Urban Institute
Encyclopedia
The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.
-based think tank
that carries out nonpartisan economic and social policy research, collects data
, evaluates social
programs, educates the public on key domestic issues, and provides advice and technical assistance to developing governments abroad.
The Urban Institute measures effects, compares options, shows which stakeholders get the most and least, tests conventional wisdom, reveals trends, and makes costs, benefits, and risks explicit.
administration to study the nation’s urban problems and evaluate the Great Society
initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years. Johnson hand-selected well-known economists and civic leaders to create the non-partisan, independent research organization. Their ranks included Kermit Gordon
, McGeorge Bundy
, Irwin Miller, Arjay Miller, Richard Neustadt
, Cyrus Vance
, and Robert McNamara
. William Gorham
, former Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, was selected as its first president and served from 1968-2000.
Gradually, the Institute's research and funding base broadened. Today, federal government contracts provide about 55% of the Institute’s operating funds, foundations another 34%, and state and local governments and private individuals the rest. Some of the Institute’s more than 100 private sponsors and funders include The Atlantic Philanthropies
, the Annie E. Casey Foundation
, the Ford Foundation
, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
, and the Rockefeller Foundation
.
and aging in America, who pays income taxes, state implementation of the Affordable Care Act, working families and their children, immigrant children in US schools, the cost-effectiveness of crime prevention, and the personal and national challenges of long-term unemployment. The Institute also studies the family, economic, and societal issues faced by prisoners released from prison. Overseas, UI has had projects in 20 countries, providing technical assistance in decentralization, local governance, and service delivery. Many Urban Institute policy centers are recognized as the leading policy institutes in their fields.
Tax Policy Center
, the National Center for Charitable Statistics and Urban Institute Press. In 2010, the Institute conducted research related to all 50 states and roughly 25 countries.
, former head of the Congressional Budget Office
. Dr. Reischauer succeeded William Gorham
, founding president, in 2000. Most Urban Institute researchers are economists, social scientists, or experts in public policy
and administration. Others are mathematicians, statisticians, city planners, engineers, or computer scientists. A few have backgrounds in medicine
, law
, or arts and letters. Unique among the nation’s largest research
organizations, the Institute is 63 % female, and five of the ten research center directors are women. As of mid-2011, 27 percent of the Institute's staff is minority.
.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
that carries out nonpartisan economic and social policy research, collects data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
, evaluates social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
programs, educates the public on key domestic issues, and provides advice and technical assistance to developing governments abroad.
The Urban Institute measures effects, compares options, shows which stakeholders get the most and least, tests conventional wisdom, reveals trends, and makes costs, benefits, and risks explicit.
History and funding
The Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
administration to study the nation’s urban problems and evaluate the Great Society
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...
initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years. Johnson hand-selected well-known economists and civic leaders to create the non-partisan, independent research organization. Their ranks included Kermit Gordon
Kermit Gordon
Kermit Gordon was Director of the United States Bureau of the Budget during the administration of John F. Kennedy. He continued to serve in this capacity in the Lyndon Johnson administration. He oversaw the creation of the first budgets for Johnson's Great Society domestic agenda...
, McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966, and president of the Ford Foundation from 1966 through 1979...
, Irwin Miller, Arjay Miller, Richard Neustadt
Richard Neustadt
Richard Elliott Neustadt was an American political scientist specializing in the United States presidency. He also served as advisor to several presidents.-Biography:...
, Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980...
, and Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
. William Gorham
William Gorham
William "Bill" Gorham is an American economist and founding president of the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based social and economic policy think tank.Gorham served as Urban Institute president from its founding in 1968 until his retirement in 2000...
, former Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, was selected as its first president and served from 1968-2000.
Gradually, the Institute's research and funding base broadened. Today, federal government contracts provide about 55% of the Institute’s operating funds, foundations another 34%, and state and local governments and private individuals the rest. Some of the Institute’s more than 100 private sponsors and funders include The Atlantic Philanthropies
Atlantic Philanthropies
The Atlantic Philanthropies is a private foundation created in 1982 by US businessman Charles F. "Chuck" Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies grant-making supports health and social projects in Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Viet Nam...
, the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation was started in 1948 in Seattle, Washington, by UPS founder James E. Casey and his siblings George, Harry and Marguerite. It was named in honor of their mother. The foundation moved to Baltimore in 1994....
, the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The foundation's mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans...
, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on the major health care issues facing the nation, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy...
, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a charitable foundation founded in 1926 by Charles Stewart Mott of Flint, Michigan. Mott was the leading industrialist in Flint through his association with General Motors....
, and the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
.
Current initiatives
At any given time two hundred or more projects are underway at the Institute. New work includes studies on retirementRetirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
and aging in America, who pays income taxes, state implementation of the Affordable Care Act, working families and their children, immigrant children in US schools, the cost-effectiveness of crime prevention, and the personal and national challenges of long-term unemployment. The Institute also studies the family, economic, and societal issues faced by prisoners released from prison. Overseas, UI has had projects in 20 countries, providing technical assistance in decentralization, local governance, and service delivery. Many Urban Institute policy centers are recognized as the leading policy institutes in their fields.
Organization
Urban Institute's staff of approximately 350 works in several research centers and program areas: the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy; Metropolitan Housing and Community Policy Center; Health Policy Center; Education Policy Center; Income and Benefits Policy Center; the Center on International Development and Governance; the Justice Policy Center; the Labor, Human Services, and Population Center and the Low Income Working Families project. The Institute also houses the Urban Institute -Brookings InstitutionBrookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
Tax Policy Center
Tax Policy Center
The Tax Policy Center is a non-partisan joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Based in Washington D.C., it aims to provide independent analyses of current and longer-term tax issues and to communicate its analyses to the public and to policymakers in a timely and...
, the National Center for Charitable Statistics and Urban Institute Press. In 2010, the Institute conducted research related to all 50 states and roughly 25 countries.
Staff
The Institute’s president is Robert D. ReischauerRobert Reischauer
Robert D. Reischauer is an economist and president of the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan social and economic policy research institute in Washington D.C. He is a nationally known expert on the federal budget, health reform, Medicare, and Social Security...
, former head of the Congressional Budget Office
Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides economic data to Congress....
. Dr. Reischauer succeeded William Gorham
William Gorham
William "Bill" Gorham is an American economist and founding president of the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based social and economic policy think tank.Gorham served as Urban Institute president from its founding in 1968 until his retirement in 2000...
, founding president, in 2000. Most Urban Institute researchers are economists, social scientists, or experts in public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
and administration. Others are mathematicians, statisticians, city planners, engineers, or computer scientists. A few have backgrounds in medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, or arts and letters. Unique among the nation’s largest research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
organizations, the Institute is 63 % female, and five of the ten research center directors are women. As of mid-2011, 27 percent of the Institute's staff is minority.
Board of Trustees
In 2011, Board members are: Joel L. Fleishman (Chairman), Robert M. Solow (Vice Chairman),J. Adam Abram, Afsaneh Beschloss, Jamie S. Gorelick, Dr. Fernando Guerra, Richard C. Green, Jr., Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, Annette L. Nazareth, Melvin L. Oliver, Joshua B. Rales, Robert D. Reischauer, Jeremy Travis, Anthony A. Williams, and Judy WoodruffJudy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff is an American television news anchor and journalist.Woodruff is a Board Member at the IWMF .-Broadcast journalism career:...
.
External links
- www.urban.org - Urban Institute official web site
- www.taxpolicycenter.org - Urban Institute - Brookings InstitutionBrookings InstitutionThe Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
Tax Policy Center