Reports of the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research

The Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research at Northwestern University was founded in September of 1968 with a grant of $700,000 from the Ford Foundation. After the urban riots of the late 1960’s, Ford spearheaded the founding of fourteen such centers around the country. Northwestern’s Center, however, is the only one of its kind to have survived with its initial purpose intact. Working with a group of faculty fellows, research associates, visiting scholars and graduate students, the Center initiated its own studies and collaborated with outside groups on research projects, seminars, conferences, workshops and retreats. Center activities were sponsored by the University, grants from local and national foundations, government agencies, corporations, and gifts. The bulk of the Center’s research dealt with social policy and its effects on the people, communities, and institutions that utilize it. The Center paid close attention to policy issues on the urban, suburban, and rural community levels, as well as wider ones of county, state, and national import. The Center published a newsletter, the CUPAR News. Topics researched included: persistent poverty in the inner cities, racism, inadequate housing and schools, rampant crime, joblessness, and the breakdown of the family. In September, 1996, the Center’s name was changed to the Institute for Policy Research. This new title better represents the increasingly broad scope of research in which the diverse group of faculty fellows is involved. The Reports of the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research fill seven archival boxes and span the years 1970-1995. The bulk of the records consists of reports generated by the Center in conjunction with local agencies. Other records include Working Papers, proposals, messages, “musings” and memoranda that the Center issued. Most reports represent the results of a one-time project or affiliation and are categorized under the title of the finished report. Projects which generated a number of reports include the Chicago Politics Papers, Comparative Urban Studies Program reports, the Reactions to Crime Papers, Research and Policy Papers, Research and Policy Reports, Working Papers and the 1992 World’s Fair Forum reports.