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About MDRC
MDRC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization. We are dedicated to learning what works to improve the well-being of low-income people. Through our research and the active communication of our findings, we seek to enhance the effectiveness of social policies and programs. MDRC was founded in 1974 and is located in New York City and Oakland, California.
MDRC’s current projects focus on welfare and economic security, education, and employment and community initiatives. Complementing our evaluations of a wide range of welfare reforms are new studies of supports for the working poor and emerging analyses of how programs affect children’s development and their families’ well-being. In the field of education, we are testing reforms aimed at improving the performance of public schools, especially in urban areas. Finally, our community projects are using innovative approaches to increase employment in low-income neighborhoods.
Our projects are a mix of demonstrations field tests of promising program models and evaluations of government and community initiatives, and we employ a wide range of methods to determine a program’s effects, including large-scale studies, surveys, case studies, and ethnographies of individuals and families. We share the findings and lessons from our work including best practices for program operators with a broad audience within the policy and practitioner community, as well as the general public and the media.
Over the past quarter century, MDRC has worked in almost every state, all of the nation’s largest cities, and Canada. We conduct our projects in partnership with state and local governments, the federal government, public school systems, community organizations, and numerous private philanthropies.
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