Ronald Mincy

Ronald B. Mincy is the Maurice V. Russell professor of social policy and social work practice at the Columbia University School of Social Work and a co-principal investigator of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and Paternal Health Project, a NICHD-funded project addressing depression among African American fathers.

He has published widely on the effects of income security policy on poverty, family formation, child well-being, responsible fatherhood, and the urban underclass.

His most recent book, Failing Our Fathers, published by Oxford University Press, examines the growth and diversification of vulnerable nonresident fathers and the policy reforms needed to facilitate greater financial support and father engagement.

He is the winner of the Society for Social Work Research 2021 Social Policy Research Award. He came to Columbia University from the Ford Foundation, where he served as a senior program officer and developed the Strengthening Fragile Families Initiative.

SFFI grantees have since leveraged federal funds for a 22-year birth cohort study and a 10-site demonstration project, which continue to inform research, policy, and practice about the role of fathers in the lives of children today. Mincy’s undergraduate and graduate training in economics were at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.