 In profile is the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota. The Center connects faculty and students with community organizations and public institutions working on public policy issues in Minnesota. The Center works across disciplinary lines and professional boundaries to design and implement new programs and projects. Established in 1969, CURA is celebrating its 34th anniversary. The director of the Center is Tom Scott, PhD, who also serves as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the Universitys Twin Cities campus. For more information, visit the Centers website at www.cura.umn.edu.
The Centers mission includes:
- Assisting faculty and students to produce more relevant research on critical issues affecting Minnesota;
- Providing students the opportunity to strengthen their education through practical experience;
- Helping government agencies and community organizations obtain the research and personnel assistance they request; and
- Enabling the University of Minnesota to better fulfill its land grant and urban missions.
The Center supports more than a dozen programs that sponsor research projects related to urban and regional affairs in Minnesota. Of those programs, the following have a regional focus:
- CURA Housing Foruma public forum for discussion of Twin Cities metropolitan area housing issues and research
- Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairsan endowed chair position that supports faculty work on projects related to urban and regional affairs in Minnesota.
- Housing Initiativesupport for research and community-service projects related to housing issues in Minnesota.
- Neighborhood Planning for Community Revitalization (NPCR)research assistance for Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhood organizations and community development corporations.
- New East Side Partnershipsupport for community organizations on St. Pauls East Side to work with Twin Cities colleges and universities on community-designed development projects.
- University Neighborhood Network (UNN)course-based project support for neighborhood-based revitalization organizations in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
 Among these programs is the Center for Community and Regional Research (CCRR). The program aims to support cooperative research involving faculty and students of the University of Minnesota at Duluth, along with community agencies in northeastern Minnesota. CCRR was established in 1986 with a primarily educational mission and the objective to provide Social Science faculty, staff and students the opportunity to work with community organizations on research projects of local and regional significance. Students learn specific research skills and important principles of social analysis and involvement through active engagement with a local community. Communities and organizations benefit from research on issues and problems of importance to them, which might otherwise go unexamined. In this way, a cooperative relationship is established which addresses interests and needs both at UMD and within the larger set of communities of which UMD is part. Lawrence M. Knopp, Jr. is the Director of CCRR. For more information on CCRR, visit their website at www.d.umn.edu/ccrr/.
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