Meredith Slopen
mslopen.bsky.social
Meredith Slopen
@mslopen.bsky.social
Studying labor policy, women's employment, economic security, and work as a social determinant of health. Zinemaker. Can sometimes be found playing music. www.meredithslopen.org
Pinned
Public programs lead to social benefits. In a new paper with colleagues from @povertycenter.bsky.social, we find that every $1000 invested in paid parental leave leads to between $7-29k in long term benefits. The US is leaving significant money on the table. 1/
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
The world changed last night. Thank you for being part of Zohran Mamdani's historic mayoral victory - now we make it real. Join JFREJ tomorrow (Thurs) at 7:30pm for a mass call with special guests to hear about what's next for our movement and how YOU can take part. RSVP at jfrej.org/mass-call
November 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Social workers (and friends) attending @appam.bsky.social
in Seattle: we will meet for our annual happy hour on Friday night from 5-7 at Kells' Bar. Be in touch if you need details and share with your students/new colleagues. Looking forward! @arpilarz.bsky.social @calliefreitag.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
Hey NYC. I did a deep dive on the housing ballot measures. Here's my research, in case you're as confused as I was. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Jen’s “I’m Too Busy To Understand This” Ballot Measure Explainer
Dear friends, Not gonna lie, I wish I lived in less interesting times. I’m finding a lot of hope in Mamdani’s candidacy. When the National Guard is sent to NYC, he’s who I want in the Mayor’s office....
docs.google.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:32 PM
My kid (12) rides the NYC subway every day, reports "the only thing I'm scared of is if it is running late". These guys need to toughen up.
October 22, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
We are sick and tired of the appalling, Islamophobic attacks on Zohran for daring to care about the well-being of Palestinians.

It's not antisemitic to call out Israel for indiscriminate bombings, war crimes, and killing thousands upon thousands of civilians.

Enough is enough.
October 22, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Including state as an identifiable variable, and then restricting the data, prevents huge amounts of policy research from happening with very little benefit/trade-off with respect to privacy vs. what we could learn.
Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?
October 20, 2025 at 1:04 AM
The sound you hear is health policy researchers running to their computers to start coding up the diff-in-diff.
15 US states and territories have formed a new Public Health Alliance, which will counter the absence of federal leadership by tracking outbreaks, issuing guidance, buying vaccines and more.

Members of the new alliance include CA, CO, CT, DE, GU, HI, IL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, NC, OR, RI, WA.
October 16, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
A record number of private-sector workers have access to paid sick time in 2025 under state and local laws. But access remains unequal, especially for workers in low-wage jobs and the South. @epi.org: www.epi.org/blog/access-...
Access to paid sick leave continues to grow but remains highly unequal by geography and wage level
In a government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are on leave without pay for the duration of the shutdown (and possibly worse, if the threatened layoffs occur). If history is a…
www.epi.org
October 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
3 states passed paid sick leave laws last November by referenda: voters want this low-cost policy that supports workers to stay home when they're sick. Republican politicians are going against the democratic process by overturning or adding restrictions.
www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Republicans Aren't Just Gutting Health Care. They're Taking Your Sick Leave, Too
Republican-controlled legislatures have rolled back state level sick leave policies, leaving gaps in access amid the party's attacks on health care.
www.rollingstone.com
October 13, 2025 at 1:36 PM
My 12 year old's homework last night consisted of a set of relationships where they had to identities the independent and dependent variables, which is basically what I'm covering in class these days.
October 8, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
Sharing some encouraging news re: CDC PRAMS. The CDC has indicated they will weight and clean the 2024 PRAMS data. Also, the PRAMS data collection system (PIDS) is up and running again and some sites have begun 2025 PRAMS data collection. Hopefully restoration of the ARF portal is coming soon too.
September 5, 2025 at 3:34 PM
I'll be sharing these questions during "research in the news" part of class this week to reinforce what we've been discussing about critical reading. Thanks @wiringthebrain.bsky.social.
When reporting on these kinds of claims, the media should ask:
September 7, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Seen a bad or misleading graph or figure in the media recently? I'd love to see it/share with my research methods class as they develop as consumers of research! Manipulative axes, really small sample sizes, misconstrued percent vs. percentile...show me what you've got! Thanks! #academicchatter
September 1, 2025 at 9:36 PM
I remember somebody having a different name for "office hours" that encouraged students to use them by clarifying their purpose. Do you have good language for this to share?
August 7, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
Health care workers who are committed to providing quality, life-affirming care to all patients, and who want to connect with others and strategize around interrupting criminalization in health care settings, connect with our Beyond Do No Harm network.

