Michelle Miller Adams

The Power of a Promise: Education and Economic Renewal in Kalamazoo

When a group of anonymous donors announced in 2005 that they would send every graduate of this midsized public school district to college for free, few within or outside Kalamazoo, Michigan, understood the magnitude of the gesture. Now, in the first comprehensive account of the Kalamazoo Promise, Michelle Miller-Adams charts its initial impact as well as its potential to bring about fundamental economic and social change in a community hurt by job loss, depopulation, and racial segregation.

Published by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2009
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Owning Up: Poverty, Assets, and the American Dream

America’s low-wage workers lack many of the resources, both tangible and intangible, that provide middle-class Americans with a sense of security, stability, and a stake in the future. In Owning Up, Michelle Miller-Adams demonstrates how asset-building programs, used in combination with traditional income-based support, can be an effective means for helping millions of American out of poverty.

Published by the Brookings Institution Press, 2002
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The World Bank: New Agendas in a Changing World

This book considers the nature of change at the World Bank, the key institution through which rich nations channel resources to poorer ones. Through detailed case studies of three important issue areas -- private sector development, collaboration with NGOs, and good governance – Miller-Adams finds that the World Bank’s organizational culture and internal norms, dating from its earliest days, are the key drivers of change and continue to shape the institution’s ability to meet today’s development challenges.

Published by Routledge, 1999 (available on Kindle)
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