From the President’s 2024 budget: Two specific areas that we have been working on are referenced in the budget that came out last week, with some changes from last year’s budget: Inside the Department of Education budget, the Administration has once again recommended $100 million in funding for the Fostering Diverse Schools grants program, to facilitate planning for school diversity by school districts and states, and the education budget also calls for a $10 million increase in magnet schools funding over last year’s appropriation, to $149 million. In the tenant-based assistance section of the HUD budget, the President has requested a modest increase in the Housing Choice Voucher program, and the annual request for housing mobility services funding has been reduced from $445 million to a more realistic $25 million (the amount appropriated in the 2022 budget). In addition, HUD has requested a demonstration program to test increased flexibility in the use of Housing Choice Voucher funds (which might permit use for security deposits and apartment holding fees, for example), as PRRAC and coalition partners have previously recommended, to remove some of the major barriers to families seeking units in lower poverty neighborhoods.
School choice and school buses: NCSD has released an interesting profile of the relation of school integration and student transportation in four metro areas. PRRAC and coalition partners have also recently called on the Secretary of Transportation to take a more active role in housing and school integration planning, with DOT’s sister housing and education agencies.
PRRAC is hiring: We are looking for a new Administrative and Program Assistant, starting this summer!
Other events and resources
Exciting event at Howard University March 21: Fair Share Housing Center is hosting Matthew Desmond, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman – in a discussion featuring Desmond’s new book, Poverty, By America. Register here.
Magnet Schools Assistance Program: The 2023 funding notice was just released, with lots of technical assistance available for districts that have not applied before. The notice also encourages interdistrict cooperation and collaboration with housing and transportation agencies.
Innovative source of income discrimination mapping: UnlockNYC, a grassroots tech group, has released a citywide Mapping SOI Discrimination tool, a visualization of over 1,500 reports collected from families with vouchers through their digital chatbot.
Fighting segregation and exclusion in Connecticut: Open Communities Alliance is hiring multiple positions in its growing team – legal, policy, and organizing!
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