-19

Mar 29, 2022

The University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy is kicking off a virtual event series this week with a discussion about the local impact of safety nets on communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists at Friday's event, pa...

U-M virtual series to explore racialized health, economic disparities stemming from COVID-19

News

Goldman Sachs Foundation invests in Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice

Mar 7, 2022

As part of its One Million Black Women (OMBW) initiative, Goldman Sachs becomes the inaugural funder of the Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice Visiting Fellows Program. The investment will fund one visiting fellow for the 2022-2023 academic y...

Goldman Sachs Foundation invests in Ford School’s Center for Racial Justice

News

Application deadline nears for inaugural racial justice reading circles

Feb 7, 2022

In an effort to expand the ways in which the university community approaches discussion of racial equity, the Center for Racial Justice has established two reading circles for the winter 2022 term. The reading circles are open to graduate students, f...

Application deadline nears for inaugural racial justice reading circles

University of Michigan Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium

Deportation Nation

Jan 20, 2026, 4:30-6:00 pm EST

Rackham Amphitheatre

Wallace House Presents An MLK Symposium Event with Caitlin Dickerson of The Atlantic

The Arc of Activism: Bridging Intergenerational Legacies

Feb 19, 2025, 7:00-8:30 pm EST

Rackham Auditorium

Join us for The Arc of Activism: Bridging Intergenerational Legacies, a powerful conversation featuring Angela Davis and Ta-Nehisi Coates.