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The Civil Rights Project/ Proyecto Derechos Civiles (CRP)

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The Civil Rights Project was founded at Harvard University in 1996 to provide needed intellectual capital to academics, policy makers and civil rights advocates. The model was: a multidisciplinary research-and-policy think tank and consensus-building clearinghouse; based at a leading university; operating with the highest intellectual standards; attentive to dissemination for multiple audiences; and committed to building a network of collaborating legal and social science scholars across the nation. Eleven years later, The Civil Rights Project (CRP) is a leading organization devoted to civil rights research. It has found eager collaborators among the nation’s finest scholars, and wide- open doors among advocacy organizations, policymakers and journalists. Focusing initially on education reform, it has convened dozens of national conferences and roundtables; commissioned over 400 new research and policy studies; produced major reports on desegregation, student diversity, school discipline, special education, dropouts, college access, and No Child Left Behind, and published twelve books, with more in the editing stage. CRP directors and staff testify and provide technical assistance on Capitol Hill and in state capitals. Its research has been incorporated into federal legislation, cited in litigation, and used to spur Congressional hearings. In any given month, CRP work is quoted in major national media. Its work was cited in the 2003 Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action, and in a number of other important civil rights decisions.

CRP’s increasing national prominence and rapid growth confirm that the initial vision was correct, and provide the backdrop for an ambitious financial, programmatic and strategic agenda. Founding Co-director Christopher Edley, Jr. left to become law school dean at the University of California at Berkeley in 2004. In 2007 the Project moved to UCLA and became The Civil Rights Project/ Proyecto Decrechos Civiles with founding co-director Gary Orfield and new co-director, Patricia Gándara. In its new location the project will continue to work on the major issues of its first decade while adding new initiatives related to immigration, language policy and a special local focus on studies of the Southern California metropolitan megaplex. It also seeks to expand its reach into non-English media outlets, reaching a broader and critically important constituency.

For more information, visit: http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu

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