Kelly L. Patterson

A Longitudinal Study of African American Women and the Maintenance of a Healthy Self-Esteem

The present study examined the self-esteem of African American women (N = 428) over a 14-year period using the National Survey of Black Americans: A Panel Study of Black American Life 1979-1992 (NSBA; Jackson& Gurin, 1996). Difference-of-means tests were used to examine self-esteem in four time periods (1979 to 1980, 1986 to 1987, 1988 to 1989, and 1992), and OLS regression was used to determine the effect of three variable categories (support networks, achievement outcomes, and racial esteem) on self-esteem in 1979 and 1992. Although historical analyses of self-esteem predicted low self-esteem for Blacks in general and Black women in particular, African American women maintain a very high self-esteem in three decades. Support networks and achievement outcomes significantly affected self-esteem in both years, and racial esteemwas significantly related to self-esteem in 1979. The findings are discussed in relation to historical and current analyses of self-esteem and within a feminist paradigm that supports the maintenance of a healthy self-esteem despite membership in a marginalized group.

The Four Horsemen of the Fair Housing Apocalypse: A Critique of Fair Housing Policy in the USA

This article examines US fair housing policy from a critical perspective. We describe the impact of the expansion of neoliberal ideology on the fair housing assistance program (FHAP), the fair housing initiatives program (FHIP), and the scope of US Department of Justice activities. Prior findings from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and IRS Form 990 are summarized. We argue that neoliberalism has contributed to the underdevelopment, underfunding, and poor implementation of US fair housing policy. We offer three recommendations for fair housing reform. The first focuses on the need to remove fair housing activities from HUD and place them in an independent fair housing agency. The second focuses on the need for the federal government to mandate fair housing enforcement across all governmental programs and agencies. The third focuses on the need for increased lobbying, litigation, and activism by community-based advocacy organizations for reform.

Municipal property acquisition patterns in a shrinking city: Evidence for the persistence of an urban growth paradigm in Buffalo, NY

Abstract The purpose of this article is to examine municipal property acquisition patterns in shrinking cities. We use data from the City of Buffalo’s municipal property auction records to analyze the spatial distribution of properties offered for sale in its annual tax foreclosure auction. In addition to these data, we examine demolition and building permit records. Our analysis suggests that cities like Buffalo follow strategies based on an urban growth paradigm when responding to abandonment. This paradigm operates under the assumption that growth is a constant and urban development is only limited by fiscal constraints, underdeveloped systems of urban governance, environmental degradation, and resistance by anti-growth coalitions. We recommend that planners in shrinking cities de-emphasize growth-based planning and focus on rightsizing strategies. These strategies are based on the assumption that growth is not a constant. Consequently, urban revitalization is concentrated in a smaller urban footprint.

URBAN EDUCATION AND NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION

Analyses of urban education reform and neighborhood revitalization are often divorced from one another. Yet, in cities across the United States, neighborhood decline and the demise of public education often occur in conjunction. Anecdotal evidence suggests that efforts to revitalize neighborhoods are hampered by perceptions of underperforming schools. According to this narrative, a vicious cycle is produced where cities are unable to sustain their housing stock and related tax bases, a situation which subsequently contributes to the weakening of schools that depend on municipal resources to deliver quality educational programs. At the same time, students who attend schools in declining neighborhoods are perceived as suffering from exposure to risks they encounter in the decaying built and social environments of inner-city neighborhoods. Although this narrative has become engrained in popular mythology, there is limited empirical analysis focused on the nexus between urban school reform and neighborhood revitalization. An exception is Varady and Raffel’s (2010) work focused on the role urban education and housing programs have in retaining middle-class homeowners in central cities. Their work represents one aspect of a multifaceted framework for examining the nexus between schools and neighborhoods. There is need for further development of this line of inquiry. This special issue was conceived to begin the process of filling this gap in urban research and stimulate discussion about schools and neighborhoods. It examines a variety of approaches to urban public policy focused on education and urban revitalization and offers theoretical, methodological, and empirical insights into this important area of inquiry. The analysis of schools and neighborhoods is highly salient in the contemporary period. Much of this interest has been driven by federal legislation. One pivotal piece of legislation influencing schools and neighborhoods was the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This Act, introduced by the Bush Administration, linked eligibility for federal education aid to students’ performance on standardized tests. NCLB also created a framework for reorganizing schools that failed to meet performance targets on standardized tests. Options included closing schools, turning them into charter schools, requiring state education departments to take over and manage

