Richard C. Hula

Neighborhood Development and Local Credit Markets

The author reconsiders the relationship between race and geographic location with the allocation of home credit by private sector lending institutions. Using a national data set for the years 1981 through 1987, the author tests the relative explanatory power of race, location, and a number of market variables. The initial analysis suggests that race is less important than is sometimes asserted in the literature. Several alternative explanations for this weak relationship are discussed.

Urban Politics, Governing Nonprofits, and Community Revitalization

Drawing on work by Schattschneider (1960) and Baumgartner and Jones (1993) and examining governing nonprofits in three U.S. cities, the authors assert that governing nonprofits can provide a platform for restructuring political agendas. They take on roles and responsibilities traditionally reserved for the government, and they forge coalitions among and across groups, organizations, and sectors to address societal problems. These organizations require broad community support, embrace flexible policy agendas, and operate in the public domain. The success of governing nonprofits also lies in their ability to foster positive linkages with the local leadership without becoming completely identified with local authorities.

Cleaning Up the Mess: Redevelopment of Urban Brownfields

This article explores the impact of a brownfield redevelopment initiative in the state of Michigan. Although such programs are often perceived as having a positive impact, there is remarkably little evidence beyond anecdotal examples to support such claims. The reported analysis is based on a 5-year project to create a database capable of assessing the impact of the Michigan program. Findings indicate that a viable market for brownfield redevelopment has been created since the change in Michigan brownfield law. On average, brownfield sites have shown a decline in quality over time; however, many sites demonstrated significant improvement.

Changing priorities and programs in toxic waste policy: The emergence of economic development as a policy goal

This article examines recent changes in toxic waste policy in the United States. It argues that major deviations from the framework established by the Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) have occurred. Examples include a shifting of program authority to the states, a modification of traditional command and control program structures, and perhaps most important, the adoption of economic development as a core program goal.

Governing nonprofits and local political processes

In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in the role and influence of nonprofit organizations in local and regional policy decisions. Often, these organizations assume a quasi-govern-mental role in pursuit of their missions. Roles of coalition builder and policy initiator/formulator join more traditional roles of service provider and policy advocate. These emerging roles forge new relationships between the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors. In Detroit, there is evidence that nonprofit organizations such as New Detroit and Detroit Renaissance can play a role in redefining the local political agenda. Yet that role is severely limited if such organizations are not tied to public authority.

Gunslinger School Administrators Nontraditional Leadership in Urban School Systems in the United States

Educators, political leaders, and the public in the United States share a broad consensus that school systems in the larger urban areas are not meeting the educational needs of the children they are charged to serve. The result has been a virtual explosion in alternative reform strategies. In one fascinating example, some cities have consciously decided to recruit a school CEO or superintendent whose professional backgrounds lie entirely outside of the sphere of public education. We liken these education outsiders, these nontraditional school system leaders, to the “gunslinger” of American frontier mythology, the stranger, like Shane, who rides into town and solves a menacing problem that the townsfolk cannot manage themselves. This article explores the gunslinger phenomenon in public education leadership by describing it, specifying the conditions under which cities resort to this sort of reform, and exploring its implications for public education.

The reconstruction of family policy

Introduction: Thinking about Family Policy by Richard C. Hula The Normative Context of Family Policy Balancing the Policy Interests of Children and Adults by John Scanzoni A Feminist Approach to National Family Policy by Patricia Spakes Linking Ideology to Action The Policy Functions of Family Policies in Three States: A Comparative Analysis by Shirley L. Zimmerman State Initiatives in Family Policy by Steven R. Wisensale Latchkey Children and After-School Care: A Feminist Dilemma? by Clifton P. Flynn and Hyman Rodman Translating the Problems of the Elderly into Effective Policies: Filial Responsibility by Doris E. Dinkins Ford Abortion and Family Policy: A Mental Health Perspective by Gregory A. Wilmoth, Danielle Bussell, and Brian L. Wilcox Women Under the Collective: The Exigencies of Family Policies in China by Jean Robinson Exploring Impacts Post-Mortem on the Deterioration of the Welfare Grant by Theresa Funiciello and Sanford F. Schram Reagans Federalism and Family Planning Services: Implications for Family Policy by Deborah R. McFarlane Child Support and the Feminization of Poverty by Andrea H. Beller and Seung Sin Chung Child Care in America: Retrospect and Prospect by Sally Lubeck and Patricia Garrett Rethinking Joint Custody Policy: Option or Presumption? by Clifton P. Flynn Policy Implications of Involving Parents in Head Start by Robert K. Leik, Mary Anne Chalkley, and Nancy J. Peterson The Future of Family Policy: A Postscript by Elaine A. Anderson References Index

Market Strategies as Policy Tools: The Search for Alternative Approaches to Urban Revitalization *

This paper explores a broad range of programs which claim to use market forces to generate urban development. It begins with a typology of program types based on a set of programmatic assumptions as to how markets can be manipulated. A series of alternative theoretical positions are then introduced which represent different visions of the market, urban development, and appropriate intervention techniques. It is asserted that each of the program types falls crudely into one of the theoretical perspectives. The paper concludes with the suggestion that program evaluation is relevant to issues other than whether the program ‘worked’. Evaluation can also serve as a test of internal assumptions on which the program is based. Finally, evaluation of concrete programs can be used to assess the relative power of alternative conceptualizations of development and of the market itself.

Making Educational Reform: Hard Times in Detroit 1988-1995

This article examines education reform in Detroit, employing data from over 75 semi structured elite interviews. The research explores the apparent collapse of a local education reform effort in Detroit despite broad dissatisfaction with the current education system. Both collaborative and competitive approaches to reform are investigated through a regime framework Reformers who implemented change were removed from office and yet a business school compact, neighborhood-based empowerment schools, and schools of choice remain as a legacy. This indicates that although short-term political support for change in Detroit did collapse, some long-term institutional impact of the reform remains.

Resident Initiatives in Public Housing

AbstractThis paper reports initial results of a survey exploring current practice in Public Housing Authorities in Michigan and Indiana. Particular emphasis is given to current efforts to support citizen empowerment, particularly resident management and private ownership. Major findings include:• The institutional context in which housing authorities operate vary both within and across states.• Efforts of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to impose broad policy are limited by local and state factors.• Individual housing authorities show significant variation in their commitment to resident initiatives.• Variation in local commitment to resident initiatives is not simply a function of the authority’s size or complexity.• Systematic interstate variations in commitment to resident initiatives (as well as overall programmatic priorities) exist.Suggestions for further research recommended examining the impact of resident initiatives at both the authority level and the individual develo...