The Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Communities (ISCFC) was an entity housed administratively within the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and handled various grant funded social work projects within the Ypsilanti community and surrounding areas. ISCFC was founded in 1978 and the records in the collection document some of the grant funded projects and several smaller centers housed within ISCFC.

The collection includes seven series in total that are organized by project name. The seven series include one for the management of the center ISCFC, five for a variety of centers, Autism Collaborative Center (ACC), National Foster Care Center, Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC), Center for Community Building and Civic Engagement (CCBCE), Applied Research Center, a series for photographs and lastly a series for Realia.

Outside the structure of the seven series is a file containing the proposal made 1978 by ORD and Don Loppnow faculty in the school of Social Work. Given Loppnow's role in creating the Institute and tenure at the University, one would expent to find more documentation about the creation of ISCFC in the University Archvies.

The ISCFC series contains materials related to ISCFC as a whole rather than the individual centers within the Institute. Sub-series include: Training and Procedural Materials, Meeting Minutes and Agendas, Press which includes news releases and newsletters, Events, Proposals for Projects and Funding which includes grant proposals for projects of interest to the Institute, Contracts which includes agreements between the EMU and various contractors required for ISCFC projects, Strategic Initiatives, Projects which includes information on projects conducted by the Institute as a whole, Reports and Publications. Materials in this series date mostly between the mid 1990's and early 2000's with some reports from the early 1980's. Materials in each sub-series are organized chronologically.

The Autism Collaborative Center (ACC) series documents a center that worked hand in hand with the Department of Special Education in the College of Education to research Autism therapy methods and conduct therapy for those with Autism. This center is not as extensively documented as some of the other centers in ISCFC, but contains much of the same material like reports, publications, meeting minutes, proposals and bylaws. Most of the materials date between 2009-2012 and are organized chronologically.

The National Foster Care Resource Center (NFCRC) series documents a center that was nationally recognized as a leader for research on children in Foster care. The major project of this Center was the Foster Parent Education Program which trained foster parents to handle the trials and tribulations of fostering abused or otherwise mistreated children. The Center created a curriculum with a series of instructor and participant handbooks which are all included in the sub-series Foster Parent Education Program and are further subdivided into instructor and participant manuals. These manuals date between the late 1970's and early 1990's, the latter likely being revised versions of earlier manuals. The NFCRC series also includes reports, publications, and proposals. Materials in each sub-series are organized chronologically.

The Community Outreach and Partnership Center (COPC) series contains the most extensive documentation for a center in the collection. COPC, often called "The Center", was created in 2001 through a Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant. The Center conducted several projects during its time in the Institute, but most noteworthy is the Intergenerational Project which involved youth from Ypsilanti traveling to Senior Centers to do activities with residents. Other sub-series include reports, projects, meeting minutes and agendas, proposals and events. Materials in this series date mostly before 2010 and sub-series are organized chronologically.

The Center for Community Building and Civic Engagement (CCBCE), previously the Center for Community Building and Management (CCBM),Sub-series include reports, projects, events, proposals, meeting minutes and publicatons. Two important projects are organized into their own sub-series, one being the Comunity Leadership Fellows Program which allowed students in the School of Social Work to collaborate with the Center through a fellowship to implement a project; and the other being the Research Action Seminar that was conducted for three consecutive years. Materials date between 1999 and 2008 and are organized chronologically.

The Applied Research Center (ARC) which also appears in documentation as the Applied Research Unit (ARU), worked in collaboration with other non-profit organizations to conduct research and present evaluations to those non-profits as the conclusion to their project. Similar to the documentation in the ACC series, the documents in this series do not widely document the ARC. Sub-series in this series are reports, proposals and projects. Materials 1995-2007 and are organized chronologically.

There is a single file for Photographs and Negatives that document both ISCFC events and headshots of people related to ISCFC. Not all materials are labeled and most are undated.

The final series, Realia, contains a water bottle, wallet and bag.

Additional collections related to ISCFC indlude: Upward Bound, GearUp, Independant Living Program records, and Teen Biz records.