This document summarizes a presentation given by John Powell on building sustainable and inclusive regions. It discusses how historical and current laws, policies, and practices have created disparities through processes like redlining, disinvestment in cities, and suburban sprawl. It argues for connecting people in regions to opportunities through policies that promote equitable regionalism, inclusive fair housing, joint housing and school development, and reforming transportation spending. The goal is for everyone to have access to critical structures like housing, education and jobs that allow them to succeed.

1. Building One America
A National Summit
on
Regional Opportunity
john a. powell
Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law
September 17-18, 2009
Washington, DC

2. My Biography
• I was born…
2

3. My Biography
• I grew up…
3

4. My Parents
My parents were
sharecroppers
in the South.
They left the
South in search
of opportunity.
4

5. HOME
• They moved north
• They moved north
seeking opportunity and
seeking
bought a house. opportunity and
bought a house.
• Today I would say they
bought into a low
• Today I would say
opportunity
neighborhood. they bought into a
low opportunity
neighborhood.
5

6. My Old Neighborhood
The vacant grassy
plots are not parks.
6

7. What’s left behind?
Vacant lots and
abandoned houses
7

8. Where I Grew Up
I grew up in a low opportunity structure in a declining
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opportunity city.

9. It is also known as Detroit.
9

10. I now live in a high opportunity structure.
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11. A Tale of High and Low Opportunity Structures
Low Opportunity High Opportunity
• Less the 25% of students in • The year my step daughter
Detroit finish high school finished high school, 100%
• More the 60% of the men will
of the students graduated
spend time in jail and 100% went to college
• There may soon be no bus • Most will not even drive by a
service in some areas jail
• It is difficult to attract jobs or • Free bus service
private capital
• Relatively easy to attract
• Not safe; very few parks capital
• Difficult to get fresh food
• Very safe; great parks
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• Easy to get fresh food

12. Which community would you choose?
12

13. Some people ride the Others have to run
“Up” escalator to reach up the “Down”
opportunity escalator to get
there
13

14. Who’s to blame?
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Photo source: (Madoff) AP

15. An interlocking set of
laws, government
policies, and court
decisions have „set
the stage‟ for the
disparities we see
today

16. The Courts: School
Desegregation
• In Brown v. Board of Education, the
Supreme Court announced that
segregation on the basis of race was
unconstitutional, and that „separate
educational facilities are inherently
unequal.‟ 347 U.S. 495 (1954).

17. School Desegregation:
Drawing a Line at the School
Border
• By the mid-1970s, the Court began to
slowly withdraw its support for school
desegregation.
• In Miliken v. Bradley (1974), the Court
ruled that lower courts could not order an
„inter-district‟ remedy that encompassed
suburban districts without first showing
that the suburban district was liable.

18. School Desegregation:
Drawing a Line at the School
Border
• The effect of the decision was to sanction
white flight and jurisdictional fragmentation to
escape the Brown mandate.
• Between 1950 and 1990, the number of
municipalities in major metropolitan areas
grew from 193 to 9,600. During the 1990s
alone, the suburban population grew 17.7%
compared to 9% for cities.

19. 19

20. Historical Government Role
“If a neighborhood is to retain
stability, it is necessary that
properties shall continue to be
occupied by the same social
and racial classes. A change
in social or racial occupancy
generally contributes to
instability and a decline in
values.”
–Excerpt from the 1947 FHA
underwriting manual
20

21. THEN:
Neighborhoods
that had racially
restrictive
covenants (whites
only)
Sacramento
NOW:
Highest loan denials

22. Urban Renewal decimated entire
neighborhoods, displacing city
residents from their communities
and re-housing them in high-
rise, public housing projects

23. The Rise of Suburbia: But not accessible to
everyone
In the suburb-shaping years (1930-1960),
less than one-percent of all African Americans were able to 23
obtain a mortgage.

24. Federal subsidies
bankrolled Whites‟
departure to the
suburbs, while
neglecting public transit
in the cities, creating
racially and
economically
inequitable regions
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
$ in millions 25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
Transit Highway
Source: U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Trends in Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to
2004, August 2007. Data obtained from supplementary tables downloaded from www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/85xx/doc8517/
SupplementalTables.xls, 17 December 2007.

25. 25
Regional Fragmentation
Suburbs
Suburbs
Central Suburbs
City
Suburbs

26. Low-income whites
are not as spatially
segregated as low-
income people of
color

27. Structural Racialization
Context: The Dominant Consensus on Race
White privilege National values Contemporary culture
Current Manifestations: Social and Institutional Dynamics
Processes that maintain racial Racialized public policies and
hierarchies institutional practices
Outcomes: Racial Disparities
Racial inequalities in current levels of Capacity for individual and community
well-being improvement is undermined
Ongoing Racial Inequalities
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Adapted from the Aspen Roundtable on Community Change. “Structural Racism and Community Building.” June 2004

28. Institutionalized Disinvestment:
Redlining Map of Philadelphia
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29. From
Redlining to
Reverse
Redlining

