I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work. My research focuses on the intersections of health and wealth disparities among women, especially through the mechanism of caregiving. I'm particularly interested in how social policy can perpetuate and/or redress those disparities. Current projects include studies of how Colorado caregivers’ wellbeing and financial security are affected by supportive workplace policies, and an exploration of how parents’ access to paid parental leave may help mitigate illness and disability among children who are born pre-term.

At GSSW, I teach in both the “Health & Wellness” and “Aging” concentrations as well as in the doctoral program. Right now, most of my courses are in the policy track, including Aging Policy, Health Care Policy, the MSW foundation course, Social Policy Advocacy, Analysis and Practice, and the PhD course on Social Policy Analysis and Development. I also serve as an advisor to many MSW students and serve on committees for several doctoral students who focus on health- and/or aging-related topics.

House Committee on Business Affairs and Labor

Written testimony as prepared for delivery on April 11, 2017 

Greenfield CV (updated Aug. 2016)

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

1. Greenfield, J. C. & Klawetter, S. (2015). Parental leave as a strategy to improve outcomes among premature infants. Health & Social Work,  41 (1): 17-23.
   doi: 10.1093/hsw/hlv079, First published online: November 27, 2015.
2. Morrow-Howell, N., Putnam, M., Lee, Y. S, Greenfield, J. C., & Inoue, M. (2014). An Investigation of Activity Profiles of Older Adults. Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 69(5): 809-821. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbu002 
3. Putnam, M., Morrow-Howell, N., Inoue, M., Greenfield, J. C., Chen, H., and Lee, Y. S. (2013). Suitability of Public Use Secondary Data Sets to Study Multiple Activities. The Gerontologist (online first). doi: 10.1093/geront/gnt074
4. Greenfield, J. C., Morrow-Howell, N., & Teufel, J. (2012). Do older caregivers benefit more from volunteer and educational activities than their non-caregiving peers? Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 55(8). doi: 10.1080/01634372.2012.718314 
5. McBride, A. M., Greenfield, J. C., Morrow-Howell, N., Lee, Y. S., & McCrary, S. (2012). Engaging older adult volunteers in national service. Social Work Research, 36(2). doi: 10.1093/swr/svs017
6. Morrow-Howell, N. & Greenfield, J. C. (2010). Productive engagement of older Americans. China Journal of Social Work, 3(2-3), 153-164.
7. Greenfield, J. C. (2009). L. K. Hall: Counseling military families: What mental health professionals need to know (Book Review). Journal of Contemporary Family Therapy, 31(1), 70-72.

Book Chapters:

1. Greenfield, J. C. (2014). Long-Term Care in the U.S.: Who Pays? In N. Morrow-Howell & M. Sherraden, (Eds.), Financial Capability and Asset Holding in Later Life: A Life Course Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
2. Huang, J. & Greenfield, J. C. (2014). Asset Development and Older Adults: A Vision of New Strategies for U.S. Research and Policymaking. In N. Morrow-Howell & M. Sherraden, (Eds.), Financial Capability and Asset Holding in Later Life: A Life Course Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
3. Morrow-Howell, N., O’Neill, G., and Greenfield, J. C. (2011). Civic engagement: Policies and programs to support a resilient aging society. In B. Resnick, K. Roberto, and L. Gwyther (Eds.), Handbook of Resilience in Aging. New York: Springer Publishing.
4. Morrow-Howell, N. & Greenfield, J. C. (2011). Productive engagement of older Americans. In N. Morrow-Howell and A. C. Mui (Eds.), Productive Engagement in Later Life: A Global Perspective. New York: Routledge.
5. Morrow-Howell, N. & Greenfield, J. C. (2011). Productive engagement of older Americans. In G. Jingguo, N. Morrow-Howell and A. C. Mui (Eds.), Productive Engagement in Later Life: A Global Perspective. Beijing: China Society Press. (printed in Chinese)

On November 8, Colorado voters will decide whether to increase the state's minimum wage to $12/hour by 2020. The current wage is $8.31, and although it is indexed to inflation, the wage has not kept pace with the cost of living in Colorado. My colleague, Jack Strauss, from the Daniels College of Business, and I have recently conducted an analysis of the impacts of increases to the minimum wage with respect to earnings, poverty, and gender and racial equality, and also investigates the potential impact on child care affordability and families’ eligibility for public support programs. The report is due for release in mid-September, and will be published by Colorado Women’s College Collaboratory at the University of Denver in partnership with The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. 

Link to Denver Post coverage: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/13/minimum-wage-hike-help-colorado-economy/ 

Link to report: http://wfco.org/minimumwage

Recently, the notable absence of paid family leave for many workers in the US has received attention by both national and state policy makers. The President announced a series of initiatives to bolster availability of paid leave in his 2015 State of the Union Address, and more recently, the Healthy Families Act (https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/932/text) was introduced in Congress. 

Colorado's General Assembly has had chances to create a paid family leave program here in Colorado as well. The FAMLI Act was introduced in the 2015 legislative session and was passed out of three committees before being defeated in the House. A new version met with a similar fate in 2017. Here is my commentary on the FAMLI Act, as published in the Denver Post on March 23, 2015: http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_27754987/colorado-family-leave-act-could-be-a-lifesaver 

I have also offered testimony at several House committee hearings on the issue. These are linked below.

Written Testimony on HB 015-1258.pdf

Written Comments for House Finance Committee

Written testimony as prepared for delivery on April 16, 2015. 

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