Kirwan Update
July/August 2009
Building a Just and Vibrant Economy Jason Reece, Senior Researcher Christy Rogers, Senior Research Associate
Escalating foreclosures and job losses, tight credit markets, growing bankruptcies, declining home values, and trillions in wealth lost on Wall Street: these disheartening stories have dominated the headlines over the past year. In response to the global economic crisis, the United States has undertaken a number of significant policy steps to stabilize the financial sector, save jobs, stem foreclosures, and help the housing market. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) represent significant federal action and investment. Unfortunately, the recession is having a disparate impact on marginalized communities of color. From waves of abandonment and foreclosure in urban inner city neighborhoods, to workers of color laid off as the economy transitions away from traditional manufacturing, the impacts of the recession threaten to reverse civil rights gains and expand disparities in our society. The uneven effects of the economic recession are troubling because they threaten to exacerbate the existing “opportunity divide” facing many Americans. United for a Fair Economy found that although the United States has been in a recession for more than a year, people of color have been in a recession for nearly five years and have entered a depression during the current economic crisis.1 Borrowers of color received nearly half of our nation’s subprime loans despite the fact that some of them qualified for prime credit. Foreclosure relief is scattered and difficult to navigate, while the crisis is raging unabated in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods.2 Black and Latino homeowners are collectively expected to lose roughly $250 billion in home equity from the foreclosure debacle.3 Without an intentional effort to stop these trends, economic recovery policy may fall short. For example, Black men are leading the recent surge in unemployment,4 but African Americans and Latinos are under-represented in the industries targeted through the ARRA.5 Periods of crisis like this one are marked by rapid change and dislocation, but change opens a window—we have an opportunity to redesign policies and structures that fall short. Our goal is to ensure that marginalized communities can benefit from the recovery and grow into stronger civic participants in policy design. In a democratic society, those most affected by policies should have a say in their design, implementation, and evaluation. New reforms and initiatives should shrink the opportunity divide facing so many marginalized communities, not sustain or expand it. This requires intentional civic inclusion, deliberate strategy, creative policy design, and responsible administration. A fair economic recovery can push our nation beyond this crossroads and into a fair, sustainable, and just future. The Kirwan Institute has launched an initiative to support equitable federal and state economic recovery. Our goal is to monitor the current approach to federal economic recovery policy and learn from its results, enabling us to correct course if a policy is not producing its intended outcomes and to propose equitable future policies.
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INSIDE: Kirwan in the News • Recession and Recovery Q&A • Kirwan eUpdate Newsletter International Perspectives • Kirwan Institute Blog • GIS Update • Talking about Race Race/Ethnicity Journal • Events • New Faculty/Staff
Executive Notes The stimulus and recovery package is now moving toward full swing. It will be some time before the full effect of the recovery is felt in the lives of average Americans; many may never again enjoy their Professor former prosperity.
john a. powell
What is happening in our present society is unprecedented. It is not just the economy that is being re-ordered, it is the world. What we do and fail to do over the next several years will give structure to a set of arrangements and understandings that will not just shape our world, but the world of our unborn children and grandchildren. One only has to look at how the actions and missed opportunities of the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s still shape our lives today. What if the proposal for universal health care had passed? Might the auto industry have found a way to be viable today absent the enormous burden of health care costs? There are many things we can only speculate on—one is that many of the lost opportunities of the 1970s were at least partly organized around race. With rare exceptions, we try to understand our current economic problem, and solution, in race-neutral terms and offer raceneutral solutions. That is a potentially fatal mistake. For example, the subprime mortgage crisis was built on a redlining system which was inscribed into the housing and credit market in the 1930s and 1940s in the United States, creating a dual credit market. Communities of color were locked out (continued on page 2)
Executive Notes
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of the prime credit market for housing, business, and other credit services. This developed a lack of access to the credit market, as well as a lack of fair access when credit was granted. In 1977, Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to help address the problem of under-capitalized and underserved markets. The CRA was a move in the right direction but was also woefully inadequate to overcome the magnitude of the task. One may wonder why, with our dual credit market being so obviously racially coded, we are not moving to address it. One could ask similar questions about our dual housing market, our dual school systems, or our dual labor market: the list goes on and on. These dual systems are interrelated and all have one thing in common—race.
