W.E.B. Du Bois Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy
About the "Du Bois Policy Center"
The Dr. Mack Henry Jones Department of Political Science has demonstrated a long and celebrated record of research in the social sciences. In the tradition of rigorous and purposeful scholarship modeled by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois during his two stints on the faculty of Atlanta University, the Department is committed to providing students and faculty with firm institutionalized base for applied research. At the core of this research tradition is our W.E.B. Du Bois Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy (W.E.B. Du Bois Policy Center).
Du Bois Policy Center Mission & History
The mission of the W.E.B. Du Bois Policy Center is to interrogate, reframe, and develop public policy through research, community engagement, and advocacy that improves the quality of life for African Americans and Africans in the American and Global South. The vision is to foster a world where African Americans and African people can be free from public policies that oppress, repress, and cause state-sanctioned violence and can live out their lives liberated and free.
In 1968 Clark College established the Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy (SCSPP) as a research, training, teaching, and community outreach organization to more effectively provide needed services to people of color and low-income communities. It was designed to serve as a mechanism for faculty and students to develop competence in the formulation, assessment, and implementation of public policies which impact African-Americans and low-income people in the South. The goal of the SCSPP was to seek ways to improve the relative economic, educational, political, and social position of disadvantaged people, principally through research, training, and technical assistance. The research creates the knowledge to develop more effective strategies, policies, and programs.
With the consolidation of Atlanta University and Clark College in 1988 to form Clark Atlanta University (CAU), the SCSPP's capabilities to conduct research/ policy analysis on issues impacting the poor and people of color in the South were greatly enhanced. The SCSPP began to provide new data on the past and contemporary predicament of African-Americans and analyze existing and proposed public policies which have the greatest impact on the lives of Black Americans, particularly those living in the South: community and economic development, criminal justice, education, employment, environment, health, housing, public finance, social welfare, and transportation.
Under the leadership of Dr. Bob Holmes for over thirty years SCSPP has produced several noteworthy accomplishments. The yearly publications of the Status of Black Atlanta and the Georgia Legislative Review provides scholars and policymakers tremendous insight into the political state of Georgia. Additionally, numerous studies were conducted on racial disparities in business, criminal justice, education, housing, political representation, transportation, and legislative outputs that impact people of color and low income. Because of the growing concerns over the enormous economic, environmental, political, and social consequences of the plethora of governmental programs, the SCSPP makes the coordination of the vast array of multi-disciplinary and systematic research on public policy issues possible.
Relaunching the W.E.B. Du Bois Southern Center
Relaunched in 2023 under the stewardship of CAU President Dr. George T. French, the W.E.B. Du Bois Policy Center continues to draw on its rich scholarly heritage, while employing contemporary research skills and tools. The broad task of the Center is to study the nexus between politics, the economy, and the formulation of public policies relative to their effect on poverty and inequality. The Policy Center periodically publishes works on public policy and legislative activities domestically and internationally. Dr. Joseph L. Jones currently serves as Executive Director the W.E.B. Du Bois Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy. More information about the Center and its current leadership, projects, and opportunities is available at the logo below.
