The Center Stage
A spotlight on our research centers
The Blum Initiative is a non-partisan, non-profit research center committed to growing poverty related research, service, and teaching at UC Riverside and in our region. Established Fall 2015, we seek to inspire and support research that broadens our understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty while striving for solutions that meet global and local needs – especially those of the Inland Empire. The Blum Initiative conducts cutting-edge academic research, releases regional poverty reports geared toward practitioner audiences, and cultivates promising students’ interest in poverty solutions through immersive fellowships and signature coursework, among other programming.
This year we look forward to continuing our academic seminar series and to multiple outreach events that are designed to bring researchers with expertise in issues related to poverty in the Inland Empire before audiences of regional stakeholders and practitioners.
- The Southern California Affordability Symposium (February 7, 2020)
- Seminar with Dr. Sandra Smith (UC Berkeley), co-hosted with the Presley Center of Crime & Justice Studies (March 12, 2020)
- The 2nd Annual Inland Empire Poverty Summit (April 17, 2020)
We are also excited to announce the fifth annual call for our Service Learning Fellowship, which has seen 18 UCR students partner with anti-poverty organizations in 9 countries, across 5 continents since 2016.
The Blum Initiative is one of eleven Blum centers – ten of which are housed within the University of California system – made possible by the generous support of Richard Blum, which support diverse research agendas on poverty and inequality. To learn more about our research, events, and grant-making, please visit our website: blum.ucr.edu.