· P-12 education.
· higher education.
· youth who have disconnected from the educational system.
· low-income families.
· families or individuals struggling with income insecurity.
· ill health and disabilities that isolate people.
MDRC (originally Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, but now simply MDRC) was founded in 1974 by the Ford Foundation and several federal agencies. In the last 40 years it has built to 250 employees in New York and Oakland, California, in partnership with several foundations, universities, and federal agencies. MDRC’s tagline is “Building Knowledge to Improve Social Policy,” and there is no better source of high-quality research on the issues listed above.
If you’re launching, assessing, or tweaking an initiative in any of these areas, I encourage you to explore MDRC’s large library of free publications to see if they can offer knowledge valuable for you. I hope you'll let me know if you find resources you can use.