Co-founded in 2009 and directed by Sociology faculty, the mission of the Institute for the Study of "Race" and Social Justice, housed at the RWJCHP, is to promote the establishment of empirical, theoretical and methodological clarity about "race" that draws on cutting-edge thinking from multiple disciplines and diverse empirical traditions. The Institute seeks to develop ways of empirically measuring "race" and assessing racialization processes in order to develop strategies for ameliorating race-based inequality. The Institute has organized and participated in several national symposiums with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Census Bureau on the collection of Race and Ethnicity Data. It coordinates the New Mexico Statewide Race, Gender and Class Data Policy Consortium established in 2014. The Consortium strives to be a research design and methodology incubator that fosters the exchange of ideas and innovative value-added strategies anchored in the insights of examining race, gender, class together for improving data collection that advances policy-relevant knowledge about inequities in a variety of policy arena including health, employment, housing, criminal justice, education and early childhood. Comprised of the directors and data managers of a variety of research centers at UNM including The Institute for Social Research, Center for Education and Policy Research, The Bureau of Economic and Business Research, The UNM Office of Institutional Analytics, Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions, and The UNM Diversity Council, the Consortium aspires to be a national leader in establishing pathways from harmonized data collection, analysis and reporting to effective policies that address the needs of vulnerable communities in New Mexico and beyond.