Bridges to Equity: A Promising Beginning
Equity Initiative Annual Report 2021-2022
In 2021, AIR launched the AIR Equity Initiative, a five-year, $100M+ investment in behavioral and social science research and technical assistance to address the underlying causes of systemic inequities and to increase opportunities for people and communities. By funding inclusive and collaborative research and technical assistance efforts that engage partners from the beginning, the Equity Initiative aims to foster bolder, strategic, and sustained ways to advance equity, especially in areas where investment is limited.
Bridges to Equity: A Promising Beginning is the first annual report of the AIR Equity Initiative and describes some of the progress that has been made towards improving the lives of individuals and communities that have been segregated by race or place. The report shares our initial portfolio of inclusive and collaborative research and technical assistance efforts, and highlights projects that engage community members and partners who bring diverse perspectives to advance equity by race and place. Our goal is for the research, tools, capacity, and relationships developed through the AIR Equity Initiative to inform policy and shape practice, ultimately encouraging a more equitable society where communities and residents thrive.
Our Commitment to Equity
A Message from Pat Gurin, Chair, AIR Board of Directors, and David Myers, AIR CEO
The American Institutes for Research’s (AIR) commitment to its mission is unwavering. In November 2020, the AIR Board of Directors authorized a five-year, $105 million landmark investment to create the AIR Equity Initiative. This commitment reinforces AIR’s aim to live its mission through more intentional generation and use of evidence to address the most urgent challenge we face globally: inequity.
The AIR Equity Initiative leverages our research and technical assistance expertise and builds and expands partnerships to better understand the challenges we are facing in the United States and around the globe, explore viable solutions, and narrow opportunity gaps that are rooted in historic and systemic inequity. Through competitive grant making, partnerships, and commissioned studies, we are challenging ourselves and others to work differently, to embrace diversity and foster inclusion, to work with urgency to address these vexing issues, and to learn from each other.
In this report, we describe accomplishments we have made to contribute to a more just society through substantive improvement in the lives of individuals and communities that have been segregated by race or place. We highlight initial funding of inclusive and collaborative research and technical assistance efforts that engage community members and other partners who bring diverse perspectives as we seek relevant solutions and long-term change.
We are off to a strong start, and there is much work still to be done. We hope you will continue with us on this journey toward creating a better and more equitable world.
