Two major grants in the United States attempt to overcome those constraints. One, to the University of Chicago, is supporting the Center for the Study of Urban Inequality, directed by Prof. William Julius Wilson. The center draws on several disciplinary perspectives to consider the political, economic, and cultural factors that contribute to urban poverty.

Secondly, grants totaling $1.2 million to the universities of Michigan, California at Los Angeles, and Massachusetts, and to the Social Science Research Council, are supporting a multicity study of urban inequality. The study focuses on three interrelated factors hindering the chances of the urban poor in the labor market: residential segregation, racial and ethnic discrimination, and the dynamics and opportunities of the labor market itself.

Internationally, the Foundation also aims to advance understanding of the rapidly changing nature of poverty in urban areas. The emphasis is on providing data and analyses to inform the policy-making process. The University of Toronto, which was granted $865,000 this year, is coordinating an international review of urban research in 12 subregions around the world. Over 400 local researchers, policy makers, and practitioners are participating in the project by writing or reviewing papers and attending subregional seminars.

The Foundation also supports research on the dynamics of urban poverty in individual countries, focusing on the special problems of particular disadvantaged urban groups. In Brazil, for example, the Foundation is funding studies of African-Brazilian employment patterns and research on the problems black women face in gaining access to social services. In Mexico, support went to multidisciplinary research on women's economic and health status in urban areas. In Mexico and in Egypt, the Foundation made grants to explore some of the environmental problems facing cities in those countries.