As we rethink and address the mortgage crisis, we need to consciously and deliberately end the dual credit market; we must make credit available to people of color and communities of color so these groups can participate effectively in the economic world. The requirement is not yet on the table. It is an opportunity we cannot afford to waste.
john a. powell, Executive Director
Kirwan in the News Kathy Baird, Director of Communications
In March through May, Kirwan staff continued to be widely profiled in the media. In addition to a variety of local and campus coverage, key national coverage included: • A U.S. News & World Report interview with john powell, Kirwan’s executive director, about President Obama’s first 100 days. • A CSPAN Book TV interview with Hasan Jeffries, associate professor of history with a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute, about his upcoming book, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt, a look at civil rights reform of the 1960s. • A WHDH-NBC Boston Urban Update talk show interview with Andrew GrantThomas, Kirwan’s deputy director, discussing Kirwan’s opportunity mapping study in Massachusetts. • An Afro News Washington D.C. interview with john powell about a Wealth Building for Minorities conference. • john powell was also interviewed extensively about a collaborative initiative, Americans for American Values, which will study the role of implicit bias in voting decisions. Key media outlets included the Associated Press and the national radio program Tavis Talks. • Key Kirwan staff commentary articles included: “Why the U.S. Must Go to the Race Conference,” by john powell, on The Root, and “Are You Poor? There’ll Be An Extra Charge for That,” by Andrew Grant-Thomas, on RaceWire. • Kirwan staff also provided background information for a number of reporters in an effort to develop a broader understanding of structural racism and related issues.
The Kirwan Update is produced by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, 433 Mendenhall Lab, 125 South Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. For questions or comments about this publication, please contact Kirwan Update editor Angela Stanley at (614) 247-6329 or stanley.140@osu.edu.
Contributing Staff Editors Kathy Baird, Director of Communications Philip Kim, Assistant Editor
kirwaninstitute.org
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ABOUT THE INSTITUTE The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity is a university-wide interdisciplinary research institute. Its goal is to deepen our understanding of the causes of and solutions to racial and ethnic disparities and hierarchies. This includes an explicit focus not only on Ohio and the United States, but also on the Americas and our larger global community. Our primary focus is to increase general understanding that, despite many differences, human destinies are intertwined. Thus, the institute explores and illustrates both our diversity and common humanity in real terms. The institute brings together a diverse and creative group of scholars and researchers from various disciplines to focus on the histories, present conditions, and the future prospects of racially and ethnically marginalized people. Informed by real-world needs, its work strives to meaningfully influence policies and practices. The institute also focuses on the interrelatedness of race and ethnicity with other factors, such as gender, class, and culture, and how these are embedded in structures and systems. Collaboration with other institutions and organizations around the world and ongoing relationships with real people, real communities, and real issues are a vital part of its work. The institute employs many approaches to fulfilling its mission: original research, publications, comparative analyses, surveys, convenings, and conferences. It is part of a rich intellectual community and draws upon the insight and energy of the faculty and students at Ohio State. While the institute focuses on marginalized racial and ethnic communities, it understands that these communities exist in relation to other communities and that fostering these relationships deepens the possibility of change. It is the sincere hope and goal of all of us that the institute gives transformative meaning to both our diversity and our common humanity.
