1. Research and Advocacy at the
Intersection of Race and Poverty
PRRAC Small Grants Program
john a. powell
Executive Director, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

2. Communities of Opportunity
 Everyone should have
access to the critical
opportunity structures
needed to succeed in
life
 Affirmatively
connecting people to
opportunity creates
positive, transformative
change in communities

3. Opportunity
Based Fair
Housing
Planning for
Opportunity Neighborhood
Mapping Opportunity Revitalization
Communities
Equitable
Regional
Policy

4. Mapping Opportunity
 The Kirwan Institute has
conducted “opportunity
mapping” for states and
metropolitan regions across
the US
 How are low-income groups situated
in the State?
 How are racial and ethnic groups
situated?
 What can be done to improve the
opportunity landscape?

5. Opportunity maps can illuminate…
 What neighborhoods are at risk of becoming low
opportunity communities?
 Where is affordable housing needed in opportunity
rich communities within the region?
 Which neighborhoods are significantly impacting the
quality of life and development of children in the
region?
 What are the neighborhood conditions for
neighborhoods impacted by foreclosure?

6. The Credit and Foreclosure Crisis
6

7. Institutionalized Disinvestment:
Redlining Map of Philadelphia
7

8. From Redlining to
Reverse Redlining

9. Connecticut

10. Columbus

12. Thompson v. HUD
12

13.  Subsidized housing
opportunities in
Baltimore are
generally clustered in
the region’s
predominately
African American
neighborhoods

14. Remedial proposal
 The remedy must provide
desegregative housing units in
areas of opportunity
 The remedy must be regional in
scope
 The remedy must be race
conscious
 The remedial program should be a
structured choice model
 The remedy must be goal driven,
not process driven
 HUD must consider both vouchers
and housing production to meet
the remedy’s goals

15. Race and Class
intersections:
low income whites are not
as spatially segregated

16. 16

17. Indicators of Opportunity: Austin
EDUCATION ECONOMIC MOBILITY & HEALTH & NEIGHBORHOOD
TRANSPORTATION ENVIRONMENT QUALITY
School Poverty Unemployment Commute Time Proximity to toxic Neighborhood poverty
waste rates
Teacher Dependence on Access to public transit
Experience Public Assistance stops Access to parks and Housing vacancy rates
open space
Student/ Teacher Proximity to Frequency of public Crime rates
Ratio Employment transit service Proximity to health
care facilities and Home ownership
Math & Reading Ratio of jobs to physicians
Scores residents Median income
Access to grocery Home values
Student Retention Job growth trends stores
Insurance access
Figure 1: Opportunity indicators used in the Austin analysis
17

18. Opportunity in a Hot
Market City
•Opportunity in the
Austin region is
more centralized --
not a hollow region
like Cleveland or
Baltimore
•Although
opportunity is more
centralized, it is still
spatially segregated
18

19. Children of Color and Educational Opportunity
19

20. Opportunity and
Subsidized Housing
 Subsidized housing is
almost non existent in
high opportunity areas
 Approximately 1 out of 10
subsidized housing sites
can be found in high
opportunity census
tracts, while 2 out of 3
sites are concentrated in
the region’s low
opportunity areas
20

21. Linguistically Isolated
People and the
Comprehensive
Opportunity Map for the
Austin Region
21

22. King County, WA Opportunity Mapping –
Mapping to Promote Equitable Community
Development and Fair Housing

23. Project Tasks & Schedule
 Phase 1
 Data collection and geo-coding of opportunity indicator data for the region.
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis of opportunity indicator data for
the region’s census tracts and communities, creation of initial maps.
 Basic analysis of racial characteristics within various areas of opportunity
 Phase 2
 Mapping and in-depth analysis of socio-economic conditions (race, class and
ethnicity) in various opportunity areas
 Mapping and analysis of subprime lending trends and foreclosures, affordable
housing, subsidized housing and other housing characteristics in various
opportunity areas
 Mapping and evaluation of neighborhood performance based on indicators related
to national averages (identifying high and low performing areas based on national
trends)
 Preparation of report outlining mapping results and identification of strategies to
remedy opportunity isolation for marginalized communities
 Publication of results on-line and presentation of results

24. Seattle / King County
Opportunity “indicators”
 Education:  Housing and Neighborhood Health:
 Educational attainment for the total  Property values
population
 School poverty for neighborhood schools  Property appreciation (based on local realty
 Test scores for neighborhood schools data if available)
 Teacher qualifications for neighborhood  Housing vacancy rates
schools (or certified teachers)  Crime rates
 Teacher student ratio
 Poverty rates
 Population change
 Economic Opportunity and Mobility:  Home ownership Proximity to toxic waste
 Unemployment rates release sites
 Population on public assistance  Proximity to parks/open space
 Proximity to employment (job opportunities
within 5 miles)
 Economic climate 1 (change in # of jobs w/in 5
miles)
 Economic climate 2 (business creation w/in 5
miles)
 Mean commute time

25. Feedback & collaboration?
www.KirwanInstitute.org