Urban Institute (Russia)
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The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
that conducts economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations, and private donors. The Urban Institute has been categorized as "nonpartisan", "liberal", and "left-leaning". In 2020, the Urban Institute co-hosted the second annual Sadie T.M. Alexander Conference for Economics and Related Fields with
The Sadie Collective The Sadie Collective is the first American non-profit organization which aims to increase the representation of Americans in economics and related fields. It was founded by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore in August 2018 and is named f ...
in Washington, D.C.


History and funding

The Urban Institute was established in 1968 by the
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
administration to study the nation's urban problems and evaluate the
Great Society The Great Society was a series of domestic programs enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the United States between 1964 and 1968, aimed at eliminating poverty, reducing racial injustice, and expanding social welfare in the country. Johnso ...
initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years. Johnson hand-selected economists and civic leaders such as
Kermit Gordon Kermit Gordon (July 3, 1916 – June 21, 1976) was Director of the United States Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) (December 28, 1962 – June 1, 1965) during the administration of John F. Kennedy. He continued to serv ...
,
McGeorge Bundy McGeorge "Mac" Bundy (March 30, 1919 – September 16, 1996) was an American academic who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 through 1966. He was president of the Ford Fou ...
, Irwin Miller,
Arjay Miller Arjay Miller (March 4, 1916 – November 3, 2017) was one of the ten Whiz Kids hired by Henry Ford II of the Ford Motor Company. He served as president of Ford Motor Company between 1963 and 1968, until he was abruptly fired by Henry Ford II ...
,
Richard Neustadt Richard Elliott Neustadt (June 26, 1919 – October 31, 2003) was an American political scientist specializing in the United States presidency. He served as adviser to several presidents. His book ''Presidential Power'' has been described as "on ...
,
Cyrus Vance Cyrus Roberts Vance (March 27, 1917January 12, 2002) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 57th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United ...
, and
Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...
. William Gorham, former Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, was selected as its first president and served from 1968 to 2000. Gradually, Urban's research and funding base broadened. In 2013, federal government contracts provided about 54% of Urban's operating funds, private foundations another 30%, and nonprofits, corporations and corporate foundations, state and local governments, international organizations and foreign entities, individuals, and Urban's endowment the rest. Some of Urban's more than 100 private sponsors and funders include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...
, the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...
, the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...
, the
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, which is its business operating name, to ...
, the
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a private foundation founded in 1926 by Charles Stewart Mott of Flint, Michigan. Mott was a leading industrialist in Flint through his association with General Motors. The foundation administers funds th ...
, and the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
. Public funding as of the 2020 fiscal year comes from various branches of the
United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
including the
Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
,
Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
,
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
(USAID), and the
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...
.


Organization

Urban Institute's more than 600 staff works in several research divisions and program areas: Family and Financial Well-Being; Health Policy; Housing and Communities; Justice and Safety; Nonprofits and Philanthropy; Race and Equity; Research to Action; Tax and Income Supports; Technology and Data; Upward Mobility; and Work, Education, and Labor. The institute also houses the Urban Institute–
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
Tax Policy Center The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, typically shortened to the Tax Policy Center (TPC), is a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington D.C., United States. A joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, it aims to pr ...
, the WorkRise network and Housing Matters. The Institute works with the
Association of Fundraising Professionals Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...
to produce the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. This report provides a summary of data from several different donor software firms and other data providers such as Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, NeonCRM, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...
, DataLake, DonorTrends, , ResultsPlus, and ClearViewCRM. According to the report, donors gave 3% more in 2016 than 2015, but getting $100 cost nonprofits $95.


