Join the UNC School of Social Work for the fourth annual Legacy Speakers Series at the School’s Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building Auditorium on Monday, April 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can register for the event here.

This year’s event, “Confronting Poverty: Research, Reality, and Reform” focuses on addressing poverty in the United States and will feature national experts and a pair of community organizations that work across North Carolina.  

Headlining the event are Princeton University’s Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology Matthew Desmond and University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare Associate Professor Tina Sacks. 

Desmond is the recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award and the William Julius Wilson Early Career Award. He is the author of a pair of critically acclaimed books, including “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” which was a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 2016.  

An expert in poverty in the United States, Desmond focuses on multiple issues including housing insecurity, racial inequality and urban life. His virtual talk will center on his 2023 nonfiction book, “Poverty, by America,” which traces the history of poverty in the United States, catalogues the exploitation of the poor by the affluent, and builds a case for abolishing poverty. 

Sacks is the author of various research publications and wrote the 2019 book “Invisible Visits: Black Middle-Class Women in the American Healthcare System.” She is the recipient of a manuscript mini-conference grant from The Institute of International Studies. Her research interests include social determinants of health, racial inequities in health, and inequality and poverty.  

Sacks plans to direct her in-person talk on her work in the Chicago and San Francisco communities, as well as the way that Black families share resources — including information and money — and the inherent pressure felt in supporting financially insecure family members.  

A Q&A session will follow the presentations by Desmond and Sacks, giving students and other attendees the opportunity to hear directly from the experts. Later in the day, community organizations will share their work in combating poverty and helping those experiencing financial instability.