Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture

What Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture does

The Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture (CSRPC) is an academic research center at the University of Chicago, founded in May 1996 by Political Science Professor Michael C. Dawson. Housed at 5733 S. University Ave. on the South Side of Chicago, the center functions as a hub of research and an incubator of anti-racist practice, advancing scholarship, arts, and public dialogue on the centrality of race and racism. Its core products and programs include the Annual Public Lecture (featuring distinguished public intellectuals), the Research Bites lunchtime speaker series, the Artists-in-Residence and Artist/Poet for the People Fellowship programs (run jointly with Arts + Public Life), the Reimagining the University initiative, and recurring academic working and study groups such as Race and Racial Ideologies and Abolition + Carceralities. Funding programs comprise graduate fellowships, student research and travel grants, and faculty research grants, supplemented by workshops, study groups, and a reservable physical space.

CSRPC operates a non-commercial model: programs, events, and grants are provided free to students, faculty, community members, and organizational partners. Revenue is derived from three principal streams: University of Chicago institutional funding, foundation grants (notably a $4 million, four-year Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant awarded in 2021 to fund Reimagining the University and the Centering Race Consortium), and individual donations routed through the university's GiveCampus platform. Distribution occurs through the physical center, virtual events (Zoom), and a global on-demand YouTube event archive, supported by an active multi-platform social media presence and a weekly newsletter, The Hub.

The center serves a horizontal set of stakeholders including UChicago graduate and undergraduate students, 100+ faculty affiliates across departments, South Side community organizations, artists-in-residence, and multi-institutional partners through the Centering Race Consortium (Stanford, Yale, Brown, UChicago). Leadership comprises Faculty Director Gina E. Miranda Samuels and Executive Director Tracye A. Matthews, supported by a small core staff of approximately five plus interns and fellows. The center has accumulated nearly 30 years of institutional history, expanded programming through partnerships with the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, Scholars for Social Justice, Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project, Beyond Prisons Initiative, Haymarket Books, and Sisters in Cinema, and recently won a 2025 Healing Illinois Grant (one of 25 selected from 695 statewide applications).

Name

Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture

Legal name

Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture

Website

https://csrpc.uchicago.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CSRPC is the University of Chicago's academic research center advancing scholarship, arts, and public dialogue on race and racism. It serves UChicago students and faculty, South Side community partners, and artists through lectures, fellowships, grants, and a multi-institutional consortium.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Research Center

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAFAB

Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Civil Rights, Advocacy & Public Policy Organizations

SECONDARYBPAGAFAC

Racial & Ethnic Justice Organizations

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Civil Rights, Advocacy & Public Policy Organizations

SECONDARYBPAGADAE

College Access, Scholarships & Student Success Nonprofits

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Education & Youth Development Nonprofits

SECONDARYEDALAOAI

Community Engagement & Service-Learning Partnerships

Education/Student Services & Campus Operations/Alumni Relations, Development & Campus Community Engagement

Keywords

• Academic research center
• Race studies scholarship
• Community engagement programs
• Artist residency programs
• Research grants and fellowships

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. University of Chicago Funding: As a university center at the University of Chicago, CSRPC receives institutional funding and support from the university.
2. Foundation Grants: Major grants from foundations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation ($4 million four-year grant in 2021) supporting the Reimagining the University initiative and Centering Race Consortium.
3. Donations: Individual donations through the university's giving platform supporting CSRPC programs and initiatives.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

CSRPC is an academic research center that advances scholarship, arts, and public dialogue about race and racism. It delivers public lectures, speaker series, artist residencies, fellowships, research grants, working groups, study groups, and community partnerships to students, faculty, artists, and South Side Chicago community members. Its work is funded by university support, foundation grants, and donations.

Product overview

The Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture (CSRPC) is an academic research center at the University of Chicago, not a traditional product company. It operates as a hub of research and incubator of anti-racist practice. The center's offerings include: The Hub weekly newsletter for communications; Annual Public Lecture and Research Bites speaker series for public dialogue; Reimagining the University initiative with Mellon Foundation funding for cross-campus collaboration; Artists-in-Residence Program and Artist/Poet for the People Fellowship in collaboration with Arts + Public Life; Graduate Fellowship Opportunities, Student Research + Travel Grants, and Faculty Research Grants for funding; Race and Racial Ideologies Working Group and Abolition + Carceralities Study Group for scholarly communities; and Space Reservation services. These programs collectively advance scholarship, arts, and public dialogue about race and racism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Public Lecture Signature event featuring distinguished public intellectuals whose work enhances understanding of the centrality of racism and white supremacy in the systems we inhabit. Open to the university community and broader public.
• Research Bites Lunchtime virtual speaker series showcasing race-related research at UChicago, providing an informal interactive space for university community members to share interests and explore collaboration.
• Reimagining the University Initiative Multi-institutional initiative examining the role of race in determining whose knowledge, expertise, experiences, and access to freedom counts in universities, bringing together race centers at Stanford, Yale, Brown, and UChicago.
• Artists-in-Residence Program Yearly cohort of artists-in-residence whose work examines themes relevant to South Side communities and engages issues of race, politics, and culture, offered in collaboration with Arts + Public Life (APL).
• Artist/Poet for the People Fellowship Fellowship supporting artists and poets whose work centers race and community engagement, offered in collaboration with Arts + Public Life.
• Graduate Fellowship Opportunities Funding and fellowship opportunities for graduate students pursuing scholarship related to race and racism at the University of Chicago.
• Student Research and Travel Grants Grants supporting student research and travel for scholarship on race and racism at the University of Chicago.
• Faculty Research Grants Grants supporting faculty research on race and racism in the systems we inhabit at the University of Chicago.
• Race and Racial Ideologies Working Group Informal intellectual community for graduate students from all disciplines to share projects engaging with epistemologies of racialization and ethnicity.
• Abolition and Carceralities Study Group Space for graduate students, fellows, instructors, and faculty to discuss works in progress on abolitionist approaches in academic research and explore emergent modes of abolitionist praxis.
• Space Reservation Service Room and space reservation services for hosting events at the CSRPC facility located at 5733 S. University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637.
• The Hub Newsletter Weekly newsletter published every Monday at 12 p.m., featuring news, opportunities, and events that advance CSRPC's mission to serve as a center of research and incubator of anti-racist practice.

