The Institute consists of faculty from departments and colleges throughout the University of South Carolina and practitioners from the human services and related fields.  The Institute consists of thirty-nine faculty and professional staff, seven support staff, eight graduate students, and a number of affiliated faculty. Faculty and professional staff come from the fields of computer science, African American studies, education, geography, women’s studies, government, journalism, law, medicine, nursing, public health, psychology, social work, and sociology. Many faculty members have significant experience as practitioners and administrators in their fields.

The Institute is located at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and is adjacent to the state capitol and executive offices. Based at the main campus of the USC system, it is able to draw on the resources of the state’s only doctoral programs in social work, public health, sociology, economics, psychology, and journalism as well as the state’s only law school and the University’s School of Medicine to study families and communities and design ways to address their needs. Proximity to government offices and the headquarters of nonprofits facilitates its work with those organizations and reflects its role as a bridge between academia and the community.