Rebecca Jack (University of Nebraska, Lincoln) will use data from the competitive 21st Community Learning Center Grants – federal funding targeted at providing afterschool care – to estimate how expanded afterschool care affects mothers’ employment and earnings. Co-funded with the Russell Sage Foundation. Additional support provided by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Francisca Alba (Michigan State University) will explore why many EITC recipients in Michigan rely on costly, low-quality tax filing methods over a free, state-provided tax preparation program and test whether providing information about the program can shift their behavior. Co-funded with the Russell Sage Foundation. Additional support provided by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Aida Pacheco-Applegate (University of Chicago) will study the effects of preschool expansion and wage grants on early care and education providers in Chicago to demonstrate how public investments affect provider stability, service distribution, and equitable access. Co-funded with the Russell Sage Foundation. Additional support provided by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Darien Kearney (Howard University) will use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (2005–2015) and structural modeling to examine how perceived racial discrimination affects labor market outcomes among Black Americans. Co-funded with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and the Russell Sage Foundation. Additional support provided by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Due to a lack of longitudinal, nationwide labor market data, evaluations of the impacts of energy communities remain unexplored. The authors propose a quasi-experimental approach using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau to evaluate labor market outcomes in energy communities as defined by the Inflation Reduction Act. The authors will use the definition of an energy community to define an area “treated” by the law and then estimate labor market outcomes in these treated areas versus untreated areas. Based on this treatment definition, they will use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate the impact of the IRA tax credits to explore the heterogeneous impacts across worker demographic characteristics, geographic factors, and structural factors, such as local economies and energy mixes.

This project will use newly linked administrative microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the first comprehensive descriptive portrait of “energy communities,” evaluating whether the Inflation Reduction Act’s geographic targeting aligns with its stated equity goals. The authors will then examine historical patterns of firm entry and exit in these regions and track employment and earnings outcomes for affected workers. The analysis asks whether displaced fossil fuel workers or other local residents benefit when new firms enter—or whether these opportunities disproportionately go to in-migrants. These findings are poised to offer critical insights into the distributional impacts of place-based policy and establish an empirical foundation for evaluating the equity and effectiveness of clean energy investments.