About the DLJCSS

Our Mission & Approach

The mission of the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society is to activate the use of science in the creation of more resilient communities.

Science Activation goes beyond science communication. Through The Jones Center’s programs, and through Dr. Jones’ uniquely trusted public profile, we leverage partnerships and collaboration to engage scientists and policy makers in meaningful interactions.

  • Inspiring commitment from thought-leaders and decision makers; working with government agencies, business leaders, and community organizations in a position to operationalize resilience action;
  • Creating collaboration, and user-generated solutions and strategies; creating integrated approaches at the cross-sector and cross-jurisdictional level; and
  • Effectively communicating the importance of resilience to the public — our ultimate audience as the beneficiary of stronger, more disaster resilient communities.

What We Do

Working with both public and private sectors, The Jones Center helps communities to adapt and be resilient to the dynamic changes in the surrounding world. We help scientists become better communicators of their results and help decision-makers understand how they can partner with scientists and use results of scientific studies to make better informed and strategic decisions.

Our Programs encompass four approaches:

  • Promoting Science In Action: We interpret, integrate, and activate scientific information to help organizations better understand their specific risks and viable approaches to mitigation.
  • Training: We train scientists to better communicate their research in a way that promotes user understanding and action. We train decision-makers and public voices in the public and private sectors to understand and use science, then apply that understanding to solutions that will fortify their organizations and community.
  • Knowledge Exchange: We generate innovative solutions to increase community resilience by engaging, educating, and empowering community members and civic leaders to reduce the unique risks they face.
  • Research and Application: We demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary research and its application, especially the impacts of change in the natural environment on urban centers; and the impact of human decision-making and communication approaches on the understanding of risk and ways to reduce it.

Who We Serve

Resilience to natural disasters and climate change impacts our society as a whole, and the activation of science to build disaster-resistant communities requires action at the societal level. For this reason, The Jones Center seeks to impact public policy and support broad cultural paradigm shift. At the same time, we recognize and respond to the additional risk faced by already vulnerable and under-resourced populations. Our approach rests on the key importance of community interdependence from the local to national levels. Our activities target this interdependence at public policy, media communication, community and organizational levels.

Special Implementation Focus on Under-Resourced Communities: Where Jones Center programs – such as 7 Steps to Community Resilience – are designed to impact resilience at the community level, our implementation priorities will be in service to disadvantaged communities where the population are more likely to live in vulnerable housing, have fewer resources and contingency opportunities, and are therefore more likely to suffer greater losses in a disaster and to have less capacity to recover.

Our History

After more than three decades working as a public servant for the US Geological Survey at Caltech, Dr. Lucy Jones retired from the government but not from her work to serve communities. She established her Center for Science and Society in 2016, working with cities across Southern California with SCAG, thus launching the first Center program, the Disaster Resilient Cities Initiative, which facilitated hazard-vulnerable jurisdictions at the local level to identify and tackle key priorities that can demonstrably mitigate disaster impacts and strengthen resilience. The centerpiece of this initiative was a program that helped cities create understanding and political will to increase resilience, promotes cross-jurisdictional collaboration at the regional level, and supports specific action-planning and implementation.

From there, the center expanded its programing to serve government officials, policy makers, business and civic leaders, researchers, students, institutions, and members of communities. Through various programs and events, the Center continued to expand its presence and impact to make sure science was being presented in a useful way and applied by those with the power to use it. In 2018, the Center refined its focus to serve both policy-makers and scientists, with the launch of the National Science Activation Symposium and Science Activation workshops on university campuses and scientific conferences.

Today, the Dr. Jones Center has a presence across the country working with institutions and individuals seeking to use science to understand the world around them and take action to make communities more resilient. Since 2017, the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society has been a 501c3 project of Community Partners.