The Los Angeles Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) project serves as a base for committed stakeholders to bring their diverse knowledge into city governance and find creative avenues to advance the 17 SDGs. It provides a concrete framework to guide the Task Forces’ policy-making —objectives are rooted in project collaboration, innovation, and community partnerships.
Read our full research principles.
The Young Initiative Task Force Model for City and Community Partnerships
Task Forces are student research groups conducting fixed-term, problem-driven, and policy-oriented research, guided by academic advisors and overseen by a client (e.g., local government). Research generally falls into six types:
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Exploratory or mapping: Broad comparison of city policies, plans, and data availability vs. international agreements and datasets.
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Stakeholder Engagement: Outreach to gauge interest/issues (public, private, non-profit); expert outreach (academics, policymakers).
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Data Assessment & Collection: Review of data made available through the client to identify gaps in services and data transparency itself.
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Landscape Analysis: Detailed but broad assessment of issue-specific policies, services, and access.
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Best Practice Case Studies: Rich case study research on successful practices that can be transferred or translated into a local context.
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Proposals & Recommendation: Direct request for recommendations or contributions on a specific issue/project/question.
Task Forces drive change and innovation on multidimensional issues at the municipal level. Their model represents a unique opportunity for students to exercise their critical thinking, data analysis, and communication skills and act as consultants in service with local city governments.
If you wish to share your vision for possible community partnership projects or give feedback on current initiatives, please contact younginitiative@oxy.edu. We appreciate your input.
How to be a Human Right City
“How to be a Human Right City” was developed out of a Spring 2024 Young Student Task Force led by Professor Anthony Chase. This Task Force worked with the Human Rights Cities Alliance to create a Toolkit to support local actors in the United States and around the world to implement international human rights obligations at the local level. The development of Human Right Cities (HRCs) indicates the desire of local actors to bring to bear human rights law and principles on local issues. This ambition is much needed! But it also presents many challenges. Many HRC declarations have been, unfortunately, more rhetorical than real. Translating human rights commitments from rhetoric to reality requires shared understandings on human rights obligations and how to implement them effectively. Hence the need for a guide of steps cities can take to not just declare themselves an HRC, but also make substantively real human rights’ promises where they matter most: on the ground for residents in cities around the world.
In addition to the work the students listed below put into creating this Toolkit, Professor Chase worked with Task Force liaison Gaea Morales (Oxy/DWA 2018) with the support of two student Task Force members -- Arden Courtney Collins and Peter Hrant Vartanian -- to distill this research into a short piece on why Human Rights Cities are rising across the globe. That piece can be found here: "With nation-states retreating, cities can take the lead on human rights."
Student Task Force members: Mary Ellen Coaty, Arden Courtney Collins, Mathilde Dépéry, Raja Bella Hicks, Elsa Marsh, Taylor Miller, Riley Polaner, Francesca Romero, Lily Snyder, and Peter Vartanian.
Past Task Forces
