2010 marks our 45th anniversary, and also my fifth anniversary with URC.

I am proud to work with this dynamic, professional, and growing organization, which now has over 600 employees in 30 countries.

Reflecting on our 45 years, this year we developed a new mission statement, which reflects both our long history of service to communities in the United States and our dedication to improving health and social services around the world.   

Our new tagline, Improving Systems to Empower Communities, emphasizes our focus on taking a big picture approach to strengthening health systems while engaging partners, clients and communities in the countries we serve to instigate positive and lasting changes.

In our revamped website, we showcase our expertise and the ways in which we approach our work, as well as where we work, who our partners are and how you can work with us.

URC, founded by university professors, has historically been at the forefront of public and private sector efforts to introduce change and innovative approaches based on evidence and operations research to assure results that can rapidly be brought to full scale.  One factor that sets us apart is our worldwide leadership in the application of the science of quality improvement to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and safety of international health care delivery processes and systems. 

The Center for Human Services (CHS) was created in 1968, as a non-profit affiliate, to link our work more directly with community services in the United States. CHS now works internationally as well, offering many of the same services as URC.

We are embracing future health and social issues in a changing world, drawing on the solid lessons of URC’s history and heritage.

Barbara N. Turner