Crimes relevant to home insurers, such as burglary, vandalism, theft, and arson represent a significant driver of homeowners' insurance claims and loss ratios. This study evaluates whether law enforcement adoption of Ring's Neighbors verified accounts, a digital platform that facilitates community reporting and video sharing, reduces the frequency of these crimes. Statistically significant reductions in crimes relevant to home insurers were found following verified account activation. The estimated effects translate into meaningful reductions in expected claims costs and potential improvements in underwriting performance. Beyond the immediate loss frequency reductions, the findings suggest broader implications for insurers: enhanced predictive accuracy in pricing models, reduced volatility in loss experience, and opportunities for product innovation. These results provide early evidence that digital public safety interventions may serve as scalable, low-cost complements to traditional insurance risk mitigation strategies.

Over a million people are incarcerated in U.S. prisons and prisons employ about 180,000 corrections officers. Despite their reach, prisons remain among the least understood public institutions, and of the research that does exist, few studies have recognized the people with direct experience as critical to this work. In 2019, the Urban Institute launched the Prison Research and Innovation Initiative (PRII) aiming to improve prison conditions through participatory research. Working with a consortium of five states (Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Missouri, and Vermont) researchers used annual climate surveys, participatory innovation† development, and rigorous evaluations to engage incarcerated people, corrections staff, and leadership in improving prison environments. This report documents the challenges and opportunities in improving prison living and working conditions through participatory research Despite persistent challenges, including COVID-19 disruptions and chronic staffing shortages, the PRII fostered empowerment and collaboration among its many stakeholders and can serve as proof of concept for future participatory research efforts in prisons. Certain innovations not only delivered concrete changes to facility conditions, such as a staff decompression space, reworked grievance policies, enhanced mental health support, and a commercial driver's license course, but also enabled cultural shifts that improved communication among prison stakeholders and reduced some of the us-versus-them mentality common in corrections, according to interviewees. Climate surveys and participatory innovation sessions helped build trust and highlight insights from incarcerated people and staff. Prisons are, and will continue to be, challenging environments for implementing innovations and facilitating cultural shifts. Resistance from corrections leadership, resource constraints, and entrenched hierarchies limited the scale and speed of reforms.

Using detailed administrative data from Texas on students who were expected to complete high school in 2015-16 and 2016-17), this report examines how students combine dual enrollment (DE), Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB), and career-and-technical-education (CTE)-focused coursetaking in high school and how different combinations of such coursetaking relate to students’ postsecondary attainment and earnings trajectories at one, three, and six years from expected high school completion. The authors find that students who take accelerated coursework have much stronger postsecondary and earnings outcomes in their early 20s than those who do not take any accelerated coursework. Students who combine dual enrollment and AP/IB are less diverse in terms of income and race/ethnicity, but by age 24, they have the strongest outcomes. They also find that though relatively few students combine a CTE focus (taking 10 or more high school CTE courses) with dual enrollment, those who do exhibit strong gains in their postsecondary and earnings trajectories. By taking into account how students combine multiple types of accelerated offerings, this study provides new insights into how various accelerated coursetaking patterns may contribute to students’ educational and workforce outcomes. Findings from this analysis can help college, K-12, and state system leaders rethink how they design and support opportunities for students to take accelerated courses, with the goal of motivating and preparing them to pursue career-connected postsecondary education and training after high school.

For years, it was common to hear that only 3% of young people in foster care graduate from college. That statistic — drawn from small, decades-old studies — shaped how the public, policymakers, and even students themselves thought about foster care education outcomes. A systematic review of the best available studies between 2000 and 2023 shows that while challenges remain, young people with foster care experience are achieving far more than outdated statistics suggest. Key findings include that many more young people with foster care experience are completing high school and pursuing college. For example, 69%–85% of foster youth complete a high school diploma or GED com¬pared to 95% of young people overall. In addition, 29%–64% of foster youth enroll in college or other post-secondary programs, and 8%–12% of these youth earn a two- or four-year degree by their mid- to late 20s. By contrast, about 49% of young adults in the general population complete a degree, a five-fold difference. Foster youth college success still lags far behind that of their peers, largely due to barriers such as unstable housing, loss of financial supports at age 21, and limited access to mentoring or guidance.

School districts increasingly gauge school quality with surveys that ask about school climate and student engagement. This paper uses data from New York City’s middle and high schools to compare the long-run predictive validity of surveys with that of conventional test score value-added models. This paper analyzes the leverage of the New York school match, which includes an element of random assignment, to validate a wide range of school quality estimates. This paper contrasts the predictiveness of survey-and test-based measures for school effects on consequential outcomes related to high school graduation and college enrollment. Researchers found that survey data generate better predictions of school impacts on high school graduation than test scores. But school effects on advanced high school diplomas and college attainment are better predicted by test score value-added models than surveys. Researchers quantify the practical value of test-based and survey-based school quality measures by simulating the effects of access to one or both types of information for parents. Parents interested in boosting their children’s college attainment benefit more from test score value-added than from survey data.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has driven a surge in computational demand, creating unprecedented pressures on U.S. data centers and the electric power grid. The authors of this report identified the key constraints limiting the grid's ability to expand capacity and support future AI growth. They also reviewed research on barriers to increasing electricity supply, assessed which could be addressed by 2030, and suggested courses of action to tackle those barriers. Permitting delays can be caused by poor coordination between agencies for permitting processes and time needed for permitting processes. Potential risks of addressing these barriers include community opposition, insufficient developer interest, and negative impacts on the environment. Interconnection processes can be lengthy, complex, and costly and result in interconnection rights that are underused because of inconsistent implementation, lack of standardization, and insufficient market incentives. Potential risks of addressing these barriers include diversion of resources from interconnection reform, grid reliability risks, and unequal access to fast-track processes. Transmission can be underutilized for a variety of reasons, including suboptimal transmission line configuration and usage, substantial costs for network upgrades, minimal incentives to adopt grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), and limited operator capabilities to manage and analyze large volumes of data. Potential risks to addressing these barriers include costs of implementing congestion pricing and cyberattacks on a better-connected grid. Many data centers rely not just on diesel generators but also on the limited or inconsistent resources for supplemental generation. Potential risks to addressing these barriers include difficulties in developing a commitment mechanism to use supplemental generators, supply chain disruptions, and the reliability of on-site generation.

