Opportunity Maps Illustrate Where
Neighborhood Opportunities and Barriers Exist
By john a. powell
| The public and private forces that have resulted in concentrated poverty in our urban areas are seemingly intractable. Confronting these powerful influences effectively requires ingenuity and tenacity. Research done in the past five years indicates that finding ways to mitigate concentrated poverty is not impossible -- there are ways to deconcentrate poverty and its ill effects on entire metropolitan regions. One of the most effective methods is to analyze ways to develop more "opportunity structures" within the bounds of the neighborhoods gripped by concentrated poverty. Opportunity structures comprise an interrelated and interdependent web of systems (such as education), markets (such as employment), and structures (such as transportation). These opportunity structures also encompass other phenomena, such as the way crime influences residents’ ability to achieve, to maintain socioeconomic stability, and to regularly advance to higher socioeconomic levels. The impacts of opportunity structures are both short- and long-term. In the short-term, they determine options that are available to an individual or family on a day-to-day basis. Over the long-term, the opportunity landscape one lives upon will not only have a strong effect on skills and abilities that he or she develops; it will also have a significant effect on his or her perception of opportunity and choices that are made as a result. Demographic characteristics of neighborhoods and the individuals who live in them have a strong effect on the scope of one’s opportunity landscape. Characteristics, such as education level attained, language spoken, geographic location of housing as well as race/ethnicity all impact an individual’s ability to access various opportunities and avoid particular barriers to opportunities. Spatial variables play a role in welfare reform Opportunity Maps are particularly useful in analyzing the systemic barriers that welfare recipients face in attempting to enter the labor market, since there are many spatial variables involved in this process. These include the location of jobs and day care providers, the availability of transportation, and access to a variety of social services. The spatial depiction of these systems and markets relative to welfare clients and communities provides a useful tool for agencies, employers, government officials and other parties concerned with identifying impediments to making the transition from welfare-to-work as successful as possible. Examples of key opportunity structures that can be analyzed include: Housing markets: Because home ownership is the primary source of wealth and economic stability for the majority of Americans; Employment markets (and related support systems, such as public transportation and day care availability, which are key determinants of household heads’ ability to enter the employment market in a profitable manner): Because these are key to achieving economic independence; School achievement data: Because it indicates the preparedness of the future citizens and workforce members, as well as the social needs of the families raising students. Our analysis can include key demographic information, such as race/ethnicity, welfare status, age, and language, which help us to assess the sufficiency of opportunity in these neighborhoods and identify issues that must be confronted in addressing poverty. For example, a large immigrant population suggests the need for supportive services, including translation and English as a Second Language training, in order to provide adequate access to education and employment. We can also track factors that affect the quality of life for area residents. These include, for example, the cost of land development, as well as levels of criminal activity, which affects individual well-being and the feasibility of such things as traveling back and forth to work at night. Maps illustrate both short- and long-term opportunities As previously mentioned, opportunity structures have both short-term and long-term consequences. In the short-term, they determine the options that are available to an individual or family on a day-to-day basis. For instance, whether or not a job opening represents an actual opportunity to someone in need of employment will depend on many elements in their opportunity landscape. These include the current proximity of a job seeker’s home to the job, the possibility of finding housing closer to the job that is affordable at the wages the job pays, the availability and affordability of transportation options for the job seeker, and child care options available to the job seeker that are reasonably accessible, safe, and affordable. Over the long-term, the opportunity landscape one lives within will not only have a strong effect upon the skills and abilities that one develops, it will also significantly determine the individual’s perception of opportunity and the choices made as a result. Long-term opportunities are largely shaped by the kind of child care one experiences, the quality of public education available, whether housing supports safe and stable neighborhoods, and access to job training that will allow one to obtain wages to support a comfortable standard of living. We recognize that finding solutions to neighborhoods in the grip of concentrated poverty requires committed community collaboration. However, using Opportunity Mapping to provide objective analysis of an area’s particular barriers and opportunities is a good place to start. |
