The Howard Samuels Center, founded in 1988, is a research center at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) specializing in applied and comparative research on local, regional, national, and international policies and politics.

The Samuels Center trains current and future researchers and scholars. In our efforts to promote diversity in the social sciences, we seek out talented women and minority scholars interested in policy. We focus on the obstacles that historically marginalized groups overcome as they seek to achieve democratic participation and improve their access to political institutions and processes. We pay special attention to the effectiveness of civic organizing to achieve these goals.

Our comparative analyses of community organizing help identify successful strategies. They are highly practical guides to democratic governance. We specialize in field-based, bottom-up, qualitative research of the highest quality and reliability. We draw on a pool of excellent researchers with diverse backgrounds who are sensitive to the growing multiculturalism of our societies. We have carried out studies and evaluations on the politics of education and education reform, higher education for low-income women, state politics, and on successful advocacy and community development strategies.