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The George Washington University Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity leverages the resources of a premier research university and invests in transformative community partnerships with the goal of eradicating racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequity worldwide.
Our Motivation
- DC Labor Inequality
- DC Education Inequality
- DC Health Inequity
- Criminal Justice Inequity
- Housing Inequity Nationwide
- DC Wealth Inequality
- Inequity Nationwide
Our Initiatives
All-In Cincinnati
All-In Cincinnati is working with the George Washington University’s Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity to integrate its community-driven policy work into national research. This forthcoming collaboration builds on five years of local success in housing, health, education, and economic mobility, aiming to evaluate and scale the model nationwide.
Closing the Wealth Gap
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity and the Center for Community Resilience have created an innovative framework, first piloted in Cincinnati, to close the wealth gap through targeted, place-based investments. The Opportunity Dashboard, a data-driven tool, helps partners track and simulate the impact of these investments aimed at driving economic and social mobility.
Summer Institute
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity is launching a two-week Summer Institute at GW, in partnership with Harvard and Drexel, to train students in systems science methods. This program aims to build a pipeline of future researchers addressing disparities in health, wealth, and well-being.
Meet Our Director: Wendy Ellis
I am delighted to have the privilege to lead the George Washington University Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity. The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity will be a wonderful opportunity to raise the visibility and impact of the work I have been dedicated to for my entire professional career. I am proud to join the community of like-minded students, scholars, and leaders dedicated to eradicating the devastating effects of inequity world-wide.
The Change We Are Enacting
Increase Impactful Research
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity creates infrastructure to support GWU researchers’ writing, teaching, publishing, and fundraising, dedicated to eradicating racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequity.
Invest in Authentic Community Partnerships
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity forms community based participatory research partnerships to invest new knowledge and other resources that help reduce inequity in Washington DC, the United States, and the world.
Disseminate Actionable Policy
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity translates and disseminates its interdisciplinary research into actionable policy interventions that tangibly and measurably increase equity in marginalized communities.
Convene Decision-Makers
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity gathers academic, community, private sector, and government leaders to design solutions that will increase racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic equity.
Equip Students to Serve
The Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity trains students in best practices of community-based participatory research to equip them to serve and lead with humility and integrity.
"The university’s decision to charter a new research institute dedicated to the principles of equality, fairness and freedom means everything. It means that at the dawn of our third century, GW has dedicated its resources to support faculty and students who seek to improve societies near and far, by contributing to the work of eradicating discrimination, bigotry, prejudice and inequality—to advancing the cause of justice, both here in the United States and around the world.”
Dayna Bowen Matthew
Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, GW Law; Founder, Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity
“Concretely, there are already hundreds of people not incarcerated as a result of the work the EI has supported, and we expect that number to grow rapidly as we onboard new jurisdictions. This kind of work is incredibly energizing for students and faculty, and it shows how GW can take a leadership position in criminal justice reform and do the kind of work that no one else is doing.”
Don Braman
Associate Professor of Law, GW Law
For all Institute for Socioeconomic Opportunity inquiries, please email our Senior Communications Associate, amber [dot] holland
gwu [dot] edu (Amber Holland).