Building a Just and Vibrant Economy Our recently launched initiative involves research, organizing, collaboration, and strategy development at the national, state, and local levels. The institute is actively involved in partnerships with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Opportunity Agenda, the Insight Center for Community and Economic Development, and the Center for Social Inclusion around equitable recovery advocacy. Our newly launched web site, found at FairRecovery.org, will compile and analyze recovery spending as data becomes available. A newsroom section on the web site will carry key reference materials for media and regularly updated information about new developments. Additionally, recovery efforts must be accountable to civil rights laws and provisions, such as statewide W/MBE procurement targets. Kirwan staffers will coordinate legal resources to help people and businesses navigate the legal and legislative landscape of ARRA, TARP, and other economic recovery policies. As the various programs related to the economic recovery policies are implemented and stimulus funds are allocated in communities, diligent tracking and evaluation of the impact of these programs is crucial. In particular, analysis must be undertaken to assure these programs and investments are reaching those most impacted by the economic and housing crisis and to actively expand opportunities for marginalized communities and populations. We are undertaking several state level analyses of the “equity” impacts of economic recovery activities and stimulus investments. Kirwan has partnered with the Miami Workers
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Center on a pilot project geared to producing timely, useful, and easily accessible knowledge of how existing and proposed federal and state spending can contribute to racial justice and community change. We will also partner with local advocates to evaluate the impacts of programs like the Neighborhood Stabilization program, stimulus transportation investments, housing relief programs, and other recovery related initiatives and investments. The goal of these assessments is to inform smarter policy design and implementation for future recovery investments and initiatives at the state and federal level. In short, federal initiatives and investments should be guided by three principles: 1. Recovery fund investments must be marked by full transparency and accountability. 2. Families and communities hit hardest by the economic crisis merit focused attention in the recovery process. 3. Investments must be designed and made to promote equity and expand opportunity for all. To address the origins of the foreclosure crisis and propose solutions, Kirwan was recently awarded a grant to coordinate national advocacy and planning for the future of fair housing. This project will capitalize on the opportunity to remedy the disastrous impacts of the housing crisis, as well as create transformative change in communities of color by assuring that federal fair housing promotes true integration into opportunity. We will convene experts to make concrete recommendations
regarding the White House oversight role for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; to suggest how the federal government can help provide equitable credit to marginalized communities; and to rethink the application of equitable investment measures like the Community Reinvestment Act. We will evaluate how federal housing programs and related economic recovery initiatives can address racial inequity and promote fair housing, and we will develop a broad advocacy platform promoting true integration into opportunity for all. Please join us at FairRecovery.org for more information. 1
United for a Fair Economy, Foreclosed: State of the Dream 2008. faireconomy.org/files/ StateOfDream_01_16_08_Web.pdf. 2 Michael Powell and Janet Roberts, “Minorities Affected Most as New York Foreclosures Rise.” New York Times on-line (May 16, 2009). Accessed at nytimes.com/ 2009/05/16/nyregion/16foreclose.html. 3 United for a Fair Economy, Foreclosed: State of the Dream 2008. faireconomy.org/files/ StateOfDream_01_16_08_Web.pdf. 4 Alexandra Cawthorne, “Weathering the Storm: Black Men in the Recession.” April 2009. Center for American Progress. Accessed at americanprogress.org/issues/ 2009/04/black_men_recession.html. 5 C. Nicole Mason, PhD, “Race, Gender and the Recession: Job Creation and Employment.” Women of Color Policy Network. wagner.nyu.edu/wocpn/news/ Race_Gender_and_the_Recession_Job_ Creation_PR.pdf.
Kirwan Institute Affiliated Faculty and Staff Initiative Kirwan Institute Seeks Affiliated Faculty and Staff
The Kirwan Institute is seeking informal partnerships with Ohio State faculty and staff who are engaged in research, scholarship, instruction, administration, or service that connects to one or more of the institute’s major research themes related to race, ethnicity, and social justice. The Kirwan Institute Affiliated Faculty and Staff Initiative—an expansion of the current Affiliated Faculty Program—is designed to create opportunities for meaningful collaboration across disciplines at Ohio State and to mutually enhance the capacity of the institute and the university to engage in relevant research, instruction, service, and policymaking. For additional information about the Kirwan Institute Affiliated Faculty and Staff Initiative, please visit kirwaninstitute.org/about-us/get-affiliated/affiliated-faculty-staff.php or contact Tom Rudd, senior researcher, at (614) 247‑8458 or rudd.35@osu.edu. 3
Questions in this section are chosen by our staff to address a particular topic as it relates to our work at the institute. To submit a question for consideration, please e-mail reno.34@osu.edu.
Q&A: Recession and Recovery Danielle Gadomski, Summer Law Intern Stephen Menendian, Senior Research Associate
Q1:
What is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is the extensive stimulus bill that was enacted in early 2009. It invests billions of dollars in many areas, including creating and saving jobs, repairing and building new infrastructure, and modernizing the health care system. Some of those investment dollars will be given to state and local governments, while other investment dollars will go directly to individual organizations. It also includes a commitment to transparency and accountability, with the government pledging to make available on its web site (recovery.gov) information about how the act is working and how funds are being used.
A1:
Q2:
What is “the bailout”?
