Jesuit Social Research Institute (JSRI) is a joint effort of the Society of Jesus Central and Southern Province and Loyola University New Orleans, originating in 2007. Its main efforts are in the areas of research, policy analysis, and advocacy for justice, especially as regards poverty, immigration, and racism issues.
While planning for the Institute preceded hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, it was expedited in the wake of the floods following these hurricanes, and in 2007 JSRI was launched as a joint project of Loyola University New Orleans and the Central and Southern US Jesuits. JSRI collaborates with a network of Jesuit Universities while facilitating among its faculty, staff, and students social analysis and research, reflection, advocacy, and action with a view to faith that does justice.
The Institute publishes JustSouth Quarterly and JustSouth E-newsletter, and employs the various means of publication on and off the web along with presentations at conferences and before legislative bodies. It also makes presentations in schools and parishes. It is active in advocacy on issues pertaining to its core expertise, as can be gathered from the following.
In May 2016 JSRI published the "JustSouth Index" which provides a comparison of how each of the states Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are doing on critical indices of economic and social welfare as compared to the 50 states.
The director testified before the Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee on how the earned income tax credit accords with Catholic social principles, assisting workers to support their families and also bringing financial benefits to the state. He also presented the paper "Louisiana Children, Poverty, and the Faith Community" to the for Louisiana Interchurch Conference, 41st Annual Assembly on March 14, 2011, in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The Director published an article in the Washington Post on the injustice of wages paid to workers at fast-food restaurants.
At the annual Catholic day at the capitol in Mississippi, the director presented a paper on "Faith in Action: Mississippi Catholics and Child Well Being".
Among other isues addressed in JustSouth Quarterly were tax reform and Medicaid.
The Institute's immigration law specialist runs clinics on migration and has an immigration law clinic which represents unaccompanied children.
JSRI hosted a conference for Jesuit immigration advocates.
A fellow of the Institute reported in its journal on how New Orleans is welcoming Syrian refugees and on "Why Support the Senate’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill".
A fellow at the Institute presented a paper on "Engaging the Impasse of White Racism" at the Catholic Theological Society of America conference on racism in America.
JSRI hosted a conference in 2009 studying the response of New Orleans to the Katrina crisis: Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Welcoming Community, with keynote speakers from the Times Picayune and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. Also in the wake of Katrina, the Institute's founder reflected on "Solidarity for the Common Good," in an article carried in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice.
Articles in JustSouth Quarterly advocated comprehensive sentencing reform in Louisiana and remembered "The Freedom Riders' Enduring Legacy".
