Welcome to CURA's 50th Anniversary
In 2018 the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) celebrates its 50th year. We are taking this anniversary as an opportunity to thank all of our partners and supporters for their part in all that CURA has accomplished since 1968. We plan to celebrate the anniversary all year long! Look for short features on this website highlighting some of the most memorable projects and people in CURA’s history.
And look for events throughout the year to thank the community partners who have been so important to our work, the hundreds of students who have worked on community-based projects at CURA, and the many, many faculty members who have conducted CURA-funded research over the years. And though it is nice to look back on events and accomplishments, please know that all of us at CURA remain committed to connecting the resources of the University of Minnesota with the interests and needs of our urban and regional community. We look forward to the next 50!
All the best,

Ed Goetz
Director, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs
Tell us your CURA story
P.S. If you were a student who worked at CURA, or if you are one of our community partners, we would love to hear from you about your experience. Send a note and let us know if we can share it at [email protected] or on the social media platform of your choice with #CURA50. Thanks again for supporting community-based research at the University of Minnesota.
CURA as incubator: nonprofits and governmental entities that started at CURA
Over the years CURA has positioned itself as an organization that provides mentorship, seed funding, research aid, and administrative support to a variety of projects and programs addressing urban problems. Many of these have spun off into established nonprofits that are continuously evolving and working to address important issues in the present day. Here we take a closer look at a few CURA-incubated organizations, recognizing what our role was in the early days and how they’ve since evolved.
Read more
50 years of CURA connections at the U of M
Over the past 50 years CURA projects and programs have had a significant impact on the University of Minnesota. Our work has reached across the the state of Minnesota, allowing us to create strong ties with a diverse set of departments and colleagues to help address important issues that stretch beyond the University. Here we present a look at the institutions and programs that CURA helped launch and/or strongly supported throughout the years. This interactive story map invites you to gather an understanding of the issues addressed, CURA’s impact or role, and how the units have evolved since.
Read more