Executive Director’s Message

Our vision is for the Mississippi Urban Research Center to become a premier center for urban research and service. And, MURC’s past provides a firm foundation for progress towards this vision. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV prevention core staff members, within MURC’s Projects Division, have helped train 3,878 persons throughout the nation to implement evidence-based HIV risk reduction interventions. The Metro Jackson Community Prevention Coalition, a unit within the Projects Division, has impacted over 3,000 inner-city youth through its life skills curriculum for middle school students and summer teen camps. MURC’s Research Division collaborated with the Mississippi Office of the Attorney General to implement Project Safe Neighborhoods, conducted studies to help identify predictors of crime, established a U. S. Census Information Center, and has established a telephone survey unit with the capacity to survey 3,000 households monthly. MURC’s final and newest division, Contractual Services, is positively impacting evaluation within community-based organizations. We are helping these organizations redefine why and how they deliver services. 

Collaborations with research faculty members at Jackson State University, Brown University, the University of California at Los Angeles, The University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi State University, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Tulane University; collaborations with RAND, Inc.; and the recent appointment of Dr. Nanetta Payne, as Associate Director for research in the Research Division document our progress toward the vision. Furthermore, our Online Journal of Rural and Urban Research, when launched, will chronicle our progress. Excitement is high; morale is excellent; competence is second to none; and commitment is unbelievable. We are working for a new day!