Impact Accelerators | Community to Community: Policy Equity for All
Community to Community: Policy Equity for All
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Inequity is a leading problem of our time.
Public policy is a solution.
Community to Community (C2C) uses data and analysis to design, implement, and evaluate public policies that push the needle forward on complex problems found in urban areas. We are scholars, researchers, policymakers, students, and community organizers working together to utilize a community-engaged research approach that fosters long term mutually beneficial partnerships with communities and external stake holders.
We envision an equitable world with thriving communities and access to opportunity for all.
Vision
We envision an equitable world with thriving communities and access to opportunity for all.
Mission
Our mission is to foster long-term mutually beneficial partnerships with local governments, communities, and external stakeholders in order to promote the co-production of policy analysis and implementation. We strive to move the needle on societal problems on a local level, benefitting the areas our university calls home.
What is needed to drive societal impact?
Bridging the gap in public policy.
Local policymakers often lack rigorous data and analysis about which policies are most effective, yet academics typically do not apply their knowledge to the most pressing policy issues in these local contexts, creating a gap between knowledge and practice.
C2C responds to real-world policy problems and creates societal impact through a fundamental shift in the way community-engaged research is conducted. Our iterative engage-think-do model promotes the co-production of policy analysis and implementation by connecting real-world practitioners that are closest to the problems with academics skilled in data and analysis. We use program evaluation and research evidence to fuel policy changes and fund programs that are driving societal impact. Every successful partnership gets us one step closer to the world we envision.
TESTIMONIALS
Adam Gamoran
President, William T. Grant Foundation
“Research conducted in partnership with public agencies finds a ready audience for action. Our foundation supports research that yields high profile findings. One example is summer youth employment opportunities in Boston. We had a study by Alicia Modestino, an economist at Northeastern University, showing that investments in summer youth employment payoff for less crime and more educational attainment, and she’s continuing that work in Boston.”
Midori Morikawa
Deputy Chief, Economic Opportunity Inclusion, City of Boston
Loren Taylor
Former Council Member, City of Oakland
For Taylor it all circles back to the impact Mills has made and will continue to make on the Oakland community. One example is the college’s Center for Transformative Action, which brings together students, businesses and community leaders to create economic opportunities and promote environmental justice and social equality. “That’s an example of going outside the walls or the gates of the campus to make a broader impact”