Anchoring Equitable Development: Anchor Institute-Led Models of Housing and Community Development to Strengthen Institutions and Communities

In April 2014, a convening of national housing equity experts was hosted in Jacksonville, Florida by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. The convening's purpose was to gain insight from national stakeholders on affordable housing and equitable development challenges and opportunities in Jacksonville. From this two-day engagement, a number of major challenges and opportunities facing Jacksonville's housing development were clearly identified. Two of these findings directly inform this research effort.First, to meet the needs of Jacksonville's marginalized communities, an intentional focus on equity must stay at the forefront of community housing and development strategies. Second, if equity-focused development efforts are better aligned with health and/or educational stakeholders, affordable housing and equitable development could blossom in Jacksonville.Stable and affordable housing is essential to educational success and positive health outcomes for families and for communities. While the linkage between housing and educational and health outcomes is clear, educational and health stakeholders have not traditionally been deeply engaged in meeting housing need. Emerging initiatives across the country are countering this disengagement, demonstrating the important role that anchor institutions can play in supporting local housing needs. Community anchor institutions, such as educational entities (particularly higher education) and health care organizations can be powerful institutional resources to support equitable housing and community development. Throughout the nation, successful anchor institute-led housing interventions have been transformational in addressing community housing needs and community revitalization. These efforts have been most effective when equity goals are integrated into the design and implementation of anchor institute-led housing efforts.The following report provides select case studies with a strong social equity focus and comparability to Jacksonville. We identify lessons learned and summarize models which can be equally transformative in Jacksonville from these case studies. We also draw upon recent research and scholarship, and our own interviews with experts and practitioners. The goal of providing these lessons learned and model practices is to help inform, and potentially engage, various anchor institutes in Jacksonville -- organizations with resources that could help meet community housing needs and support equitable community development. This could help strengthen social, educational, economic and health outcomes for all of Jacksonville, including its most vulnerable residents

2015 Champion of Children: Boys of Color, Boys at Risk Report

This report documents the many challenges facing young boys of color, challenges that if left unaddressed, imperil their successful entry into adulthood and their ability to be flourishing, productive members of our community. In this report we also highlight what is essential for creating an environment where boys of color can thrive

Inclusive and Equitable Neighborhood Revitalization on Columbus's Southside: A University and Community Partnership to Ensure Diversity and Inclusion in the Neighborhood's Renaissance

IMPACT. 1: In our first year, we engaged with over 400 Southside residents--from High School students to young mothers-- in order to identify and map assets within the community. Many of the assets that we gathered were places, people, and institutions that were able to draw the community together to build upon their shared resources. Here, we present the findings.OSU PARTNERS: The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & EthnicityCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: Community Development for All People -Reverend John Edgar, Pastor & Executive Director -David Cofer, Managing DirePRIMARY CONTACT: Jason Reece ([email protected]); Jillian Olinger ([email protected]); Kip Holley kipholley ([email protected])The energy building on the Southside is palpable. Already, more than $20 million in housing redevelopment alone has occurred in the neighborhood. Investments in health, safety, and education have also occurred. With all of the redevelopment activity on the Southside, Kirwan and our partners began to ask some key questions: How can we ensure that everyone in the community benefits from these renewed investments? How can we do redevelopment in a way that bridges people from different walks of life together? And how can our organizations help in that effort? Our broad goal through all of this work is to support the creation of an opportunity-rich and diverse community in the Southside. Through the Office of Outreach and Engagement, the Kirwan Institute and Community Development for All People received a 2-year grant to look deeper at those questions through a series of activities centered around inclusive community planning and engagement. These activities include asset mapping, developing and leveraging existing "third places", and developing programming around food, children, and housing

Challenging Race as Risk: Implicit Bias in Housing

The ability to exercise agency over where one lives is a hallmark of freedom. And yet, this privilege has not been equally afforded to all. Race has been—and continues to be—a potent force in the distribution of opportunity in American society. Despite decades of civil rights successes and fair housing activism, who gets access to housing and credit, on what terms, and where, remains driven by race. This is important to our shared future, because investments in homeownership are multiple and generational. Indeed, research shows that the biggest factor in the Black-White wealth gap is years of homeownership, showing how critical positive home equity is to building wealth. Racialized systems that generate lasting inequality may perpetuate self-fulfilling expectations, where "structural disadvantages (e.g., poverty, joblessness, crime) come to be seen as cause, rather than consequence, of persistent racial inequality, justifying and reinforcing negative racial stereotypes."There is a clear record of the impact of structural racism on opportunities for people of color in home-buying and credit access today. Structural racism describes the process by which policies, organizations, institutions, systems, culture and history interact across institutional domains to produce and sustain racial inequality. In terms of housing and credit, racial residential segregation has been a critical structural force. For example, historically, people of color have been restricted from buying homes in particular neighborhoods, regardless of their ability to pay, through practices such as racial covenants or redlining. Today's exclusions are less overt, but segregation remains, thus limiting people from the benefits that we know attends living in neighborhoods of high opportunity. W.E.B. DuBois acknowledged one hundred years ago that the health of minority populations is heavily influenced by the social institutions around them.1 Not only do housing and credit form the lifeline for our national economy, but they serve as the economic lifeline for many of us individually. Housing and credit can influence our daily lives: the better one's access to safe, affordable housing, the better one's outcomes tend to be along a range of indicators of individual, family, and community well-being

Reviewing our Call to Action

Renewing Our Call to Action responds to the October 2015 Youth Perspective Report completed by the City of Columbus to support their expanding work in the My Brother's Keeper Initiative. As a part of that report's recommendations, the City of Columbus seeks to work with the community to collaboratively set short and long-term goals with measurable targets, or common benchmarks of success.In an effort to bring the community together around youth initiatives, the City of Columbus commissioned the Kirwan Institute to develop a report to learn more about the local landscape of youth vulnerability, and to get a better understanding of existing assets at the neighborhood level. This report provides a portrait of youth vulnerability and resources across Columbus, and outlines how we can work together to raise the bar and close achievement gaps in order to ensure that all youth in Columbus have the opportunity to succeed. Renewing Our Call to Action is the first step of a recommitment to building a community that provides opportunity for all