How local public administrators, nonprofit providers, and elected officials perceive impediments to fair housing in the suburbs: an analysis of Erie County, New York

This article examines how local public administrators, nonprofit providers, and elected officials in the suburbs of Erie County, NY perceive impediments to fair housing. This article is based on research conducted from 2007–2008 for the Analysis of Impediments for Fair Housing Choice in Erie County, NY. The research involved an examination of trends related to fair housing and housing discrimination complaints between 2000 and 2006. It also involved a series of focus group interviews with local public administrators, nonprofit providers, and elected officials. The results from this research indicate that key stakeholders emphasize specific issues and groups when discussing impediments to fair housing. These predispositions result in uneven policy implementation. In particular, there is a tendency to emphasize impediments encountered by the elderly while paying less attention to those impacting minorities, families, the disabled, and the poor. The article concludes with our recommendations to promote a more balanced approach to fair housing in suburban communities.

Neighborhood characteristics and the location of HUD-subsidized housing in shrinking cities: an analysis to inform anchor-based urban revitalization strategies

This article focuses on the manner in which affordable housing fits into anchor-based strategies for urban revitalization. It involves quantitative analysis of the location of existing HUD-subsidized housing in relation to neighborhood characteristics. The goal of the article is twofold. First, we examine the degree to which neighborhood characteristics associated with neighborhoods of opportunity correlate with the location of HUD-subsidized housing in shrinking cities. Second, we make recommendations for more equitable approaches to anchor-based urban revitalization. Our analysis uses a unique database developed to measure neighborhood characteristics in shrinking US cities. Our findings suggest that the location of affordable housing is not correlated with proximity to institutional and neighborhood amenities, where anchor-based revitalization is targeted. As a result, we make recommendations to link future affordable housing siting to anchor-based strategies for inner-city revitalization.

Themed issue on inner-city empowerment and revitalization

Historically, the community development field has focused on addressing the needs of inner-city neighborhoods. Although other areas of inquiry examined by community development researchers and professionals involve rural communities and the empowerment of disenfranchised groups in nonurban settings, the plight of the inner-city has had a substantial influence on the work of community development scholars and practitioners. Issues surrounding inner-city revitalization remain salient in the contemporary context. The community development field offers a critical framework for designing policies and programs relevant to these issues. This framework, which we identify as the urban social institutions (USI) framework, has a specific focus on addressing the needs of black, Latino, and other historically disenfranchised groups living in inner-city neighborhoods. This focus distinguishes the work of many community development scholars and practitioners from others engaged in neighborhood revitalization activities. The works in this themed issue represent a sample of contemporary scholarship that fits into the USI framework. There are a number of challenges associated with the revitalization of inner-city neighborhoods. Some are tied to the built environment and focus on decaying infrastructure, obsolete buildings, industrial pollution, brownfields, poorly maintained parks, and vacant commercial and residential property. Others stem from institutional barriers linked to public and nonprofit service providers with limited capacity to address physical, economic, and community development needs. Many of the challenges associated with the built and institutional environments are perpetuated by historic patterns discrimination that disempower the poor, minorities, and others who reside in inner-city neighborhoods. Given this context, we believe that community development scholarship and practice benefits from the application of the USI framework to the analysis of the nexus between inner-city empowerment and revitalization. The USI framework examines community development processes in an institutional context. It focuses on how disenfranchised groups interface with institutions linked to housing, economic development, public participation and neighborhood governance, and public education. The USI framework is rooted in seminal works focused in the nexus between race, inequality, and community development. This body of work includes Breton’s (1964) analysis of institutional completeness in Canada and Blauner’s (1969, 1972) writings on racial oppression in America. Breton examined the relationship between the composition of institutions in immigrant communities in Montreal and the degree to which different ethnic groups adapted to life in the city. He examined the relationship between several ethnic groups and the religious, welfare, educational, civic, and media organizations they patronized. Breton found that the density of institutions and the degree to which immigrants had control of them were related to individual and group outcomes. Blauner’s (1969, 1972) work went a step further, accounting for power relations between majority and minority groups in society. The difference between his work and Community Development Vol. 43, No. 4, October 2012, 411–415