State initiatives like FastForward, a Virginia community college program which provides short-term training program for high-demand industries, like healthcare, information technology and skilled trades and infrastructure, show the potential of short-term training programs to offer a path toward higher-paying jobs and economic mobility, especially for adult and working learners. These examples can also help shape implementation of Workforce Pell to build on the work states have been doing and expand access to programs that pay off for learners. Workforce Pell extends federal financial aid to programs that were not previously eligible, allowing more students to receive assistance and likely increasing demand for short-term training programs. The past two decades have seen notable growth in nondegree credentials. In fall 2024, undergraduate enrollment in certificate programs increased by nearly 10%, compared to a 5% increase in undergraduate enrollment overall. Short-term and nondegree credentials can provide a path to upward mobility and higher earnings, especially for working adults without postsecondary credentials. To be eligible for Pell Grants, however, learners have had to enroll in programs that are 16 weeks or longer. Workforce Pell extends Pell Grant eligibility to programs that are eight to 15 weeks (between 150 and 600 clock hours) in length. States will be required to certify that programs prepare students for high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations.

In late January 2025, nonprofits nationwide began receiving notices of federal government funding cancellations and freezes. This report offers an initial assessment of the scope and implications of these disruptions for nonprofits that deliver services or conduct programs and details the shares of nonprofits that experienced these types of disruptions by subsector and size (measured by annual expenses). A third of nonprofits reported experiencing at least one type of government funding disruption (loss of at least some government funding, a delay, pause, or freeze in government funding, and/or a stop work order). On average, nonprofits receive 50% of their revenue from private funding from individual donors and philanthropic institutions, 28% from government funding, 18% from earned income, and 4% from other revenue sources. Although nonprofits reported receiving less than a third of their overall revenue from government, disrupted nonprofits reported that government funding made up 42% of their revenue. Almost twice as many nonprofits that experienced government funding disruptions reported decreasing their total number of employees (29%) compared with 15% of all nonprofits. About a quarter (23%) of nonprofits that reported experiencing any government funding disruption reported decreasing their programs, compared with 12% of all nonprofits. Twenty-one percent of disrupted nonprofits reported decreasing their total number of people served, compared with 12% of all nonprofits. Lastly, 13% reported decreasing their total number of programs, compared with 7% of all nonprofits.

About half of private sector workers, many of whom work for smaller employers, lack access to payroll deductions for retirement savings. State Auto Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), state-run retirement programs, are structured to meet the needs and concerns of smaller businesses and others that don’t offer a retirement benefit. Federal legislation for Auto IRA Plus programs would require all 50 programs to have the same basic structure and meet certain standards, but individual states could tailor their program to meet the specific needs of their economy. If a state chooses not to have its own Auto IRA, it could allow another state to serve its businesses. Employers could choose to either offer a 401(k)-type plan or allow their workers to use the state Auto IRA. This report addresses ways to greatly expand coverage using simple, cost-effective Auto IRA programs in all 50 states. Key findings include that state Auto IRA programs require employers without retirement plans to either open a 401(k)-type plan or give employees access to a state-run program that has no employer fees and minimal administrative responsibilities; creating a network of 50 state programs will greatly increase coverage, and especially meet the needs of smaller employers and their workers; employees benefit from automatic enrollment, payroll deductions, default contribution and investment options, and accounts that move with them to other participating employers; and state programs can be tailored to local economic needs while meeting basic standards and can use open bidding, performance monitoring, incentives, and penalties to ensure compliance.

Food is an essential human need, and even more so for infants and toddlers during the critical early months of rapid growth and development. In 2023, the most recent data available, 33.6 million adults and 13.8 million children — including nearly 2 million children under 3 years old — lived in food-insecure households, meaning more than 1 in 8 households (13.5%) in the U.S. had difficulty acquiring food due to lack of resources. More than 1 in 7 (15.5%) households with infants and toddlers under 3 were food insecure in 2023, compared to 11.9% of households without children and 13.5% of all households. Further, children under 3 in American Indian or Alaska Native (30.3%), Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (26.3%), Black (25.9%), and Hispanic (22.4%) households are more likely to live in food-insecure households than those in Asian (5.5%) or white (10.9%) households. In 2024, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helped about 16 million children from low-income households each month — about 1 in 5 U.S. children — including 2.8 million children under the age of 3, access nutritional food. Food insecurity among children fell by roughly a third after their families received the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for six months. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) also improves lifetime health for low-income pregnant and postpartum parents, their infants, and young children. Among other health and developmental improvements, WIC participation is associated with reduced risk of premature birth, low birthweight, and infant mortality.