Jeff Vincent

Background

About Jeff Vincent

I am an applied and policy-focused researcher, looking for practical solutions to challenging problems. My work rests at the nexus of three fields: urban planning, community development, and public education. For more info on my work and my CV: Two key questions guide my work: • How can neighborhoods, cities, and regions promote high quality public education? • How can public education promote healthy, vibrant neighborhoods, cities, and regions? To help answer these questions, in 2004, I co-founded the Center for Cities & Schools (CC+S) at the University of California, Berkeley. I currently serve as CC+S’s director of public infrastructure initiatives. CC & S is a policy research and technical assistance center, working to create more equitable cities through linking urban planning and public education. Visit us: https://citiesandschools.berkeley.edu I also am a founding board member of the [Re]Build America's School Infrastructure Coalition (BASIC), a non-partisan coalition of civic, public sector, labor, and industry associations who support federal funding to help under-served public school districts modernize and build K-12 public school facilities. My work embodies two key innovations in thinking and acting. First, finding answers to the difficult public policy questions requires new modes of scholarship, particularly those that draw knowledge from multiple disciplines and use multiple methods/approaches to aid understanding. Second, it requires bold collaborative work between the too-often-siloed public, nonprofit, and private sectors. My research takes up these new ways: I conduct “engaged scholarship,” done for and in partnership with public agencies and nonprofit organizations. My research is used to inform collaborative policy at multiple levels of government that is principle-driven and provides transparency, fairness, and accountability. For more info on my work and my CV: https://jvincentphd.wordpress.com/