IPSG originates from a vision where everyone has access to quality education and meaningful economic opportunities. One where pathways to success are not constrained by barriers beyond one's control but are instead defined by potential and community support.
To engage in this vision is to acknowledge the realities of our nation. While many have succeeded, there are still many factors that limit people's full participation in America’s economic prosperity. As scholars who have navigated these realities, we recognize the strengths and difficulties in creating opportunities for all.
At IPSG, we are committed to creating knowledge-producing spaces that support the needs of American communities. IPSG provides transformative research and policy work that builds the tools for national, regional and community empowerment.
Our co-founders bring decades of transformative scholarship, policy leadership, and movement-building to IPSG. From establishing disciplinary standards in sociology and mixed-methods research to producing influential economic analyses of labor markets and health access, our leadership team has shaped national conversations on justice-centered scholarship, access to opportunity, and institutional transformation.
Our team and partners reflect the American communities we serve. Many of us move through the world with identities that have demanded adaptability, resilience, and a sense of vision and purpose that refuses to compromise.
Formally based in North Carolina, with a strategic presence in Washington DC, California, and Tennessee, our multi-state work offers both a grounded connection to rural and underinvested communities and the reach to influence national policy conversations. In this way, our work seeks to enact a national legacy guided by community needs.
Our independence is our greatest asset; free from the political constraints of traditional institutions, we pursue ambitious research agendas that others cannot, combining scholarly rigor with the agility to respond to a rapidly shifting political and social landscape.
We uphold high scholarly standards, combining advanced quantitative analysis with rich qualitative insights to generate evidence that is academic and practical. Disaggregating data across a variety of factors is essential to producing an understanding of how opportunity is structured, denied, or made possible.
We design research in collaboration with movement leaders, advocacy organizations, and community coalitions. This co-governance model ensures our work is informed by lived experience and grounded in practical realities, not academic abstractions. Our partnerships extend to rural communities, where policy debates often overlook the challenges of geographic isolation, infrastructure gaps, and economic transition.
We deliver findings in formats that decision-makers, practitioners, and the public can use, ranging from peer-reviewed publications to open-access reports, policy briefs, interactive tools, and community presentations. We invest deeply in translating complex research narratives that can mobilize support and inform the public.
We investigate how information is created and shared in public discourse and politics. By producing comprehensive public data, we bring light to issues that erode democratic participation and community engagement. Our research examines how more accurate, community-grounded narratives can strengthen democratic institutions and inform policies that serve the public good.
Through our Scholar in Residence, Postdoctoral Fellow, and Fiscal Sponsorship programs, IPSG offers a professional home to researchers working beyond the boundaries of traditional institutions. Whether unaffiliated, navigating politically constrained environments, or pursuing bold ideas that challenge institutional interests, these scholars find community, protection, and amplification through IPSG. We safeguard their intellectual property, elevate their voices, and help ensure their work reaches the audiences it was meant to serve.