Check out the guide below to get started.
August 6, 2025 at 9:45 PM
It's been cool to watch @rcmacleod.bsky.social become a business runner. This great thread is about the challenges starting/running a media companies but relevant across the businesses people in my life have started. Not as easy as the "monetize your hobby" people make it sound!
OK I'll jump into the discourse lol: Starting your own publication might mean starting your own business, especially if there's more than one of you. It's unlikely you decided to do this because you wanted to start a business! Do you know how to run a business? I sure didn't until October 2023!
As more journalists are driven out of their jobs, I keep hearing this drumbeat of "it's ok -- they can start their own newsletter or publication." Some can. But becoming your own business is a huge job, and will eliminate many talented reporters from the public sphere. Here's why. (1/5)
July 11, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Public programs lead to social benefits. In a new paper with colleagues from @povertycenter.bsky.social, we find that every $1000 invested in paid parental leave leads to between $7-29k in long term benefits. The US is leaving significant money on the table. 1/
July 7, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I've used the skills from these trainings several times and recommend them as a way to build your toolbox to create community safety when out in the world. Full of actionable options to interrupt harassment and violence. Recommend!
Hey, friends. @righttobe.bsky.social is continuing to offer free bystander intervention training - the next up is July 2 at 4 pm ET - Bystander Intervention to Stop Antisemitic, Xenophobic, and Islamophobic Harassment.

These are great online trainings and I hope you'll consider signing up!
Bystander Intervention to Stop Antisemitic, Xenophobic, and Islamophobic Harassment - Right To Be
righttobe.org
June 30, 2025 at 6:46 PM
New paper, where we dig into how paid leave policies influence the lengths of leave taken by new parents. We find that state PFL increases length of leave among higher-income families, and replaces unpaid weeks for lower-income families. Income replacement rates are key to access. Details in thread:
Wow, Zohran won the democratic primary 🔥 AND I have a new paper out today, which I argue is extremely on topic for our future mayor. We find cost and affordability were the most common reason for returning to work from postpartum leave. Let's get into it 🧵
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
www.journals.uchicago.edu
June 25, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Love the community support at PS9! And showed this to my PS9 alum who replied "FRANKIE GOT AN AIR CONDITIONER FOR THE GYM!!!!!!!!!!" because 5th graders "won" $450,000 in participatory budgeting funds to extend the school’s air conditioning system to the school gymnasium last year. We need it!
The poll site popsicle delivery, a parent donated them, Ellen Bolotin says, the community associate at PS 9 in Prospect Heights, "because they know how hot it is in our gym day to day." Gym is unconditioned, poll site started off with one fan, but a neighbor brought in a second.
June 24, 2025 at 8:12 PM
My whole family - including my 12 year old - found this quiz to be fun, informative, and a really great political education tool to talk about a set of issues. We ended up with slightly different ballots in interesting ways (no Cuomo, obviously!). Recommend!
NYC! Primary Day is tomorrow. If you're still figuring out your ranking for mayor, use our mayoral quiz.

We asked the candidates where they stand on key local issues such as public safety, affordable housing and the Trump administration.

Try it here: buff.ly/neTLyfM
June 23, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Listen to your local bagel guys (and pickle):
In a pickle about voting this year? Your friendly neighborhood Bagel Guys here to remind you to schmear all five ranked choice spots — and make sure your order has NO CUOMO CAPERS!

➡️ Get your voter guide at jfrej.org/ballot

(for video credits: www.instagram.com/reel/DLH7VHZ...)
June 20, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
Health researchers take note:
If you use restricted use data for your work, you need to read (and respond to) this call for comments
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

cc @gregggonsalves.bsky.social
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other ...
www.federalregister.gov
June 16, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Fathers Day Content: My kid and my coparent both have changed all their notification sounds to animal noises (goat, cat, owl) yesterday. I live in a zoo now.
June 15, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Meredith Slopen
The moderators embrace of falsehoods around Jews, Israel, and boycott and focus on Zohran on this is dangerous and wrong and both racist and islamophobic.
June 13, 2025 at 12:31 AM