Urban Institute

Urban Institute

The Urban Institute is an industry-funded nonprofit organization that, according to its mission statement, "conducts research, evaluates programs, offers technical assistance overseas, and educates Americans on social and economic issues."

The Urban Institute distributes its research findings to "policymakers, program administrators, business, academics, and the public online and through reports and scholarly books."

History
In the mid-1960s, President Johnson created a "commission of civic leaders who recommended chartering a center" to do "independent nonpartisan analysis." The Urban Institute was founded in 1968 as that charter.

Funding
In 2010, industry funders of the Urban Institute included CIGNA Corporation and Pfizer. Other major donors included the Popplestone Foundation and the Price Family Charitable Fund.

Policy Centers
The Urban Institute Policy Centers are:

Education Policy
The Education Policy Center conducts research on “education reforms involving accountability, school vouchers, standards, after-school programs, technology, teacher quality, and the new increased flexibility in using federal funds.”

The Education Policy Center also takes part in a project called the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER, or Calder Center), a federally-funded nonprofit organization that conducts education reform research using state administrative “longitudinal databases,” which track information about students, teachers, and schools over time. The Calder Center has several industry-funded and conservative think-tank members in management, on the advisory board, and working as independent researchers. In the states of Washington and Texas, all the Calder Center researchers are also members of the industry-funded nonprofits Center for Education Data and Research and Texas Schools Project, respectively.

The Education Policy Center research staff includes:


 * Jane Hannaway, also the director of the Calder Center


 * Michael Hansen, also a Calder Center researcher


 * Jennifer King Rice


 * Luke C. Miller, also a Calder Center researcher


 * Umut Ozek, also a Calder Center researcher


 * Lisa Tsui


 * Zeyu Xu, also a Calder Center researcher

Health Policy
The Health Policy Center conducts independent research on health care and health insurance.

Income & Benefits Policy
The Income and Benefits Policy Center studies “how public policy influences the behavior and economic well-being of families, particularly the disabled, the elderly, and those with low incomes.”

International Development and Governance
The Center on International Development and Governance develops “policy analysis” after working with “central and local government officials, international development agencies, and international financial institutions.”

Justice Policy
The Justice Policy Center researches “justice and public safety policies and practices at the national, state, and local level.”

Labor, Human Services & Population
The Center on Labor, Human Services, & Population “analyzes employment and income trends, studies how the U.S. population is growing and changing, and evaluates programs dealing with homelessness, child welfare, and job training. The center also works on immigration, mortality, sexual and reproductive health, adolescent risk behavior, child care, domestic violence, and youth development.”

Metropolitan Housing & Communities
The Metropolitan Housing & Communities Policy Center investigates “federal, state, and local public policies that govern urban housing and neighborhoods.”

Nonprofits & Philanthropy
The Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy Projects studies nonprofits, governmental contracting and grants, nonprofit governance, and philanthropy projects. Their Emerging Issues in Philanthropy Seminar Series is conducted in collaboration with the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University.

Officers
Accessed March 2011:
 * Robert D. Reischauer - President, also senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and on the boards of "several educational and nonprofit organizations."
 * John R. Rogers - Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer
 * Kathleen Courrier - Vice President, Communications
 * Margery Austin Turner - Vice President for Research
 * Everett I. Madden - Director, Administration, and Assistant Treasurer
 * Angela M. Keenan - Director, Financial Planning and Analysis, and Assistant Treasurer
 * Maida Schifter - Corporate Secretary

Former Officers
Accessed August 2008:


 * Robert D. Reischauer - President
 * John R. Rogers - Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer
 * Kathleen Courrier - Vice President, Communications
 * Robert G. Planansky - Vice President and Secretary
 * Everett I. Madden - Director, Administration, and Assistant Treasurer
 * Angela M. Keenan - Director, Financial Planning and Analysis, and Assistant Treasurer

2011 Trustees
Accessed March 2011:


 * Joel L. Fleishman
 * Robert M. Solow
 * J. Adam Abram, President and CEO of James River Group, Inc., Chairman of Franklin Holdings Ltd., and Chairman of Piedmont Community Banking Holdings, Inc.
 * Afsaneh Beschloss, President and CDO of the Rock Creek Group
 * Jamie S. Gorelick
 * Richard C. Green, Jr., Director of the Calvin Group LLC and Chairman of the Midwest Research Institute
 * Fernando Guerra
 * Freeman Hrabowski, III
 * Annette L. Nazareth
 * Melvin L. Oliver
 * Joshua B. Rales
 * Robert D. Reischauer, president
 * Jeremy Travis
 * Anthony A. Williams
 * Judy Woodruff

2008 Trustees
Accessed August 2008:


 * Joel L. Fleishman (Chairman)
 * Robert M. Solow (Vice Chairman)
 * Afsaneh Beschloss
 * Rebecca Blank
 * Jamie S. Gorelick
 * Richard C. Green, Jr.
 * Fernando A. Guerra
 * Freeman A. Hrabowski III
 * Charles L. Mee, Jr.
 * Mary John Miller
 * Melvin L. Oliver
 * Robert D. Reischauer
 * Louis A. Simpson
 * Jeremy Travis
 * Judy Woodruff

Life Trustees
Accessed March 2011:


 * Joan T. Bok
 * Warren E. Buffett
 * James E. Burke
 * Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
 * Marcia L. Carsey
 * Carol Thompson Cole, president of Venture Philanthropy Partners
 * William T. Coleman, Jr.
 * John M. Deutch, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
 * Anthony Downs, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
 * George J. W. Goodman
 * William Gorham
 * Aileen C. Hernandez
 * Carla A. Hills
 * Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.
 * Bayless A. Manning
 * David O. Maxwell
 * Charles L. Mee, Jr.
 * Arjay Miller
 * Robert C. Miller, CEO of OnStor, Inc.
 * Robert S. McNamara
 * Sol Price
 * Lois D. Rice, guest scholar at the Brookings Institution
 * William D. Ruckelshaus
 * Herbert E. Scarf
 * Charles L. Schultze, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
 * William W. Scranton
 * Louis A. Simpson,President and CEO of Capital Operations, GEICO
 * Dick Thornburgh
 * Mortimer B. Zuckerman

Contact

 * Web: http://www.urban.org

External resources
Urban Institute

Calder Center