Vicky Albert (Social Work) and Jaewon Lim (Public Policy and Leadership) recently published an article in the Sustainability Journal. In their article "Spatial Analyses of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Its Responsiveness to Labor Market Performance and Policies during the 2008 Recession," they developed a responsiveness index which revealed that many of the western and midwestern states were quite responsive to the recession. Using exploratory spatial data analysis tools, they found the presence of strong spatial clusters in the unemployment rate and in Temporary Assistance for Need Families maximum aid among the states. The study’s findings have confirmed the idea that spatial analyses can be useful for policy research and are bound to expand in the era of evidence-based policymaking.