Public Policy Research and Development

The linkage between theory and practice is essential in our work. IBW will establish a praxis oriented “think tank” composed of public policy analysts, community organizers, academics and community cultural workers to critically consider the central policy issues impacting our communities. The breadth of analytical perspective from both theoreticians and practitioners will be essential complements for developing a comprehensive perspective on issues.

IBW will develop research teams that will critically analyze selected local, national or international issues. These interdisciplinary, collaborative research teams will formulate policy alternatives, present them to the Institute for discussion and prepare them for broad dissemination.

Central to the Institute’s mission is the co-ordination of applied comparative research projects which unite the research capabilities of local research centers to provide enhanced capacity and knowledge of our communities and fields of research. IBW will seek to work with both institutionally based centers and independent research programs creating “value added” capacity for our work.

Every two to three years, as appropriate, IBW will convene a State of the Black World Conference. These meetings will seek to facilitate broad discussion concerning the condition of people of African descent, establish indicators by which we can evaluate our growth and development, provide an environment for networking, and facilitate skill-building training sessions for participants. IBW will also assume the responsibility for the documentation and dissemination of the results of these meetings.

Periodically, between the international conference gatherings, State of the Black World Institutes will be held regionally. These sessions will convene Black community members, organizations and institutions within targeted regions to discuss their local condition, plan strategies to address concerns, establish indicators to evaluate their work and share skill-building workshops to aid the process of local capacity building. Particular attention will be paid to developing youth leadership in these regional forums. Documenting and disseminating the work of IBW will be an important task. Using the work for popular education is central to our mission. Art, music, cinema, video and other forms of creative expression will accompany publications to help us broadly disseminate our work and ideas.