IDEAS FOR THE WORLD FROM A WORLD OF IDEAS

IDEAS FOR THE WORLD FROM A WORLD OF IDEAS

IDEAS FOR THE WORLD FROM A WORLD OF IDEAS Since 1980, COSMOS has produced ideas to help our clients governments, foundations, and businesses confront American society s greatest challenges. Consider, for instance, the following: The U.S. is the world s most advanced country but our fourth-graders score worse in mathematics than those in 12 other countries (our eighth-graders are 28th!): Are we smarter or only more commercial? The U.S. has the highest quality of life in the world but our consumption of illicit drugs is twice the global average: Are we a happier or a more stressed society? COSMOS s work deals with these conditions, in addition to such topics as: law enforcement and violence prevention, minority health, informal science education, teen smoking, housing and community development, parenting practices, HIV/AIDS prevention, local economic development, and assisting small- and medium-sized manufacturers. In short, COSMOS addresses the human and societal conditions that have made the U.S. a society of contradictions bright but also dark; strong but also vulnerable; and egalitarian but also elitist. The U.S. has strongly declining crime rates but we have the world s highest incarceration rate: Are we a safer society or a persecuting society?

FROM A WORLD OF IDEAS TO REAL-WORLD ACTION In all of our work, COSMOS emphasizes making our ideas useful in dealing with the diverse cultural and economic fabric of communities across the country. Our research strives to make information and technology work for people and communities, not dictate to them. Our technical assistance strives to empower people, not make them dependent. Helping to make the world a better place for everyone is the quest our staff brings to the new millennium. A WORLD OF CAPABILITIES What will the world look like in the new millennium? The information highway may bring people into increasingly larger circles, but local communities and cultural diversity will still matter. COSMOS will continue to focus on improving local services, empowering people to control their lives, and making government and businesses work better for people. A new initiative, COSMOS*ASIA, will bring a similar orientation to another continent. COSMOS S SERVICES Research and policy analysis Program monitoring and evaluation Technical assistance and training Management information systems Communications and publication development Strategic planning Case studies, surveys, and focus groups

A WORLD WITHOUT END An old saying goes, Success is a journey, not a destination. For communities and society, short-term work on quick fixes must be balanced against longer-term work on root causes. Other work must occur year in and year out. For instance, because new children come of age every year, successful drug prevention strategies must be continually repeated, assessed, and updated. A WORLD OF VALUE COSMOS s continuing challenge is therefore to help communities and society prepare for the long haul. This means entering the new millennium prepared for uncertainty, for surprises, and possibly even for a totally new world of ideas. COSMOS S CORPORATE CULTURE COSMOS s staff, many of whom have doctorates in the management sciences and behavioral sciences, emphasize the following values in our work: Unquestioned professional integrity Rigor and state-of-the-art methods Flexibility and customization in problem-solving Quality control through peer review Dignity of people and of staff work Staff Expertise: 25% with doctorates, 54% with master s degrees Financial soundness

ILLUSTRATIVE CLIENTS OF COSMOS CORPORATION ILLUSTRATIVE CLIENTS OF COSMOS CORPORATION ASSOCIATIONS AND OTHER PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS American Council on Education American Enterprise Institute Arthur Andersen & Company Association of Accounting Administrators Chartway Technologies Compuware Corporation The Continental Association of Funeral and Memorial Societies Corporation for Public Broadcasting Council for Exceptional Children Food & Beverage Workers, Local 32 and Employers Benefit Fund Ford Motor Corporation General Motors Corporation Local Initiative Support Group Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. National 4-H Council National Center for Family Literacy National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention Police Executive Research Forum Southport Institute for Policy Analysis Southern Maryland Educational Consortium TASC, Inc. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay UAW-Ford National Education, Development and Training Center World Bank COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND OTHER RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS Abt Associates Inc. Advanced Technology, Inc. Battelle, Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation The CDM Group, Inc. Center for Effective Public Policy, Inc. Daytona Beach Community College Development Services Group, Inc. Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development Georgia Institute of Technology Innovation Network, Inc. John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York) KRA Corporation Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (NAS-NRC) Pennsylvania State University (Institute for Policy Research and Evaluation) Public/Private Ventures, Inc. Quantum Research Corporation Research Triangle Institute, Inc. Research±able Soza & Company, Ltd. SRA Technologies, Inc. SRI International Tufts University (Center for Public Service) University of Pennsylvania (Department of Regional Science) University of Washington (Institute for Public Policy and Management) Westat, Inc. FEDERAL AGENCIES Agency for International Development Federal Aviation Administration Federal Emergency Management Agency National Science Foundation U.S. General Accounting Office U.S. Office of Technology Assessment U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Department of Health and Human Services U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Labor STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES California Board of Prison Terms Connecticut Department of Education Connecticut Department of Social Services District of Columbia State Health Planning Development Agency Georgia s Regions 8 and 12 Maryland State Department of Education Massachusetts Parole Board Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development New Mexico Health & Environment Department Oklahoma Department of Mental Health Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education Texas State Department of Health FOUNDATIONS Benton Foundation The Cleveland Foundation Charles Stewart Mott Foundation DeWitt Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund The Ford Foundation The George Gund Foundation Kettering Foundation Knight Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation The National Science Center Foundation The New York Community Trust The Pew Charitable Trusts The Skillman Foundation The Tides Foundation

A WORLD OF CHALLENGES A SAMPLER OF COSMOS S PROJECTS Assisting a government-foundation collaboration to provide preventive health services to 0-7 year-olds and their families Identifying local successes to help schools across the country work to reduce youth gun violence Evaluating investments in housing to spur community development in Philadelphia Tracking the way that states are making systemic changes in science and mathematics education Demonstrating how drug prevention means changing community norms, markets, and media, not just blaming the victim Doing case studies of small and medium manufacturing firms, showing their transformation for the 21st century