Dan A. Lewis

Professor of Human Development and Social Policy
Faculty Fellow, Institute for Policy Research
Northwestern University
Ph.D., University of California at Santa Cruz, 1980
dlewis@northwestern.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Additional biographical information

Downloadable Research Papers

Dan A. Lewis’ research agenda provides an approach to studying social policy that meets the challenge of a profound transformation in social policy over the last 40 years. Gone are the days of new federal programs to solve national problems. The New Deal and the Great Society are seen by many as the source of our problems rather than solutions. Lewis’ work responds to these changes in the political climate.

In addition to numerous articles, Lewis has written or edited seven books in these areas, including Gaining Ground in Illinois: Welfare Reform and Person-Centered Policy Analysis(2010). At the Institute for Policy Research, he has directed major program projects on community reactions to crime, deinstitutionalization of state mental health patients and Chicago school decentralization. More recently, he conducted evaluations of the homelessness problem in the Chicago suburbs. Lewis also directs the Center for Civic Engagement, which encourages students to enhance their academic experiences through voluntary service and research to help build communities.

Lewis serves on many nonprofit boards and civic committees. At Northwestern, he served as director of undergraduate education at the School of Education and Social Policy.

Current Projects

Gaining Ground in Illinois: Welfare Reform and Person-Centered Policy Analysis
From 1999 to 2004, Lewis led a major effort to conduct in-depth qualitative interviews and quantitative analyses of a random sample of people on welfare—mostly young single mothers—and track them over time. The book summarizes the major findings of the Illinois Families Study (IFS), a nonpartisan assessment of welfare reform in Illinois. In discussing the results of the study, Lewis offers a big-picture perspective, comparing two competing views of welfare reform—conservative versus liberal—and using IFS data to debunk major tenets of both.

Lewis’ findings reveal that replacing the old welfare system, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) led to increased income for those who transitioned off of welfare, and very few families were worse off than four years earlier, despite liberals’ fears to the contrary. On the other hand, conservatives’ belief that getting people off the welfare rolls would lead to a host of social goods, such as families moving to better neighborhoods, improvement of children’s educational outcomes, and improvement in the families’ mental health, did not, for the most part, materialize. Ultimately, Lewis argues for a “person-centered” strategy that focuses on individual personalities and abilities to create good policy research and good public policy.

Seed Grant for the Privatization of Public Housing
As head of the Illinois Families Study—a state-mandated research consortium looking at welfare reform—Lewis has tracked the precipitous decrease in financial aid to poor mothers in the state. In this new project that has received IPR seed funding, Lewis turns his attention to the dismantling of public housing in Chicago and its impact on residents. The Chicago Housing Authority launched its “Plan for Transformation” in 2000 and began demolishing densely populated, high-rise buildings. In their place came mixed-income developments, scattered-site public housing, and Housing Choice Vouchers (formerly known as “Section 8”). Lewis plans to interview and track the movements of residents in one of the last remaining large-scale public housing developments on Chicago’s North Side.

Center for Civic Engagement
Established in fall 2009 by Lewis, the Center for Civic Engagement promotes a lifelong commitment to active citizenship and social responsibility among all students. By integrating academics, meaningful volunteer service, research, and community partnerships, the center supports students, faculty, staff, and alumni as they enhance their academic experiences while contributing to stronger communities and a more engaged university. In addition to fostering community partnerships, the center also conducts and publishes research on civic engagement and service-learning and program evaluations, disseminating information on best practices for other academically oriented centers of civic education. Lewis is currently its director.  

Selected Publications

Chapters and Articles

Lewis, D., with V. Sinha. 2007. Moving up and moving out? Economic and residential mobility of low-income Chicago families. Urban Affairs Review 43(2): 139-170.

Lewis, D. A., with B. J. Lee and L. Altenbernd. 2006. Depression and welfare reform: From barriers to inclusion.  Journal of Community Psychology 34(4): 415-33.

Lewis, D. A. 2005. New Deal to no deal: The movement toward less government is shifting social responsibility to the states. Illinois Issues.  

Lewis, D. A., with B. Nelson. 2004. Suburban homelessness. In Encyclopedia of Homeless, Sage Publications/Berkshire, ed. D. Levinson. Great Barrington, Mass.: Reference Works.

Lewis, D. A., with K. S. Slack and B. J. Lee. 2004. Are welfare sanctions working as intended? Social Science Review. 78(3): 370-403.

Lewis, D. A., with I. Carvalho. 2003. Beyond community: Reactions to crime among inner-city residents. Criminology 41(3): 779-812.

Lewis, D. A. 1981. Reactions to crime. Sage Criminal Justice System Annuals 16. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Books
Gaining Ground in Illinois: Welfare Reform and Person-Centered Policy Analysis. Northern Illinois University Press (2010).

Lewis, Dan A., with K. Nakagawa. 1995. Race and Educational Reform in the American Metropolis: A Study of School Decentralization. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Lewis, Dan A., with Arthur J. Lurigio, et al. 1994. The State Mental Patient and Urban Life: Moving In and Out of the Institution. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Lewis, Dan A, et al. 1991. The Worlds of the Mentally Ill. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Lewis, Dan A., with J. Grant and D. Rosenbaum. 1988. The Social Construction of Reform: Crime Prevention and Community Organizations. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Lewis, Dan A., with Greta Salem. 1986. Fear of Crime: Incivility and the Production of a Social Problem. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.