By Stefan Lallinger (click here for the PDF) “We can’t solve segregation on our own - it’s a housing issue,” is a common refrain among well-meaning educators who say they care deeply about the resegregation of American schools, but feel limited in what they can actually do. For decades, these educators have watched as politicians and superintendents have refused to address … [Read more...] about “The Bridges Collaborative: Centering Practitioners in the Fight for Integration” by Stefan Lallinger (Oct – Dec 2021 P&R Issue)
Housing/Education Nexus
There is a reciprocal relationship between residential segregation and segregated schools. Federal housing policy and historical patterns of housing segregation have created stark divides between wealthy, largely white communities with high property values and predominantly minority communities with more limited resources. Due to the local nature of school funding, communities with higher property value can generate more funding for schools, leading to more comprehensive educational resources and higher test scores, which in turn drives up the price of homes in the school district. In this way the socioeconomic and racial divisions between neighborhoods and schools perpetuate themselves in a vicious cycle. Just as residential and school segregation are mutually reinforcing, so too are the effects of residential and school integration. Children attending integrated schools are more likely to live in integrated neighborhoods as adults, and send their own children to integrated schools. The effects are reciprocal, working positively in both directions.
For more on PRRAC’s work on this topic, visit our page on the Housing-School Nexus.
Connecting Housing and School Integration – Federal and State Policy Levers (Oct – Dec 2021 P&R Issue)
Link to the October - December 2021 Issue of Poverty & Race The proposed Strength in Diversity Act (HR 729), which passed the House in 2020 with bipartisan support, includes a priority for proposals “demonstrated meaningful coordination with local housing agencies to increase access to schools that have a disproportionately low number of low-income students.” The bill … [Read more...] about Connecting Housing and School Integration – Federal and State Policy Levers (Oct – Dec 2021 P&R Issue)
Using Fair Housing Planning as a Tool to Address Schooling Inequities (Kara S. Finnigan, Elizabeth DeBray, Andrew J. Greenlee, Megan Haberle, & Heidi Kurniawan, September 2021)
By Kara S. Finnigan, Elizabeth DeBray, Andrew J. Greenlee, Megan Haberle, & Heidi Kurniawan (Education Law & Policy Review, Volume 6). Excerpt: "Even in the limited number of cases where educational entities were included in the fair housing planning process, the housing-education nexus remains largely absent from proposed policy interventions to further regional … [Read more...] about Using Fair Housing Planning as a Tool to Address Schooling Inequities (Kara S. Finnigan, Elizabeth DeBray, Andrew J. Greenlee, Megan Haberle, & Heidi Kurniawan, September 2021)
Mixed Income Neighborhoods and Integrated Schools: Linking HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative with the Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance Program (Philip Tegeler & Laura Gevarter, March 2021)
A PRRAC Policy Brief (February 2021). Excerpt: "The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is HUD’s signature public housing redevelopment program, designed to respond to critiques of the long-running HOPE VI program by providing one-for-one replacement housing, a guaranteed right to return for residents, and a more holistic focus on the community and schools surrounding the public … [Read more...] about Mixed Income Neighborhoods and Integrated Schools: Linking HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative with the Department of Education’s Magnet Schools Assistance Program (Philip Tegeler & Laura Gevarter, March 2021)
A Steady Habit of Segregation (NAACP LDF, PRRAC, Open Communities Alliance, Sillerman Center, October 2020)
An NAACP LDF, PRRAC, Open Communities Alliance, Sillerman Center Report (October 2020). By Susan Eaton. Excerpt: "This report was inspired in part by the 2017 book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein...This report offers a similar accounting of the nature, origins, and harms of racial segregation. But it is … [Read more...] about A Steady Habit of Segregation (NAACP LDF, PRRAC, Open Communities Alliance, Sillerman Center, October 2020)
