During the past several decades, poverty in the U.S. has become more urban and more spatially concentrated, particularly among racial and ethnic minorities. In this proposal, we outline strategy designed to assess the effects of residential location in high-poverty neighborhoods on child outcomes, and to illuminate the basic mechanisms through which these effects occur. To execute this strategy, we propose to utilize the research platform provided by the Moving To Opportunity (MTO) demonstration program, developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). MTO has used a random lottery among housing-project residents in five of the nation's largest cities to offer rent subsidies that can be used to move to lower poverty neighborhoods. Data collected from children and their parents will be used to examine the effects of neighborhoods on child outcomes, and on the role of family and neighborhood mediators that may lead to these outcomes. The randomization of the subsidy offers will be used to identify the casual effect of residential location on child and family outcomes using a more scientifically credible research design than has been used in previous research. In focusing on the mechanisms through which neighborhoods affect children's well-being and family functioning, this research is designed complement HUD's concurrent policy evaluation centered on MTO household heads. This proposal provides a plan to expand MTO research to include an in-home interview with up to two children ages 5 to 11 per household ( and a parent), for an approximate sample size of 3500 children. Data will be collected on children's educational achievement; children's health, use of services, and access to medical care; children's behavior problems and delinquency, social networks, and exposure to violence; home environment, family routines, primary caregiver characteristics, and child care arrangements; and the economic and demographic situation of the family. This expanded research will enable a much deeper exploration of the relationship between children and their neighborhoods, and the analysis will provide critical evidence on basic environmental factors that influence key outcomes such as human capital accumulation, health and behavior.
