I can finally announce my new partnership with the Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy (CAREP) at the RAND Corporation to produce games about racial equity policy. Phew – it was hard keeping this one a secret!
What is RAND, you may ask? The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. Their name, RAND, is an amalgam of Research ANd Development.
What is CAREP? RAND launched CAREP in 2020 against the backdrop of, in their words, “a pandemic that was already inflicting disproportionate physical and economic pain on communities of color, and an overdue reckoning with America’s long history of systemic inequity and structural racism.” Why? To support “a growing portfolio of innovative, high-impact racial equity research and analysis at RAND, create a clearinghouse to help coordinate related efforts, and collaborate with organizations dedicated to advancing racial equity.” You can review an already impressive list of recent projects focused on racial and ethnic equity here.
Why games? Since CAREP aims to engage a broad range of the public in topics related to racial equity policy, including those traditionally left out of the conversations, game-based learning can be an accessible and powerful method for engaging and educating a wide audience about crucial but challenging topics. It can even be used to inspire people to take actions to better themselves and their community. Our first step will be launching in 2022 a web site featuring new and original games on topics related to racial equity policy developed with RAND and a number of external partners.
Who are the partners? Internally at RAND, CAREP and I will work closely with the RAND Center for Gaming. Gaming methods have deep roots at RAND, dating back to the 1940s when they pioneered the use of political-military crisis games to study nuclear deterrence. Today the Center (which is part of the Pardee RAND Graduate School offering a Ph.D. program in policy analysis) supports “a wide range of games to explore the sometimes unpredictable drivers behind human decision-making and to tap into human ingenuity, helping policymakers make better decisions and develop innovative solutions.” A number of PARDEE Graduate students will work closely with us on this project. In addition, a few weeks ago I presented a webinar to the Center, entitled Becoming Well Played – The Impact of Gaming on U.S. Culture (and Beyond.
I will be developing the first games in close partnership with educational game developer FableVision Studios. I have known FableVision for years, and am thrilled that this project gives us the opportunity to combine forces. It’s like that long awaited superhero team-up!
Finally, supporting various aspects of this work, I look forward to collaborating with Sustainable Progress and Equality Collective (SPEC). SPEC has selected Research Associates (RA) to assist in a unique, year-long project with RAND contributing to SPEC’s tech-based research and community building initiatives. Two RAs from SPEC will contribute to this project.
How can I learn more? For more information about the Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy, please email racialequity@rand.org and/or sign-up for my newsletter here. Otherwise, watch this space for more in 2022!
