The Urban Institute was born out of increasing urban unrest during the 1960s. In order to get the people’s opinion on his policies and initiatives on housing, unemployment, and poverty to name a few, then President Lyndon Johnson created the Urban Institute in 1968 as a means to gauge how the citizenry viewed his policies.

Today, the Urban Institute is a private, nonprofit organization that aims to perform independent surveys and research on a wide assortment of social and economic issues of specific significance, most of which are related to the betterment of the quality of life in major cities in the nation and throughout the developing world.

The Urban Institute makes use of interviews, statistical research, and polling to make accessible relevant information and details that will help in the creation of state and federal policies. Its reports, which are published in print or in the Internet, are readily accessible to interested individuals, researchers, and organizations.

The Urban Institute has nine research centers, with each center focusing on a specific field of urban living and experience. For example, the Education Policy Center heads research on all facets of education reform, specifically its relation to the needs of urban public school programs. On the other hand, The Health Policy Center busies itself analyzing the changing patterns and trending of insurance availability and, especially, the growing numbers of uninsured and underinsured. Other centers include the Labor and Social Policy Center and the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center.

Individuals from the fields of academia, journalism, government and community service, and business make up the staff of the Urban Institute. Leading the research projects are small groups of senior fellows, who can also carry out independent research, represent the institute in the media, circulate in scholarly and mass-market publications, and present evidence before Congress.

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Additional Information for The Urban Institute:

The Urban Institute comments on why people lack health insurance.

The Transition from Jail to Community Program initiated by the Urban Institute.

Commentary on The Future of Public Education in New Orleans.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Philanthropic Organizations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.