[2] Furthermore, it "asked whether the organs of" the welfare state in the United Kingdom "were in cooperation or conflict with established patterns of family support and mutual aid" in the UK.

The study grew out of the Institute's fieldwork: Young and Willmott surveyed residents of a tight-knit working-class London community whom the state forced to resettle on a suburban housing estate.

[7][6] The Institute challenged city planners to reassess the seeming imperative for sweeping "slum clearance" and urban redevelopment that characterized post-war rebuilding in the UK[8] and abroad.

[4] In 1982, the Institute worked with historian Peter Laslett to launch the British version of the University of the Third Age of Toulouse,[4] a French lifelong learning program begun in 1973 .

The Young Foundation then launched a re-conceived Institute for Community Studies as one of its constituent parts in 2019, with financial support from charitable trusts and private donors.

The new Institute's stated mission includes "engag[ing] with people across the UK, amplifying their diverse perspectives, and directing their most urgent questions toward policymakers and researchers.