Over the past five years, NCOBPS has initiated a number of programs and contacts designed to expand the organization’s intellectual and institutional breadth.

• The Race and Democracy in the Americas Project , a collaborative research program with Afro-Brazilian scholars, produces scholarship and sponsors conferences that focus on the comparative study of racial politics in the United States and Brazil. Volume 9, 2003 of the The National Political Science Review, features a select number of articles on the project.

• In 2004, NCOBPS formally established an organizational link with the African Association of Political Scientists (AAPS). This link allows members of both organizations to attend and participate in each other’s conferences. It also includes a reciprocal agreement that each organization’s President serve on the other’s Executive Council.

• NCOBPS continues to maintain linkages with related organizations, both within and outside of the academy. Within the academy, these organizations include - the American Political Science Association, the Western Political Science Association, the Midwestern Political Science Association, the Southern Political Science Association and the Black Studies Association. Outside of the academy, these organizations include the National Urban League, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.