The Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) is an organization of academics, environmental professionals and community partners committed to improving the quality of life in urban communities, especially those that have been historically underserved. Expertise in science, policy, ethics, natural history, urban planning, and educational practices is utilized to conduct interdisciplinary, community-based research projects on a wide variety of topics including animal social behavior, environmental quality, human response to the environment, and ethical management of natural resources.
CURes serves LMU faculty, staff and students by developing undergraduate courses, supporting faculty research, and scholarly activity. The center collaborates with faculty through fellowships, joint grant making, and hosting and supporting university outreach programming. In addition, it works with members of the LMU community to build technical tools that provide solutions for challenging urban problems. It partners with the Green LMU Initiative and the Campus Sustainability Officer; the School of Education; Loyola Law School; Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and others to enhance the ongoing efforts of these programs and to help initiate novel projects.
The Restorative Justice Project is a core program of CURes, offering tools and training in restorative justice designed to advance urban health and resilience. The goal is to provide the communities with practices that can be used to help cultivate knowledgeable, responsible, and civically engaged citizens.
"Restorative Justice and Restorative Practices provides a framework for a healthy dialogue with conflict at all levels. Although we may believe that in a 'polite' society we can sidestep or submerge our disagreements, they are, in fact, critical to a functioning democracy and a progressive community. RJ provides tools to help us embrace conflict on a daily basis and manage extreme cases where someone is harmed. All the while, strengthening the social fiber that binds us together and trying never to exile members from the community..." - Dr. Eric Strauss, CURes Executive Director.