April 12-13 1996 Conference Report The Institute on Race and Poverty University of Minnesota Law School
The Institute on Race and Poverty engages in strategic research to address problems caused by the interaction of racism and poverty. Established in 1993 at the University of Minnesota Law School, the Institute promotes dialogue and scholarship in the interests of social justice and inclusive democracy.
The term intersections of race and poverty describes the convergence of economic deprivation, spatial isolation, and racial discrimination in one community, often over the course of generations. Many low-income people of color live in such conditions. Extreme poverty in isolated communities is often accompanied by widespread economic disinvestment and loss of hope, which can cause a breakdown of the social fabric. This exacerbates existing problems in education, employment, medical care, infrastructure, housing, transportation, and law enforcement. Connecting these communities to the opportunity structure and resources of the larger society is critical to our nation's future.
The Institute on Race and Poverty
The Institute welcomes questions, comments, information, and contributions. Please contact us to be placed on our mailing list or to receive copies of this and other forum reports.
Support for the conference Linking Regional and Local Strategies to Create Healthy Communities was provided by the Minneapolis Foundation.
The current policy of tearing down public housing hi-rises poses problems for many of the families who live there, in terms of their realistic options. Conceptually much of this makes sense, but the political and economic ramifications have to be accounted for. Will the public and/or private sectors provide the funding needed to recreate truly mixed-income communities, including a significant percentage of current public housing families? Will alternative housing opportunities really be made available, affirmatively, to avoid concentrations of low-income residents? People are talking about Section Eight vouchers as a way to meet the need, but is there an adequate supply of housing in non-poverty areas that falls within federal rent ceilings?
The Council also works to train real estate professionals, and has trained 23,000 over the last ten years, from which we can report modest progress. It also contributes articles to real estate trade publications. Our Community Relations program works in a variety of community settings--from white, to diverse, to minority--to identify and organize people, especially people in leadership positions, to acitvely support fair housing, economic diversity, and racial inclusivity as the bases for building sustainable communities. Finally, our Public Policy Program advocates for government policies and programs that will affirmatively further fair, affordable, and assisted housing, challenging the government's traditional role of fostering segregation.
It is clear that the issues of housing choice and sustainable community development need to be understood in a regional context. As others have observed, we need to "Think Regionally, Act Locally" and from our perspective, "Affirmatively."