MDRC

In 1974, the Ford Foundation and six government agencies together created the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation to run an ambitious, five-year, $50-million demonstration project called Supported Work. Over the years, MDRC became known for combining rigorous impact and implementation research with on-the-ground operational expertise to deliver policy-relevant findings to decisionmakers. In the 1980s and early 1990s, MDRC conducted evaluations of state welfare-to-work programs that influenced policy reforms. In the 1990s and early 2000s, MDRC expanded into education policy research — developing demonstration and research projects in the early education, K-12, and postsecondary education spheres. In recent years, MDRC has expanded into new domains, including criminal justice, behavioral science, and data analytics. It formally retired its original name and adopted "MDRC" as its registered corporate identity in 2003.{{cite web|title=About MDRC: MDRC History|date=27 April 2012 |url=http://www.mdrc.org/about/about-mdrc-history}}

MDRC works across the United States, in Canada, and in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2012-04-27 |title=About MDRC - History |url=https://www.mdrc.org/about/about-mdrc-history |access-date=2021-08-17 |website=MDRC |language=en}} Their 2021 budget is $66 million, which they derive from government contracts, foundations, corporations and individuals.{{Cite web|last=brad|date=2012-09-20|title=About MDRC - Financial Profile|url=https://www.mdrc.org/about/about-mdrc-financial-profile|access-date=2021-08-17|website=MDRC|language=en}}

In 2021, MDRC voluntarily recognized Social Policy Workers United (SPWU) as their staff union.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-23 |title=MDRC Voluntarily Recognizes Social Policy Workers United |url=https://www.mdrc.org/news/announcement/mdrc-voluntarily-recognizes-social-policy-workers-united |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=MDRC |language=en}} In June 2024, SPWU members went on an Unfair Labor Practice strike in response to MDRC's refusal to bargain over end-of-year raises.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipSI6fMvVbw |title=SPWU's Unfair Labor Practice Strike: No Raises, No Work! |date=2024-06-05 |last= |type=Video |access-date=2024-08-26 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2024-05-25 |title=SPWU Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the National Labor Relations Board |url=https://www.socialpolicyworkersunited.org/post/spwu-files-unfair-labor-practice-charge-with-the-national-labor-relations-board |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=Social Policy Workers United |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-06-14 |title=Social Policy Workers United Holds 3 Day ULP Strike at MDRC |url=https://www.nycclc.org/news/2024-06/social-policy-workers-united-holds-3-day-ulp-strike-mdrc |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=New York City Central Labor Council |language=en}} In August 2024, SPWU members voted to ratify their first contract.

MDRC focuses on five policy areas and has two centers:{{Cite web |title=History of MDRC |url=https://www.mdrc.org/about/about-mdrc-history |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=About MDRC}}

• Family well-being and children's development
• K-12 education
• Postsecondary education
• Youth development, criminal justice, and employment
• Economic mobility, housing, and communities
• Center for applied behavioral science
• Center for data insights

MDRC helped pioneer the use of random assignment to test social programs.{{cite news|last=Bornstein|first=David|title=Social Change's Age of Enlightenment|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/social-changes-age-of-enlightenment/|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 17, 2012}} Its evaluations of welfare work programs influenced the welfare reform of the 1990s.{{cite journal|last=Mead|first=Lawrence|title=Research and Welfare Reform|journal=NYU Department of Politics|date=July 8, 2004|url=http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/politics/papers/source/mead_rwr.pdf}} In the 1990s and 2000s, MDRC's evaluation of the Career Academies high school reform model, which showed impacts on participants' earnings eight years after graduation, influenced the expansion of the model around the nation.{{cite journal|last=Hoye|first=J.D.|author2=David Stern|title=The Career Academy Story: A Case Study of How Research Can Move Policy and Practice|journal=Education Week|date=September 10, 2008|url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/10/03hoye.h28.html}} MDRC was the intermediary for the first social impact bond demonstration in the United States, a project to reduce recidivism among 16- to 18-year-olds incarcerated at Rikers Island.{{cite news|last=Chen|first=David|title=Goldman to Invest in City Jail Program, Profiting if Recidivism Falls Sharply|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/nyregion/goldman-to-invest-in-new-york-city-jail-program.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=August 2, 2012}}Porter, Eduardo (July 28, 2015). "Wall St. Money Meets Social Policy at Rikers Island". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-08-12 MDRC's study of the City University of New York's Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) has demonstrated that the program has doubled the three-year graduation rate of students who begin college requiring remedial education.Scrivener, Susan, Michael J. Weiss, Alyssa Ratledge, Timothy Rudd, Colleen Sommo, Hannah Fresques (February 2015). [http://www.mdrc.org/publication/doubling-graduation-rates textDoubling Graduation Rates: Three-Year Effects of CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students.] New York: MDRC.

• Judith M. Gueron
• Cecilia Rouse
• Bridget T. Long

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• {{official website|https://www.mdrc.org/}}

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Category:Research

Category:Public policy

Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York (state)

Category:Non-profit organizations based in California