by KYW’s Karin Phillips

A new research center has opened on the campus of Temple University that will focus on the African American community in Philadelphia.

The Center for African American Research and Public Policy formally opens this weekend with a series of discussions on Philadelphia's African Americans in terms of health and healthcare, education, economic development, crime and social justice.

The Center's co-director Dr. Thaddeus Mathis says the focus is to gather together researchers, scholars, community activists and public officials to put together a coherent view of black Philadelphia:

“Students and teachers will also have a laboratory, a real live laboratory, to do their work in. They'll actually be able to work directly with community groups even as they're working in the classroom.”

Task forces in each area will be formed and recommendations will be formed and passed on to policy makers to make needed changes in the community.