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Acknowledgments T his book had its genesis as part of a proposal to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that the University of Michigan put together for a new National Poverty Center (NPC). As junior faculty at Michigan , we had socialized with each other’s families and chatted at various campus events. But we had never worked together until Rebecca Blank and Sheldon Danziger brought us into the NPC. We are grateful to them for the opportunity to put this project together under the NPC’s auspices, and for the funding and advice that they provided along the way. Sheldon actually first introduced us to each other, and he has continued to be an exceptional mentor and perennial friend to us both. Support from the NPC allowed us to invite potential authors and discussants to a planning conference, and later to a two-day event at which we previewed the book chapters. For extremely helpful comments and encouragement we are indebted to Richard Alba and Scott Page, who were our interlocutors at the first conference, and Charles Hirschman, Vincent Hutchings, Jeffrey Morenoff, Steven Morgan, Ted Mouw, Alice O’Connor, and Alford Young, who discussed chapter drafts at the second. We could not have organized either conference without the input and assistance of Kristin Seefeldt, Laura Lee, and Sarah Marsh at the NPC. For expert logistical help we also thank Susan Carpenter and Patricia Rayl. The Russell Sage Foundation has sponsored some of the best social science on American poverty and race, and it is an honor to receive its support. Eric Wanner awarded us a Presidential Grant to complete the volume. Aixa Cintron has been its champion from the beginning. We benefited greatly from their suggestions on the right topics to include. Suzanne Nichols, with infinite patience and a little prodding, hauled us back on track whenever we attempted to run off the rails. We are also grateful for the comments of the two anonymous reviewers, who helped the authors and us to improve the book. When we first took on this project, neither of us realized that most of our work would travel through phone and Internet. The miracles of modern technology made the transition to long-distance collaboration easy enough, though we might have traded less sports commentary and academic gossip had we remained on the same campus. One person, however, has every reason to point out the downside of this mode of collaboration: Anne, who patiently put up with phone calls that cut into evenings, weekends, holidays, and at least three Harris summer va- cations, and who made one especially important part of the book possible. We owe you a lot more than this thank you. Somewhere in the fifth, or fifteenth, draft of the introduction, one of us said to the other: “This is the book I went to graduate school to study.” We are fortunate to have been instructed by such wonderful authors: Chris, Darren, David, Devah, George, Heather, Joe, Lincoln, Mario, Michael, Michèle, Rozlyn, Sandy, Scott, and Selina. For both of us this project is a tangible sign of the passion for a more just society that brought us to academia, and a shout-out to those we grew up with who did not have or could not have taken advantage of the opportunities we had. To them, to Jamal, and for all like them, we dedicate this book. ...

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