Southern New Jersey’s growing population means a growing number of business, nonprofit, and social service agencies. The Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden was created in 2001 to provide a critical link between those organizations and the resources and expertise housed at Rutgers.
Five years later, the center has become a valued resource for southern New Jersey. Richard Harris, the institute’s director and a professor of political science and public policy and administration in Camden, said the Rand Institute is the natural extension of Rutgers’ mission as New Jersey’s public research university. “The institute was launched as a public policy research center to offer technical assistance to government and social service agencies, while engaging Rutgers constructively in issues important to the growth of the region and the state,” Harris said.
The Rand Institute offers a service-learning environment that promotes applied research and service by Rutgers students and faculty. Named in memory of a state senator from South Jersey who worked to increase resources available to the residents in the region, the institute offers a wide array of services, from nonprofit board development to community revitalization, and from research and analysis to coalition building.
During its first five years, the institute has attracted more than $2.5 million in external funding to support applied research and technical assistance to governmental and nonprofit entities in southern New Jersey. Those funds have been leveraged to attract an additional $3 million in federal and state grants to the region.
The staff at the institute are proud of their service to the region and impressed with the contributions made by graduate students who apply their classroom knowledge to real-world situations. Thirty-two graduate and undergraduate students have worked on an estimated 17 projects during the past five years. The experience has helped them earn leadership positions upon graduation, as well as admission to doctoral programs.
Atnreakn Alleyne, a graduate student in public policy, has worked with the institute since 2005. “Working here allows you to obtain the skills that you will need to be more marketable once you graduate,” he said. Alleyne is working with Project Safe Neighborhoods and does survey methodology and data collection. “When you leave here, you have something pretty tangible to show future employers.”
The institute gets tangible results for New Jersey’s citizens as well. Deborah D. Wright, an associate director at the institute, specializes in organizational psychology and change, and helps nonprofit, faith-based, and government agencies maximize their resources and measure their results. Her work with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program helped bring 2,600 families in the Camden area more than $4 million in the form of state and federal income tax credits.
John Hart, another associate director who specializes in analysis and research, is working with the New Jersey attorney general’s office and the city of Camden on Project Safe Neighborhoods. He helps public safety officials continuously analyze the impacts of their crime-fighting efforts. Hart and the institute staff also are working with Burlington County to conduct a literacy assessment aimed at determining workforce investment needs.
The institute also is working with the Builders League of South Jersey and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to address the challenges of sustainable development for the region’s new and old communities. The endeavor engages “a comprehensive and diverse group of stakeholders,” Harris said. That is a key feature of the Rand Institute: Rutgers serves as a “neutral convener” to foster collaboration between agencies. For example, the institute’s Camden Safer Cities Initiative brings together the criminal justice community and local leaders from Camden’s faith-based, neighborhood, governmental, and social service organizations.