For more than 50 years, the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) has worked tirelessly to produce data and evidence-based research to inform policies and programs that combat poverty, inequality, racial disparities, and their effects in the United States. We bring together social scientists from across a broad range of research disciplines — such as economics, sociology, social work, public health, and demography — to promote a holistic understanding of poverty and economic-mobility issues.
We’ve successfully produced rigorous and diverse interdisciplinary poverty and economic-mobility research. But our work hasn’t stopped there. We link and translate that research to policy and practice in the world. Our work explores an array of influences on poverty such as institutional racism, health, food and nutrition, housing, employment, child welfare, education, public policy, and the justice system.
As the National Research Center on Poverty and Economic Mobility, IRP collaborates with poverty centers housed at 10 other universities. IRP also works closely with the federal Department of Health and Human Services to offer the data and research needed to inform the department’s policy priorities and programs. Here in Wisconsin, IRP provides state legislators, agencies, and service providers with data on which to base their work for the benefit of our fellow Wisconsinites.