Projects
We partner with the people in government and the communities they serve to support data-driven innovation for the public good.
We partner with the people in government and the communities they serve to support data-driven innovation for the public good.
Can better data help improve educational outcomes?
The Possibility Lab at the University of California and the California Cradle-to-Career Data System (C2C) announced today a partnership to provide the public with actionable data on student progress, career pathways, and workforce outcomes.
Data Science Education
How can state government partner with CBOs to more effectively reach underserved populations?
Community-based organizations can act as “trusted messengers,” working with government partners to help improve the health, safety, and well-being of low-wage workers and other historically underserved communities. Identifying best practices for this type of collaboration…
How should we prepare future law enforcement leaders?
Possibility Lab researchers partnered with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to evaluate and improve their existing supervisor training program and analyze public perceptions about necessary training for law enforcement supervisors.
Incarceration Policing
How does policymaking change when we center community voices?
At the Possibility Lab, we believe that the people closest to social problems are also closest to their solutions, and that the policy process works best when policymakers, researchers, and those with lived experience work…
Equity Participatory Research Public Safety
How can standardized data collection promote statewide equity?
In partnership with California’s Office of Data and Innovation (ODI), the project aims to develop data-informed recommendations for comprehensive measurement standards. These standards will help the state identify equity gaps, assess its progress closing these…
Equity
How does prison research change when incarcerated people lead the research effort?
When people who are incarcerated are empowered to ask and answer their own research questions, a different set of questions arise out of the lived experiences of being in the prison.
Education Incarceration Participatory Research
How can we better support people transitioning from homelessness to supportive housing?
Despite significant funding for the construction of permanent supportive housing (PSH) in California, the state has continued to struggle with a persistent homelessness crisis. In partnership with a group of housing and service providers, we…
California 100 Participatory Research Public Health Safety Net
How might multi-disciplinary response teams (MDRT) improve outcomes for behavioral health crises?
Communities are seeking new ways to respond to behavioral health crises, that reduce the possibilities of harm and meet the needs of individuals and their families. As policymakers look to evaluate innovations, they seek metrics…
Mental Health Participatory Research Public Safety
How do we effectively train new law enforcement leaders?
Peace officers who are promoted to a supervisory management role (e.g., Lieutenant) must take on a new set of challenges and responsibilities. What core competencies are required to successfully prepare these individuals for their new…
Policing Public Safety Public Services
How do we build capacity for innovation in state and local government?
Public-sector agencies can be key sites of creativity and problem solving, but they often lack access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to design, implement, and evaluate new ideas. Sustained partnerships between government, private foundations,…
California 100 Equity Open Data Public Services Workforce
What are the opportunities and challenges of Pell Grants in prison?
With the full lifting of the 1994 ban on Pell Grant distribution announced in 2020, the return of Pell to incarcerated students is likely to radically alter the landscape of postsecondary educational opportunity during imprisonment,…
Education Equity Incarceration