Siting Affordable Housing in Opportunity Neighborhoods: An Assessment of HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Mapping Tool

ABSTRACT In this article, we examine the content and structure of the new affirmatively furthering fair housing mapping tool (AFFH-T) developed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of its new assessment of fair housing (AFH) process. Our analysis is focused on the degree to which the data included in the AFFH-T is suitable for the development of plans to site affordable housing in opportunity neighborhoods, and the utility of this tool as a public participation GIS (PPGIS) platform. Our analysis highlights strengths and weaknesses of the AFFH-T and we offer recommendations for its further development.

Community benefits agreements (CBAs): a typology for shrinking cities

Purpose Community benefits agreements (CBAs) redistribute the benefits of new development to distressed communities and historically disenfranchised groups. They allow coalitions of labor and grassroots organizations to negotiate for concessions in the development process. Yet, CBAs are a relatively new tool used in planning and local economic development, and specification about their content and scope is evolving. Some of the earliest CBAs were negotiated in cities experiencing an influx of new growth and investment. However, less is known about the scope of CBA negotiations in shrinking cities where economic development is relatively anemic. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper offers an extension to the existing literature through an exploratory analysis of the scope of CBAs in the ten fastest shrinking cities in the USA between 2000 and 2010. The analysis is organized in three parts. First, the authors present a CBA typology that differentiates among CBAs negotiated with developers in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Second, the authors compare neighborhood conditions in shrinking cities with CBAs to those without negotiated agreements. Finally, the authors discuss critical cases where CBA negotiations have occurred in shrinking cities. Findings Grassroots coalitions have more leverage when negotiating for concessions with private sector developers vs developers from the public and nonprofit sectors. The added leverage is attributed to the high profile and limited public benefits associated with projects pursued by private sector developers. Moreover, shrinking cities face additional obstacles when negotiating CBAs. The authors concluded that cities with the highest levels of physical distress are the least likely to negotiate and adopt CBAs. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature by focusing on CBAs in shrinking cities. It also highlights nuisances in CBA negotiations with developers from the private, public and nonprofit sectors. Although the analysis focused on the US context, the inclusion of these perspectives in the CBA typology provides researchers in other institutional settings with a common framework for comparative analysis.

Moving Beyond the Great Recession: Innovative Programmatic and Policy Responses to Poverty

More than 50 years after Lyndon Baines Johnson’s declaration of a War on Poverty and 7 years after the official end of the Great Recession, we find that US poverty rates hover around 15% and the gaps between the haves and have nots in society continue to grow in every state of the nation (see State of the States, 2015). The Great Recession had a disproportionate impact on younger adults, African Americans and Latinos (Danziger, Chavez, & Cumberworth, 2012). Further, the recent post-recession recovery has not reduced poverty and many of those who joined the ranks of the new poor—young adults, the college educated, former middle class workers, suburbanites and homeowners—continue to feel the effects of precarious economic growth and the loss of labor market opportunities locally, nationally, and globally. Today, we are witnessing the continued unraveling of antipoverty programs and the erosion of the social safety net for millions of poor families in the United States and elsewhere. This retrenchment of social welfare policy has been propelled by neoliberalism, xenophobia, victim blaming, and an emphasis on individual responsibility for being or becoming poor. The consequences are the sustained high levels of poverty that we have seen over the past seven years.