Richard Janikowski, founding Director of the Center for Community Criminology and Research (School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, the University of Memphis) and the Shared Urban Data System (The University of Memphis), has a degree in political science from Loyola University and a JD from DePaul University. Janikowski has been involved in community-based research and action in Memphis since 1997. The former chair of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, he consults nationally for the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Programs on data-driven problem solving for community safety and was the Principal Investigator for DOJ's Community Safety Information Systems in Memphis, one of the first DOJ projects to include mapping and other web-based technology for data-driven problem-solving. Janikowski has been instrumental in defining community safety broadly to include prevention, with an emphasis on early childhood and youth development. As such he is the evaluator or provides research support for a broad range of community-based programs in early childhood and youth development, including Shelby County Department of Children's Services' "Family to Family" project, on permanency placement strategy for children in foster care supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Other projects include Weed and Seed and Project Safe Neighborhoods. Janikowski co-coordinates, with Betts, the Southeast Memphis Initiative (see above.)