BRANDON BAKER: What a year it has been. As I sit here in an empty library at
RAND in Santa Monica, normally a buzzing gathering space for our community,
it's hard not to think back on this time last year.
In the Office of Development, we started the new year gathering with friends and
supporters across the country.
We were building excitement for the launch of Tomorrow Demands Today, the largest
fundraising campaign in RAND's history.
We plan to publicly kick-off the campaign with an in-person event in early March,
but 2020 had other plans for all of us.
At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, as I struggled to make
sense of what was happening, I found hope in RAND's rapid research response.
RAND did not sit still.
Our research did not stop.
RAND researchers like Jennifer Bouey, the Tang Chair in China Policy Studies,
began commenting on COVID-19 back in January, and sharing
her expertize as an epidemiologist.
As researchers throughout RAND jumped into action,
We mobilized to bring their research to you through our RAND Remote event series.
Our goal was to connect you to their work, their efforts to help strengthen
communities, counter the effects of Truth Decay, rethink institutions
and catalyze problem solving, especially during this time.
We heard our RAND researchers talk about COVID-19's toll on particularly
vulnerable populations.
ANITA CHANDRA: When COVID started to hit the communities, particularly here in the US,
we right away knew that there were going to be some specific needs.
One of them is that we had a sense, and I think others did as well, that
this would have some disproportionate impacts and not just on our older
Americans, but on communities of color and other underserved populations.
And so very early on, we wanted to leverage the work that we already have at RAND
that are working with those populations, and understand the impact
on those neighborhoods.
BAKER: Our researchers address how leaders are making decisions.
PETER HUSSEY: Well, they're essentially in the fog of war.
They're putting out fires.
They don't have very much bandwidth. They're facing urgent decisions every day and
in some cases may lack access to the expertise they need to sort through
this information chaos.
BAKER: We learned the results from RAND surveys to explore COVID-19's effects on
American lives and livelihoods.
SHANTHI NATARAJ: In our survey and in others, women are consistently reporting that even
when they and their spouse both work, they're the ones sharing or taking the majority
of the burden of that increased child care and home schooling.
And that's likely, unfortunately, to set women's progress in the labor market back
for for many years to come.
BAKER: The Pardee RAND Graduate School pivoted, not only to ensure a continuity of education.
Our students are working with communities to help them confront the pandemic.
SUSAN MARQUIS: L.A. Los Angeles Unified School District said we need
an easy way for our families to find the resources and support that they need.
And so we did a rapid prototype in two weeks.
We developed a mapping program that allowed, it was an interactive
map that allowed L.A.
Unified School District families to find mental health resources, food support and the
like. And that's up and running now.
BAKER: We shared with you RAND's efforts to advance racial equity policy, and
researchers discussed the disproportionate effects of COVID-19.
BENJAMIN PRESTON: One of the more nefarious things about the COVID-19 pandemic
is how it really disrupted the social contract that we have
in this country in particular.
And so certainly we've seen quite clearly that racial
and ethnic minorities in the United States have borne the brunt of the COVID-19
pandemic experienced a disproportionate number of both illnesses and unfortunately,
deaths in this particular country.
But the other side of this is it's really revealed sort of the fragility
within our communities. The idea that people are having to
make decisions about, you know, do I go to work and risk
becoming infected or do I stay at home and risk not being able
to pay my rent this month?
BAKER: RAND experts talked about how the crisis is affecting
trust in institutions and information.
JENNIFER KAVANAGH: Trust matters in a lot of ways, I mean, if you think about not just the response to
it, but the recovery from it, a lot of this is going to have to be based on trust,
trusting that our public officials are making the right decision about opening things
up or keeping things closed, trusting that we're getting good guidance about what's
the right distance to stand apart and how can we protect ourselves and on our friends
and our family from the spread of this virus.
Ultimately, people going back out into public life is going to be based on them
feeling safe. And that requires that they trust that the government has the situation
under control.
BAKER: So many months later, we're still learning and adapting.
RAND research is helping, with recommendations on workplace wellness, teaching
and learning during a pandemic, and election safety.
We're also looking beyond the crisis, for example examining the use of technologies
like artificial intelligence in governance, and what more RAND can do for the future.
OSONDE OSOBA: It would be good as researchers at an independent think tank like
RAND to be able to do more work that is
not based on a specific agency, on a specific client.
We'll be able to think more broadly about
broader interventions, broader mechanisms, broader audit procedures for
doing research on technology. And part of the whole point of the campaign,
the RAND Campaign, is to give researchers more leeway
to spend time thinking about the systemic issues, coming up with solutions.
We need to be able to audit client systems, but at some point, we need a group of
smart, independent people to step back, look at the whole system and come up with
better solutions.
BAKER: RAND will continue using rigorous research, applying innovative analysis
and offering sophisticated expertise to build resilience and prepare for what
lies ahead.
While we remain apart now, I can't wait until we can be together in person,
to celebrate the strength of RAND, the power of research to make a difference,
and all that we can accomplish with your continued support.
As we look toward 2021, here's to standing strong, supporting
each other, and working together—today—to build a better tomorrow.