INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTER INITIATIVES IN RESEARCH

DRAWING ON ITS STRENGTH as a university-based institute, the Interdisciplinary Center hosts and co-sponsors conferences and symposia on topics at the leading edge of today's thinking. Because the Center's mission is focused on improving conditions in the community, these events bring together academics, practitoners, and community members to consider new, interdisciplinary approaches to solving long-standing problems. Examples of previous events held are:

• Racial Geography of the Child Welfare System: Community Impact and Response. A convening of researchers, policy makes, and advocates, this conference investigated the significance of the concentration of child welfare agency involvement in communities of color.
  
• Achieving Justice: Parents and the Child Welfare System. The conference addressed the legal and social service crises facing parents attempting to keep their children with them and meet their family's needs. The conference resulted in recommendation for systemic change in the delivery of services by the courts, the judiciary, lawyers, social workers, New York City's child welfare agency, and psychologists.

The Center's faculty and staff regularly research and write in the substantive areas of the Center's mission. A number of research projects are in the development stage. Please contact the Center for further information.