The new Poverty & Race is now in (physical) mailboxes, and also available on-line. This month’s articles include a lead story by Susan Eaton on “immigrant integration” efforts around the country, which are providing a welcome progressive alternative to racist anti-immigrant legislation and rhetoric; a historical reflection on the Occupy Movement, from longtime organizer Mike Miller; and an organizational profile of Causa Justa, a Bay Area housing justice and immigrant rights group.
Victory in Texas case challenging discriminatory siting of low income housing. In 2008, the Inclusive Communities Project (headed by PRRAC Board member Betsy Julian) challenged the Texas Dept of Housing and Community Affairs’ policies on siting Low Income Housing Tax Credit family developments in areas of minority concentration, and not providing an adequate opportunity for low income families to move to less segregated, higher opportunity communities. The U.S. District Court’s decision requires the DHCA to submit a remedial plan within 60 days that includes revision of its LIHTC “Qualified Allocation Plan.” We hope that this decision is a catalyst for reform in states that have not incorporated affirmative fair housing goals in their state LIHTC plans.
“Not Your Father’s Suburb” is the first in a series of “Reports from the Field” from One Nation Indivisible, a joint project of PRRAC and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute, co-directed by Susan Eaton and Gina Chirichigno. Not Your Father’s Suburb: Race and Rectitude in a Changing Minnesota Community explores the complex political and racial currents underlying the struggle to maintain school diversity in a changing suburban school district.
Staff updates: With this issue of the PRRAC update, we say goodbye to our Deputy Director, Saba Bireda, who has left to take a position at Education Counsel, an education law and policy group based in Washington, DC. Saba had a major positive impact on PRRAC’s educational equity work, and helped to lead our project exploring the potential for building long term stability and inclusion in “gentrifying” communities. We wish Saba well and look forward to recruiting new staff to our team at PRRAC.
Other news and resources
A new resource on racial equity: Supported by Voices for America’s Children, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and others, the Race Matters Institute has launched a new website of resources on racial equity and inclusion, adding to the growing web of resources and collaboration that is strengthening our collective work.
2012 Statistical Portrait of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders from the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Some very interesting analysis of the 2010 Census and other sources – check it out.
Registration is open for the National Conference on School Diversity, on May 17, at Georgetown University Law Center. Register today at www.school-diversity.org