Quantifiable outcome

• 695 applications submitted for Healing Illinois grant, only 25 initiatives supported across Illinois

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Arts + Public Life (APL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaboration hosting yearly cohorts of Artists-in-Residence since 2012 (celebrating 10th anniversary in July 2022). Joint programs include Artists-for-the-People fellowships and Public Art Project.
• Centering Race Consortium (CRC) PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMulti-institutional collaboration with Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) at Brown University, Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University, and UChicago's CSRPC. Funded by Mellon Foundation.
• Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerChicago-based membership association of libraries, universities, and archival institutions making materials on African American and African diasporic culture accessible. UChicago serves as host institution and fiscal agent.
• Scholars for Social JusticemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLaunched January 2018, platform and network for progressive scholars to support political agenda insisting on equity, justice, and freedom. Focuses on marginalized communities and reimagining the academy.
• Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education ProjectmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVisual arts and humanities project connecting teaching artists and scholars to men at Stateville Maximum Security Prison through classes, workshops, and guest lectures. Partnership formed with UChicago Civic Knowledge Project.
• Beyond Prisons InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCornerstone anti-racist teaching and learning initiative that interrogates, disrupts, and works to move beyond carceral logics and systems affecting people of color.
• International HouseminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-sponsor of the 2026 Annual Public Lecture featuring Robin D.G. Kelley.
• Haymarket BooksminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit radical book distributor and publisher. Co-sponsored events with CSRPC including book talks.
• Black Adoption ProjectmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerReparative archive, resource hub, and knowledge-sharing space created with people whose lives, families, and identities have been touched by adoption. Led by CSRPC Faculty Director Gina Miranda Samuels.
• Sisters in CinemaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner501(c)(3) nonprofit established 2014 to entertain, educate, develop and celebrate Black girls and women media-makers and future generations of storytellers.
• South Side Home Movie ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit organization presenting unique film screenings at locations across Chicago's south side with scholar and activist-led discussions.
• UIC Social Justice InitiativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCampus-wide project at UIC growing out of collective effort by faculty, staff, students, administrators and community partners since 2010.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration: Yale's race-focused academic center and a direct CRC consortium partner. Shares CSRPC's emphasis on research, public programming, and graduate student engagement around race scholarship at an elite private university.
• Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA: UCLA's African American studies research center with a parallel mix of faculty affiliates, fellowships, conferences, and community-facing programming. Closely comparable in mission and structure to CSRPC, though operating at a much larger public-university scale.
• Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University: Stanford's interdisciplinary race studies center and fellow Centering Race Consortium partner. Operates with the same core functions as CSRPC — faculty affiliates, fellowships, research funding, and public programming — making it a near-perfect structural peer.
• Department of African American Studies at Princeton University: Princeton's African American studies academic home combining teaching, research, and public programming. Comparable elite-private-university setting and analogous scholar- and community-facing role to CSRPC.
• Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA) at Brown University: Brown University's race-focused academic center and a direct consortium partner with CSRPC in the Mellon-funded Centering Race Consortium. Shares mission, structure, and programming model for race scholarship, fellowships, and public events.
• Center for Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies at UC Berkeley: UC Berkeley's interdisciplinary research and programming hub on race, gender, and sexuality. Comparable academic-center structure with faculty affiliates, visiting scholars, fellowships, and public events.
• Center for Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara: UC Santa Barbara's interdisciplinary Black studies research center offering faculty affiliates, fellowships, and community programming. Comparable structural peer with similar focus on race scholarship and public dialogue.

Broad incumbents

• Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard: Larger, more established Harvard-based race scholarship and culture center. Operates a wider portfolio (du Bois Institute, hip-hop archive, Image of the Black in Law and Culture) at greater scale, making it a broad incumbent peer rather than a direct niche competitor.

Emerging players

• African American Studies Department at Howard University: Howard University's longstanding African American studies academic unit — the most established HBCU-based program in the field. Comparable in mission and programming to CSRPC but operating from an HBCU institutional context with different student demographics and public-mission framing.

Regional players

• Center for African American Studies at Northwestern University: Northwestern's African American studies academic center in nearby Evanston, IL. Operates with similar research, fellowship, and programming functions as CSRPC and serves a comparable Midwest elite-private-university audience, but in a different geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CSRPC
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@CSRPCUofC
• Facebookfacebook.com/uchicagocsrpc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/csrpc
• Instagraminstagram.com/csrpc/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture