About the IMA
Institute for Metropolitan Affairs

430 S. Michigan
Suite 1756
Chicago, IL 60605-1394

Kathleen Kane-Willis, Interim Director

The Institute for Metropolitan Affairs is a public policy research institute operated by Roosevelt University. As such, the Institute's mission includes engagement in a broad array of research activities pertaining to public affairs that impact on residents and institutions located within the Chicago region. The Institute actively seeks projects that bear on the development of the Chicago area as a region, engaging the communities of Roosevelt's Chicago and Schaumburg campuses. It works to apply academic expertise to practical policy problems affecting the region.

What the Institute Does

• Facilitates and conducts major research projects in the fields of economics, sociology, public policy, education, political science and business.
• Conducts symposia, forums and presentations on areas of public policy interest to the region.
• Assists Roosevelt faculty with development of teaching and scholarship.
• Provides contract consulting to Chicago area governments and institutions.

Institute Staff

The Institute is operated by a core professional staff but also seeks the involvement of Roosevelt faculty and staff. Students and student-interns assist with the majority of the Institute’s projects.

The Institute maintains a partnership with the Metro Chicago Information Center that allows it to offer a complete array of survey, geographic analysis, and data analysis services.

Institute Support

The Institute receives core funding from Roosevelt University but also is supported by grants from local and national foundations, corporate and individual contributions, and contract income.

History of the Institute

The Institute for Metropolitan Affairs was created in 1989 to address public policy issues in the metropolitan area through policy analysis and strategic community planning. Major products during the 1990s included a White House Conference on the Future of the U.S. Workplace, recommendations for Chicago trade show and convention planning, analysis of hospital emergency department overcrowding, the Mayor’s Education Roundtable on school reform strategies, and a wide variety of projects dealing with community health, development, and safety.

Since the late 1990s, the IMA has conducted more than 30 funded projects and engaged almost 40 students in its professional work. In pursuit of its mission, the Institute has focused on the following priorities: conducting research aimed at illuminating issues important to understanding the context within which public policy operates in the Chicago area; providing technical assistance aimed at assisting important institutions operating in the metropolitan area; involving Roosevelt students in authentic research experiences and providing them with opportunities for financial support. While the IMA’s mission entails an interest in a broad array of social policy areas in order to be responsive to the diverse interests of the university and its faculty, its work has tended to focus around several particular areas of expertise. These are: 1) studies of immigration and regional demography; 2) social welfare; 3) drug policy; 4) and regionalism.

In 2005, IMA leadership established the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy to focus resources on the intersections of Illinois drug policies, the criminal justice system, and the impacts on health, housing, social identification and traditions. The majority of our current projects view social policies through the lens of substance use and drug policy. These areas include criminal justice reform, including alternatives to incarceration; expansion of treatment services using evidenced-based criteria and grounded in harm reduction philosophies; and developing programs for hard to serve populations, including homeless populations and prevention programs for youth.