Heflin codirects project funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Colleen Heflin, professor of public
administration and international affairs and senior research associate in the
Center for Policy Research, has been awarded a $74,986 grant from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will fund research into the effects of
parental employment on access to and maintenance of child care and child-care
subsidies.
This project will be codirected by Heflin and
Taryn Morrissey, associate professor of public administration and policy at
American University. They plan to examine the interplay between parental
employment, receipt of child-care subsidies, and early care and education (ECE)
among low-income workers. The goal is to better understand barriers to
accessing and maintaining ECE, and to reveal points where child-care subsidy
programs can increase stable access to ECE, thereby reducing disparities in socioeconomic
achievement and health.
An expert in social policy, food and nutrition
policy, and social demography, Heflin is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed
articles, including papers in the American
Sociological Review, the American
Review of Public Administration, Social
Problems, and Social Science and
Medicine. Her research has been funded by organizations ranging from the
U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to the National
Center for Poverty Research. Beyond the academy, Heflin has also worked as a
consultant with both Feeding America, a nonprofit seeking to increase access to
food banks and pantries for people in need, and the Missouri Department of
Health and Senior Services.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
has worked for more than 45 years to improve health and health care. The
foundation works alongside others to build a national “culture of health” that
provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and
well-being. For more information, visit the foundation’s website, or follow the foundation
on Twitter or on Facebook.
02/03/20