An Important Piece of the Puzzle: A Response to “Some of Us Shall Not...
In her recent Shelterforce online review of We Shall Not Be Moved, my book about post-Katrina recovery efforts in five New Orleans neighborhoods, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs...
So About that Deconcentrating Poverty Thing…
Land of Opportunity Interactive has a marvelous interactive video (click here for description of what that means) called “Bricks and Sticks: Public...
Absence of Eviction Court Recordings Leaves Tenants Vulnerable
In a court division where a family can lose their home after a two-minute trial and only 12 percent of tenants have lawyers, Cook County's lack of eviction court transcripts—with no court reporters or digital recording equipment since 2004—has serious repercussions for tenants.
Celebrating a Different Definition of “Safety”
Night Out for Safety and Liberation provides an alternative to annual police-sponsored community events, and is growing in popularity around the nation.
I Want to Ride My Bicyle. I Want to Ride It Where I Like
It’s Bike to Work Day 2009 and I did not ride my bike to work. Why? I can’t.
I can ride a bike, and...
English Required for a Mortgage?
Language barriers pose an obstacle to fair access to credit, but this population is overlooked in fair credit discussions.Non-English...
Rail Time Enthusiasm
Summoning the ghost of Eisenhower, President Obama announced yesterday “a new era in American train travel” involving an $8 billion “down payment” for, and...
4 Reasons to Retire the Phrase “Inner City”
On a recent trip to Seattle, I picked up a copy of the weekly paper The Stranger. As I was browsing the news briefs,...
Making Food Deserts Bloom
Finding fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods can be a struggle, but community efforts are striving to fill the void.
Redlining Would Be Relegalized by CRA Reform Proposal
In an attempt to make compliance easier for banks, regulators are proposing to incentivize the very thing the Community Reinvestment Act was written to fight.
Ferguson on My Mind
Outside my house, two young African-American boys, maybe 9 or 10, scoot by on skateboards. One is carrying something on a leaf and stops to show me a giant slug. We chat about it a bit; I tell him that I looked up what kind of slug that was recently but now don’t remember. He […]
The Increase in Suburban Poverty Could Be a Good Thing
Family poverty has spread beyond its traditional geographic boundaries, and our institutions and policies need to adapt to this...
2 Easy Ways HUD Could Bring More NOLA Homeowners Home—With Money It Already Has
Donna Bartholomew’s mother moved to New Orleans as a young woman and bought a home in the Ninth Ward. Over the years, raising...
Could Gentrification Be Changing D.C. Schools for the Better?
While gentrification's benefits and drawbacks have been discussed at length, one aspect has been largely overlooked: its effect on neighborhood schools.
Profile of the Immigrant Population
Knowing who is immigrating here, and where they are settling, has implications for policy.
#ThisIsNotUs. Except, It Is.
We are constantly faced with the decision of whether to #TakeAKnee in our work, and whether we meet this challenge or not either reinforces our racialized landscape or disrupts it. What is clear is that we cannot sit on the sidelines with a universalist perspective, claiming to do good work.
Why Opportunity Neighborhoods Aren’t Really for Everyone
Families living in opportunity neighborhoods are seen as actively translating opportunity into real benefits through their actions. But, of course, this is not what really happens.
Housing Policy Key to Freddie Gray’s Baltimore–and the City’s Future
“What happens to a dream deferred?” asked Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load,” he opined. “Or does...
A Stubborn Gap
The difference in aggregate home value between blacks and whites in the American South has remained startlingly steady through periods of dramatic social change.
Could High Gas Prices Have Positive Side Effects?
With The New York Times reporting an increase in mass-transit ridership as gas prices continue to climb, I’m reminded of my days as a...