Urban Institute
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| Abbreviation | Urban |
|---|---|
| Motto | Elevate the Debate |
| Formation | 1968 |
| Type | Public policy think tank |
| Headquarters | 2100 M Street NW |
| Location |
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President
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Sarah Rosen Wartell |
| Website | urban.org |
The Urban Institute is a Washington DC-based think tank that carries out 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 measures policy effects, compares options, shows which stakeholders get the most and least, tests conventional wisdom, reveals trends, and makes costs, benefits, and risks explicit. The Urban Institutue is described as a "leading liberal think tank" by the Los Angeles Times.
The Urban Institute was established in 1968 by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration to study the nation’s urban problems and evaluate the Great Society initiatives embodied in more than 400 laws passed in the prior four years. Johnson hand-selected well-known economists and civic leaders to create the non-partisan, independent research organization. Their ranks included Kermit Gordon, McGeorge Bundy, Irwin Miller, Arjay Miller, Richard Neustadt, Cyrus Vance, and Robert McNamara.William Gorham, former Assistant Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare, was selected as its first president and served from 1968-2000.
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 Ford Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
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