New York, NY, February 18, 2016 – Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been named a member of the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty by the Urban Institute. The partnership, established through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is a new collaborative venture aimed at discovering permanent ladders of mobility for the poor and identifying innovation solutions that can be put into action by philanthropies, practitioners, and the public and private sectors.
“It is an honor to serve as a member of the partnership and work among this stellar group of experts, advocates and academics to help identify the challenges and potential solutions for social mobility in U.S.,” said President Travis. “We look forward to working directly with and learning from local communities to uncover new ideas.”
Over the course of the next 24 months, the partnership, made up of 24 leading experts and chaired by well-known poverty and social policy scholar David Ellwood, will work to uncover the country’s most successful programs; collaborate with outside innovative organizations to test promising new models; and identify new approaches to improving social mobility in the United States. The initiative will serve as a resource for the field: all of its work will be public, with the goal of sharing insights and ideas to those poised for action.
Among the members are leading issue-area experts engaged in research in education, behavioral economics, labor markets and workforce training, criminal justice, structural racism, demographic patterns/shifting family structures, the public safety net, immigration, business, and gender. There are also several members of the group with expertise and experience in delivering services at scale, working in communities facing significant needs, as well as individuals with direct knowledge of life in poverty. The group will conduct site visits to learn about promising interventions and hear from communities, other leading research institutions, and experts and practitioners who have been leading efforts to reduce barriers to opportunity for those living in poverty.
For the full list of partnership members, click here.
The Urban Institute, a nonprofit, is dedicated to elevating the debate on social and economic policy. For nearly five decades, Urban scholars have conducted research and offered evidence-based solutions that improve lives and strengthen communities across a rapidly urbanizing world. Their objective research helps expand opportunities for all, reduce hardship among the most vulnerable, and strengthen the effectiveness of the public sector.
About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.
