Urban Research Initiative

Created by a generous donation to the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, the Urban Research Initiative project assists the Dayton City Manager and staff with an enhanced research capacity and technical assistance to address opportunities and challenges unique to its economy, location, neighborhoods and history.

Training and technical assistance

The Urban Research Initiative offers technical assistance and training to neighborhood groups and nonprofit organizations, building their capacity to successfully implement projects throughout the city. To help neighborhood leaders and residents and nonprofits learn how to improve their ability to report and use statistics and open data, the Urban Research Initiative will offer a Data Academy. Other training offered throughout the year will include the grant writing and fundraising, grants management and financial stewardship, volunteer management, program evaluation and other topics. Upcoming training can be found on their website. 

Repository of community reports

The Urban Research Initiative also serves as a repository for community plans or reports from the City of Dayton, Montgomery County and many other organizations.

Data resources

Residents and leaders need access to data to understand neighborhood issues, progress on indicators and become engaged in decision-making. The Urban Research has begun to collect local, state and national data sources that can help residents, nonprofits and neighborhood leaders access current information across a wide array of areas from infant mortality to housing complaints. Open data is available on their website.

Faculty and Staff Advisory Board

The Urban Research Institute has gathered the wonderful expertise of local University of Dayton faculty and staff to serve as an advisory board to projects. These faculty and staff members bring experience in sociology, human rights, law, economics, business, political science, government and other fields.