Dr. Mincy is the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the School of Social Work, Columbia University, where he teaches graduate courses on social welfare policy, program evaluation, and microeconomics.

He has published widely on the effects of income security policy on child and family poverty, family formation, and child well-being; responsible fatherhood, the urban under class, and urban poverty.

Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Mincy was Senior Program Officer in the Ford Foundation’s Program in Human Development and Reproductive Health, where he developed the Strengthening Fragile Families Initiative (SFFI). SFFI was a Ford Foundation grantmaking initiative working with federal, state, and local human services agencies to reform income security policies to enable low-income mothers and fathers to provide emotional, financial, and developmental support to their children receiving welfare.

As a result of SFFI, Mincy is widely regarded as a critical catalyst for changes currently underway in the treatment of low-income fathers by U.S. welfare, child support, and family support systems. He has been invited to speak and consult with donors, researchers, policymakers, and social workers who are contemplating support for initiatives similar to SFFI in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and throughout the United States.

Mincy is a co-principal investigator for the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Survey a birth cohort study of children born to unmarried parents, which is nationally representative of births in large cities. His most recent book Black Men Left Behind, examines the consequences of the 1990s economic boom for less-educated men.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees, Children’s Futures, Trenton, NJ, Mac Arthur Network on Family and the Economy, Chicago, IL Advisory Board, National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Washington, Technical Work Group for the Building Strong Families and Community Healthy Marriage Initiatives, and an Advisory Board for the African American Healthy Marriage Initiative.

Mincy and his wife, Flona, married while both were graduate students. They have two adult sons, Daru and Ron Jr.