On Wednesday, September 18th, the School of Public Policy launched their newest research center, the Center for Community Solutions. Built upon past School of Public Policy research centers—the Center for Social Innovation and Inland Center for Social Development—the Center for Community Solutions aims to support the Inland Southern California region with attentive policy research.
At its inaugural event, the Center for Community Solutions hosted a variety of external community members to gain input in regards to pressing issues facing the region.
“Our commitment to community-engaged research is our north star and we hit the ground running on day one, meeting with key stakeholders from across Inland Southern California to get their perspective on the region’s most pressing policy issues and how they envision our Center supporting solutions given our unique position as the only R1 university in the region,” said Center for Community Solutions Executive Director Justine Ross. “We are very excited to see empirically-rigorous faculty and student research applied to real-world challenges and to further developing programs—like the Randall Lewis Policy Fellows—that create meaningful opportunities for our students to make an impact in the Inland Empire.”
Additionally, School of Public Policy Dean Mark Long expressed that “the Center for Community Solutions will be a focal point for putting the UCR School of Public Policy's motto into practice: ‘Solutions for the Region, Solutions for the World.’ I have tasked the center's leaders with the responsibility to go out into the local community, listen to the people, identify their aspirations and concerns, and then see how we as scholars can put our research capabilities to use to find solutions, to identify what works and why, and to communicate our findings back to the community. The intent is to create a constant dialogue between the community and UCR scholars and to, hopefully, generate improvement in our region.”
To learn more about the Center for Community Solutions and stay updated on their regional efforts, check out their website or subscribe to their mailing list here.
View the photo album here.