Project Summary:
Pass the Mic: A Pilot Study of What People Living in Poverty Say They Need to Thrive
CoLab’s First Research Investment Focuses on the Voices of People with Lived Experience
CoLab at the Constellation Fund awarded its first research grant to Research In Action to conduct the first systematic study of what Minnesotans living in poverty say they need for long-term thriving. This pilot project aims to develop methods that could be expanded statewide and replicated in the future.
Partners
RIA
We funded Research In Action (RIA) to lead the study. RIA will collaborate with youth and families with lived experience of poverty, community organizations, and CoLab staff.
Research in Action has carried out a range of influential research projects to inform the work of state and local government, philanthropy, and nonprofits in Minnesota. Dr. Brittany Lewis, the project lead, founded RIA with the aim of disrupting traditional, top-down approaches to research and community engagement. RIA puts community expertise first at every step—from naming the problem to identifying solutions.
What they will do
The project involves a highly collaborative approach to “market research” with those most affected by poverty to inform better alignment between the supply of research, programs, and resources for fighting poverty with actual demand.
Using their “Equity in Action” research model, RIA will pilot this first-of-its-kind study during an approximately 12-month period. The pilot will focus on youth and families with young children in three Minnesota geographies: Hennepin, Ramsey, and Saint Louis Counties.
The project will involve an evidence review of existing quantitative and qualitative research including direct input from people experiencing poverty, surveys of their needs and priorities (aiming for about 1,000 respondents across the three counties), focus groups providing deeper qualitative insights, and a co-interpretation data walk with people with lived experience to draw implications from the findings.
Grant type:
- Innovation Research
Focus area:
- This program was undertaken to inform where CoLab should prioritize research investments across any poverty/upward mobility area as well as how that research should engage those impacted by poverty.
population:
- Youth and families with young children
Geographic Context:
- Includes at least one program site in Minnesota: Hennepin, Ramsey and Saint Louis Counties in Minnesota
When it will happen
The approximately one-year project launched in November 2023.
Why it matters
Public and private funders commonly make decisions about investments and programming without adequately accounting for what people with lived experience say they need. This can result in a misalignment of supply and demand when it comes to programs and resources. Such misalignment might help explain why poverty rates and disparities have largely stagnated or gotten worse over recent decades even as public and private spending on poverty-related programs has increased.
CoLab aims to distinguish itself as a funder not by deciding what investments should be made on behalf of those most impacted by poverty, but by engaging with those most impacted as partners in setting an investment agenda. To this end, CoLab awarded its first research grant to RIA for Pass the Mic to reveal what those closest to the problem say they need for long-term thriving.
CoLab will use the findings to inform its future research investment priorities related to evaluating solutions to intergenerational poverty and long-term thriving. The findings will also serve as an asset to the Constellation Fund and the broader philanthropic and public service community in Minnesota to inform alignment between supply and demand of programs and resources for people living in poverty.
Findings summary
People experiencing poverty described it as far more than a financial status. Respondents linked poverty to limited access to education, healthcare, and opportunities for mobility, as well as to identity characteristics like parent status, disability status, race, and culture. They described a web of individual factors like family history and mental health interacting with systemic factors like racism, social stigma, and burdensome administrative processes.
Poverty also demands constant work just to survive. Respondents reported that navigating resource systems consumes the time and energy needed to build stability. Many said they know what help exists but have stopped trying to access it. The benefits cliff compounds this: small gains in income can trigger sharp drops in assistance, discouraging people from pursuing better-paying jobs or education.
Respondents associated thriving with security, freedom, and the ability to plan beyond immediate survival. But daily life left little room for long-term thinking. When asked to name concrete investments, they ranked housing, childcare, transportation, healthcare, and direct cash assistance as top priorities. They emphasized that cash assistance should come paired with financial coaching, and that programs should use cohort models and peer support to reduce isolation. Across the board, respondents called for whole-family, multi-generational approaches that build long-term skills rather than address a single need in isolation.
RIA organized recommendations into four categories: scaling up the Pass the Mic study itself, stabilization strategies such as. increased direct services, transformative program models that remove barriers and center mental health, and social and cultural changes that address institutional harms and redefine how programs to about poverty and thriving.
Key takeaways
- People experiencing poverty describe it as a web of financial, systemic, and identity-related factors, not just low income.
- Navigating complex resource systems consumes the time and energy families need to build stability.
- Respondents ranked housing, childcare, transportation, healthcare, and direct cash assistance as top investment priorities.
- Community members called for whole-family, multi-generational programs that pair services with coaching and peer support.
Published research findings
Related Projects
-
Project Summary
CoLab Funds Long-Term Study of Housing Mobility Program’s Impact on Children
The Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) demonstration in Seattle and King County, Wash., enrolled over 700 families offered housing vouchers… -
Project Summary
Evaluating PHLHousing+ Cash-Based Rental Assistance Program
Safe, stable housing is one of the most powerful drivers of children’s health, education, and long-term opportunity. Yet nearly 40%… -
Project Summary
CoLab Funds Research on Housing Choice Vouchers’ Impact on Children’s Pathways to Opportunity
In 2022, half of U.S. renters paid over 30% of their income toward rent, with 83% of families earning under…