Dr. Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Dr. Michal Grinstein-Weiss is the Director of the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. She has been influential in the design of innovative policies to promote household financial security and social and economic mobility. During her presentation she spoke about building partnerships with other people and organizations whose goal is to empower women around the world. Dr. Michal has been impacted heavily by the people who surround her. These include her mother and father. The knowledge she acquired throughout her life and from the people around her allowed her to have some insight. Dr. Michal realized just how important savings and asset building were. She spoke about saving accounts for children This allows children to learn about savings from a young age. She took this idea to her own country, Israel, a country with one of the highest levels of income and wealth inequality. Nearly 30% of the children in Israel live in poverty. To be able to bring this project to reality, Dr. Michal had to work with several Ministries and other governmental institutions. The first time the bill was declined, but the Prime Minister who ran for 2015 pushed for it to be approved. This bill allowed for children to be able to have a security blanket for when they grew up and decided to go to college. It also allowed to open up many doors to those in need.