CURA’s Artist Neighborhood Partnership Initiative (ANPI) provides small grants to artists of color and Native artists working in neighborhoods in Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding suburbs. ANPI grants recognize the valuable role that artists and the arts play in the work of fostering neighborhood wellbeing, and are intended to support the leadership of artists in these efforts. This grant program is particularly focused on directly funding individual artists or groups of artists working to build a more equitable Twin Cities.

We are…

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) invites proposals for our Faculty Interactive Research Program (FIRP).University of Minnesota faculty are critical resources in exploring issues and concerns important to Minnesota, such as the criminal justice system, demography, state or local economic development, education, employment, energy, the environment, health, housing, state and local government, welfare and poverty, human and social services, transportation, or land use and development.

The FIRP encourages University faculty to carry out research projects that answer…

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) is pleased to announce the competition for the 2023–2024 Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs, and invites interested faculty from across the University of Minnesota to apply for this award.

The Fesler-Lampert Chair in Urban and Regional Affairs provides one year of support for the research activities of a University of Minnesota faculty member on a project related to urban and regional affairs in Minnesota. Previous holders of the chair have used this support to complete projects on urban environmental policy advocacy in the Twin Cities, employee turnover and retention…

Over the past several months, CURA has completed research projects lead by CURA Director Dr. Edward Goetz and Senior Research Associate Dr. Brittany Lewis. Each project is related to affordable housing. An excerpt from “Seeking Closure: The Lowry Grove Report” by Dr. Goetz starts the roundup, followed by three projects lead by Dr. Lewis, “The Brooklyn Center Housing Report,” “Searching for Stability,” and finally “The Brooklyn Park Housing Project.”

Make sure you are subscribed to our email list to receive announcements about upcoming research projects.

Seeking Closure…

The Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) builds the power and capacity of community-based organizations to create social change through partnerships with the University of Minnesota. We match the research and technical needs of organizations with student research assistants to carry out community-defined and community-guided projects. CURA works with organizations selected for the program to create shared…

The Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) builds the power and capacity of community-based organizations to create social change through partnerships with the University of Minnesota. We match the research and technical needs of organizations with student research assistants to carry out community-defined and -guided projects. CURA works with organizations selected for the program to create shared understanding…

CURA is pleased to announce the recipients of this year′s Faculty Interactive Research Program grants: 

The Hennepin-University Partnership (HUP) graduate assistants will work with the Program Director on a variety of tasks related to the mission of HUP. HUP represents an innovative model of collaboration between local government and academia. The goal of HUP is to produce shared value for both the University of Minnesota and Hennepin County around areas of mutual interest. This is achieved through the promotion of joint community-based research, the sharing of academic and practitioner expertise, and providing students with real-world experience. HUP does not actively conduct research, but we catalyze, support, evaluate, and communicate collaborative…

Last Friday, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced the formation of a 41-Member Rent Stabilization Stakeholder Group. The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) has been selected to convene this group with CURA Director Edward Goetz and CURA Director of Community Based Research C Terrence Anderson acting as lead facilitators. The group will meet February through May to consider improvements and enhancements to rent stabilization in St. Paul. A final report will be completed by this summer. The rent stabilization ballot measure was approved by voters 53% to 47% in the election last November.

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) invites proposals for our Faculty Interactive Research Program (FIRP). University of Minnesota faculty are critical resources in exploring issues and concerns important to Minnesota, such as the criminal justice system, demography, state or local economic development, education, employment, energy, the environment, health, housing, state and local government, welfare and poverty, human and social services, transportation, or land use and development.

The FIRP encourages University faculty to carry out…