Welcome to the ARC!

In 1997, a well-known study of the St Louis region – called the Peirce Report – concluded that one of the region’s most valuable assets – its colleges and universities – were an underused and under-contributing factor in community improvement. But a decade later, a unique alliance of three of the region’s leading research institutions – The Department of Public Policy Studies (SLU), the Public Policy Research Center (UMSL), and the Institute for Urban Research (SIUE) – has been formed to create a data clearinghouse and research organization that can bring significant resource to community improvement in St. Louis.

Named the Applied Research Collaborative – or ARC – it works with local governments and nonprofits. Its efforts to provide access to, and analysis of, valuable databases can help planners and decision-makers:

Save time tracking down relevant data sets
Provide scope and context for data and research findings
Present and analyze local and regional trend data
Document need for specific community services
Focus community investment
Evaluate program options
Assess program effectiveness

The Applied Research Collaborative provides a “one-stop-shop” that consolidates data from a variety of sources. In so doing, ARC promises to make a variety of community improvement efforts more informed, better planned, and easier to implement.