LEO's Heather Reynolds to testify on Capitol Hill, share anti-poverty research
Heather Reynolds, the Michael L. Smith Managing Director of the University of Notre Dame's Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO), will testify before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare on Wednesday, March 29. The hearing, “Welfare is Broken: Restoring Work Requirements to Lift Americans Out of Poverty,” begins at 2 p.m. and will be livestreamed via webcast here.
This hearing, which will be hosted by House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith and Work and Welfare Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Darin LaHood, will focus on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including the program’s structure and effectiveness in lifting families out of poverty.

Reynolds was invited as an expert on poverty to speak from her experience in both the service provider and research spaces. LEO works with service providers across the country to build rigorous evidence for programs designed to move people permanently out of poverty. Prior to joining LEO, for 14 years, Reynolds was CEO of Catholic Charities Fort Worth, where she saw firsthand the disconnect that often exists between policy and on-the-ground work.
During her testimony, Reynolds will discuss the need for research-informed policy decisions by citing several LEO studies that demonstrate that the most effective way to help Americans with low incomes out of poverty is through pairing flexible financial assistance and case management. One example is Padua — a holistic case management program designed by Catholic Charities Fort Worth to address the unique assortment of barriers faced by families in poverty. LEO recently completed a randomized, controlled trial on Padua that showed its clients were 25% more likely to be employed. And unemployed individuals who were offered Padua services earned 46% more, were 60% more likely to be stably housed 24 months later, and experienced a sharp decline in credit card debt that persists over time.
Reynolds will give examples of other programs with similar success, including the Bridges to Success program of Rochester, New York. It provides its residents with low incomes with economic mobility mentors who can help them coordinate community support services and move out of poverty one critical life issue at a time. Results from that study showed that participants, when compared to a control group, were more likely to be employed, with that trend continuing over time.
Reynolds’ testimony will emphasize how critical it is for policymakers to use evidence when making decisions about not only TANF, but anti-poverty programs across the board.
“At LEO, we have more than 90 research projects building evidence to help us understand what works,” Reynolds said. “We take the most creative leaders in this space and design research studies, studying the impact of their services. It is hard enough to run a social service agency and then add on top of that a research study. These organizations do it because they believe if they can understand their impact, it can be used to scale and replicate their work. Many of our provider partners serve TANF recipients who work and poor families who work but do not qualify for TANF. To get people to move out of poverty (whether that includes TANF or not), we need evidence-based programs that work.”
Contact: Tracy DeStazio, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu
Originally published by news.nd.edu on March 28, 2023.
atLatest Research
- Studying Survivor : How two Notre Dame courses apply reality TV to philosophy, psychology, and mathStudents…
- Junior Alex Young named 2025 Truman ScholarUniversity of Notre Dame junior Alex Young has been named a 2025 Truman Scholar. He is the University’s 13th Truman Scholar since 2010, a group that includes three Rhodes Scholars: Alex Coccia (’14), Christa Grace Watkins (’17) and Prathm Juneja (’20).
- Notre Dame listed as World Leader in Nuclear AstrophysicsNuclear astrophysics…
- “Contagious capitalism”: Keough School Dean Mary Gallagher shares research insights on law, labor and justice in ChinaMary Gallagher, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs, delivered the fifth annual Justice and Asia Distinguished Lecture at the school’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asia Studies on April 8, drawing on her research expertise to share insights on law, labor and justice in China.
- Thirteenth Annual Harper Cancer Research DayRohit Bhargava The 13th annual…
- Two Notre Dame historians win Guggenheim fellowshipsTwo faculty members in the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts & Letters have been awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation as part of its 100th class of honorees.