Staff

Sarah Rosen Wartell Sarah Rosen Wartell is a public policy executive and housing markets expert who serves as president of the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan social and economic policy research institute in Washington D.C. She previously worked in the Federal Housin ...
, a public policy executive and housing markets expert, became the third president of the Urban Institute in February 2012. She succeeded Robert D. Reischauer, former head of the
Congressional Budget Office The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. I ...
. Reischauer succeeded William Gorham, founding president, in 2000. Most Urban Institute researchers are
economists An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
,
social scientists Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the f ...
, or
public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...
and administration researchers. Others are
mathematicians A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History One ...
,
statisticians A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may ...
, city planners,
engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...
, or computer scientists. A few have backgrounds in
medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
,
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
, or arts and letters. Since at least 2015, the institute's DEI program has resulted in staff being approximately 60% female identifying, and 25% minority staff. In 2021, the Urban Institute Employees Union (UIEU) was formed and is affiliated with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU), a local of the
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
. In 2024, ratification of the first
collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...
(CBA) was reached.


Board of trustees

the board members were: Jamie S. Gorelick (chair),
N. Gregory Mankiw Nicholas Gregory Mankiw ( ; born February 3, 1958) is an American macroeconomist who is currently the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Mankiw is best known in academia for his work on New Keynesian economics. Mank ...
(vice chair), Annette L. Nazareth (vice chair),
Anthony A. Williams Anthony Allen Williams (born Anthony Stephen Eggleton; July 28, 1951) is an American politician who was the mayor of the District of Columbia, for two terms, from 1999 to 2007. Williams had previously served as chief financial officer for the dist ...
(vice chair), J. Adam Abram, Kenneth Bacon,
Karan Bhatia Karan Krishna Bhatia is an American attorney and former senior official in the Bush administration. He currently leads public policy and government relations for Alphabet Inc. (formerly Google). He served as the deputy U.S. Trade Representative f ...
, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Mary C. Daly,
Shaun Donovan Shaun Lawrence Sarda Donovan (born January 24, 1966) is an American government official and housing specialist who served as the 15th United States secretary of housing and urban development from 2009 to 2014, and Director of the US Office of M ...
,
Diana Farrell Diana Farrell is a banker and political advisor who served until 2021 as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the JPMorgan Chase Institute, a think tank. Previously, Ms. Farrell was the Global Head of the McKinsey Center for Gover ...
, Margaret A. Hamburg,
Bill Haslam William Edward Haslam (; born August 23, 1958) is an American billionaire businessman and politician who served as the 49th governor of Tennessee from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Haslam previously served as the 67th mayor of ...
, Antonia Hernndez,
Heather Higginbottom Heather Anne Higginbottom (born July 15, 1972) is currently the head of the JPMorgan Chase ''Policy''Center. Prior to her current role, she served as CARE USA's Chief Operating Officer beginning in 2017. Higginbottom was the U.S. Deputy Secretary ...
, W. Matthew Kelly, Mary J. Miller,
Michael A. Nutter Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is an American politician who served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he is also a former member of the Philadelphia City Council from the 4th di ...
, Eduardo Padrón, Charles H. Ramsey,
John Wallis Rowe John Wallis Rowe is an American businessman and academic physician, who served as chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc., a large health insurance company based in Connecticut, titles he retired from in February 2006. During his Aetna tenure, ''Business ...
, Arthur I. Segel, J. Ron Terwilliger,
Ashley Swearengin Ashley Emile Swearengin (née Newton; born May 24, 1972) is an American politician who served as the 24th mayor of Fresno, California. She is Fresno's second female mayor. She was first elected in a run-off election in 2008 and was re-elected i ...
, David A. Thomas,
Sarah Rosen Wartell Sarah Rosen Wartell is a public policy executive and housing markets expert who serves as president of the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan social and economic policy research institute in Washington D.C. She previously worked in the Federal Housin ...
.


Political stance

The Urban Institute has been referred to as "nonpartisan", "liberal", and "left-leaning". According to a study by ''U.S. News & World Report'' most political campaign donations by Urban Institute employees go to Democratic politicians. Between 2003 and 2010, Urban Institute employees' made $79,529 in political contributions, none of which went to the Republican Party.


Assets

As of 2020, the Urban Institute had assets of $212,923,643.


Funding details

Funding details as of 2020:


References


External links

* {{Authority control Liberalism in the United States Organizations based in Washington, D.C. Political and economic think tanks in the United States Think tanks established in 1968 Think tanks based in Washington, D.C.