30. Connecticut

31. Columbus

32. Cleveland: Foreclosure and Race - Same
Trends
Maps: Produced and
adapted from Charles
Bromley, SAGES
Presidential
Fellow, Case Western
University
32

33. Baltimore:
Foreclosure &
Race/Income
33

34. 34

35. Gentrification:
A New Form of
Exclusion?

36. Building Sustainable, Inclusive Regions
• Strong coalitions between cities and suburbs
• Federal policies integrating
housing, transportation, and infrastructure
– Affirmatively connecting all people to opportunity
throughout regions

37. Equitable regionalism
– The city‟s economic future is dependent on its
most plentiful natural resource, human
capacity and innovation
– Without addressing the social, racial and
interregional inequities facing the region, the
future of the entire region is compromised

38. Learning From Our Mistakes?
• If we fail to pay attention to the resources that
communities possess, we are likely to repeat the
mistakes of the New Deal.
– For example, Social Security benefits were
initially denied to household and farm laborers –
effectively excluding 65% of the Black population
• How do we avoid the New Deal mistakes?
– We must be intentional.
– Policies should be targeted and programs should
be structured so that they reach certain
populations and communities.

39. Principles for Fair Policy
– Targeted: Recognize the nature of our
interconnected structures / larger
inequitable, institutional framework.
– Attention to situatedness: People are situated
differently in the economic and social landscape of
society.
– Review outcomes: It may seem great if
unemployment is cut in half, but if all the jobs go to
white males, serious problems remain.
– People of color included the process: Input from
people often most impacted by the policies is vital.

41. Communities of Opportunity
– Everyone should have
fair access to the
critical opportunity
structures needed to
succeed in life
– Affirmatively
connecting people to
opportunity creates
positive, transformativ
e change in
communities 41

42. Housing is an opportunity
anchor and key leverage point
Health
Employment
Childcare
Housing
Effective Education
Participation
Transportation
42

43. Example: Opportunity Based Housing -
Integration into Opportunity
• Rethink fair housing…
• Not just integration but integration into
opportunity
• Inclusive fair housing means access to
good schools, jobs, doctors, child
care, transportation, parks, and the civic
fabric
43

44. Connecting Multiple Domains: Housing and
Schools
How can we reverse this pattern?
Low Opportunity High Opportunity
44

45. LIHTC and Segregated Schools
• Currently, LIHTC development is conflicting with efforts to
desegregate schools.
• Nearly ¾‟s of African American and Hispanic LIHTC
residents are located in segregated schools.
Figure 8: Percentage of LIHTC Population within Proximity
to Segregated Schools:
Population in
> 90% 50 to 100% Students of
household by
White Color
household race:
American Indian 16.8% 18.7%
Asian 6.9% 71.3%
Black 6.0% 69.6%
Hispanic 8.4% 74.3%
Other Race 33.5% 23.2%
White 32.5% 17.0% 45

46. Agenda for Sustainable,
Inclusive Regions
• Revitalize core cities
• Stabilize Older Suburbs
• Diversify Newer Suburbs

47. Federal and state policies can support
sustainable regional development by:
• Mandating inclusionary opportunity-based
housing development
• Eliminating tax advantages and subsidies
for „Greenfield‟ development
• Limiting sprawl-inducing transportation
and other infrastructure investments

48. Key Federal Policies
• Surface Transportation Authorization Act of
2009
• Sustainable Communities Initiative
• Reform HUD Housing Policies
• Support diverse school districts and
integration efforts
These must work together across multiple domains to connec
all people to regional opportunity

49. Connecting to Opportunity
The Sustainable Communities Initiative must
• Involve the entire region
• Focus on social and racial justice goals
• Utilize a strategy of changing the
“geography of opportunity”

50. Connecting to Opportunity
con’t:
Reforming HUD Housing policies
• Section 8 reform and reauthorization
• LIHTC allocation policy
• Enforcement of fair housing

51. Connecting Multiple Domains:
Housing, Transportation and Land use
Planning
The Surface Transportation Authorization Act should:
• Encourage Transit-oriented Development
• Implement a “Fix it First” policy
• Track race and opportunity in regional
development patterns
• Reform Metropolitan Planning Organizations
• Set regional goals to reduce
Sprawl, Segregation, and Concentrated Poverty
• Increase employment of Women and Minorities in
Federal Infrastructure Projects

52. Crisis …
• Etymology: Middle
English, from
Latin, from Greek
krisis, literally, decisio
n, from krinein to
decide
• The Chinese symbol
for crisis is a
combination of the
symbols for danger
and opportunity
Courtesy Hill Holiday Communications

53. Urgency…
• Detroit‟s “frog in a pot” is cooked.
Everyone else‟s is just warm…
19th Century
21st Century

54. G20 Protests in Europe - 2009
Reuters: Toby Melville; Digby Oldridge/PR Eye; Chris Ison/PA 54

55. Where will she grow up and go
to school? ...

56. Questions or Comments: www.kirwaninstitute.org
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