The type of research that NORC does is generally grounded in the social sciences.  There is underrepresentation of people of color among social science graduates.   In order to increase diversity in our employee base, we need to have more people of color as graduates in the social sciences.  

We have funded several continuing initiatives with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).  We are partnering with them on curriculum development, trainings, internships for students, fellowships for faculty, and research project collaboration.

• The initial steps are going very well: we now have regular and sustained interactions with students and faculty at HBCUs on a myriad of subjects and with a variety of activities.
• We now discussing these steps with a wider group of organizations in our industry: the concept is that if the industry as a whole is seen of encouraging and supporting HBCU students to major in the social sciences, and then hiring these graduates and welcoming them into the industry, we will expand the overall pipeline of talent and it will be more diverse, and inherently stronger as a result.