The government program most often referred to as “the bailout” is the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). A2: TARP is a major component of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It initially allowed the United States Department of Treasury to purchase or insure up to $700 billion of troubled assets, but this was changed to $575 billion in May 2009. Troubled assets include residential and commercial mortgages; securities, obligations, or other instruments based on such mortgages; and any other financial instrument the purchase of which the Secretary of Treasury determines would promote financial market stability. Recipients of TARP money include AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, General Motors, Chrysler, and GMAC.
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Q3:
What is the government doing to prevent more foreclosures?
A3:
The government has instituted several programs to try to keep families in their homes. In 2008, Congress passed the HOPE for Homeowners Act which allotted $300 billion to guarantee home loans for distressed borrowers who did not already qualify for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans. This program has been extremely unsuccessful, and as of March 2009 only one homeowner had been able to refinance under the program. In May 2009, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 modified the FHA insured loans program to further encourage lenders to allow modifications of mortgages. The bill that was passed did not include the cram down provision passed by the House that would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Modifications could have included lower interest rates, longer repayment periods, and reduction of the principal amount owed to match the current value of the house.
Q4:
Who is most impacted by the current recession?
Not surprisingly, communities A4: already marginalized in the American economy have been bearing the brunt of the current economic recession. United for a Fair Economy found that although the United States has been in a recession for more than a year, people of color have been in a recession for nearly five years and have entered a depression during the current economic crisis. Since the recession began, in December 2007 to March 2009, Latino
unemployment has risen 4.7 percentage points to 10.9 percent, and Black unemployment has risen 4.5 points to 13.4 percent, while White unemployment has risen 2.9 points to 7.3 percent. Nearly half of all subprime loans went to African American and Latino borrowers even though many qualified for prime loans. African American and Latino homeowners are expected to lose between $164 and $213 billion in assets due to the crisis.
Q5:
What is a fair recovery and why is it important?
A fair recovery is an economic recovery that ensures all communities affected, and especially those hardest hit, share in the recovery programs. A fair recovery includes recovery fund investments marked by full transparency and accountability, focused attention on families and communities hit hardest by the economic crisis, and investments designed to promote equity and expand opportunity for all. Periods of crisis provide a window for change and an opportunity to redesign failing systems. As our nation reshapes institutions and policies and designs initiatives to respond to this crisis, marginalized communities can and should benefit from this tremendous opportunity.
A5:
Q6:
Why won’t a universal approach work?
Universal policies often fail to account for the fact that different communities and populations possess unique resources and needs. Universal programs may not fulfill their anticipated impact due to communities being constrained under multiple layers
A6:
Don’t Miss Kirwan’s eUpdate Newsletter If you look forward to reading this newsletter, you can now double your enjoyment. The Kirwan Institute offers an electronic newsletter, eUpdate, midway between each print edition of Kirwan Update. Readers of the print edition can sign up to receive eUpdate on the Kirwan web site. (Go to kirwaninstitute.org/about-us/subscribe.php, check “newsletters,” and include your e-mail address.) Archived electronic newsletters are also available online under “publications.”
of disadvantage. “Universal” policies are often based on a non-universal standard. For example, social security is technically available to everyone but mostly benefits able-bodied white males working full-time outside the home for pay. The alternative to the universal approach, the Kirwan Institute suggests, is targeted universalism.
Q6:
The May/June eUpdate features commentary on the world conference on racism, an analysis of a recent Supreme Court case charging “reverse discrimination,” overviews of three recent books by Kirwan staff, and Kirwan presentations on subjects ranging from the death penalty to the Somali Diaspora, the racial implications of drug-related prison sentences, and much more. eUpdate is published in January/February, May/June, and September/October; the print Update is published in March/April, July/August, and November/ December. Be sure to join the e-newsletter list. We look forward to keeping you updated.
What is targeted universalism?
Targeted universalism is an alternative to universal policies that A6: acknowledges how people are situated differently and recognizes our linked fate. Targeting within universalism means identifying a problem that afflicts marginalized communities, proposing a solution, and then broadening its scope to cover as many people as possible. For example, recovery funds for transportation could be used to fund different road proposals across states. This may produce jobs in the short-term, but it will not produce sustainable or equitable growth. Instead, we need to direct funds to investment-deprived communities. By making these communities more functional, the city and region would become more economically competitive, thus forming a growth engine for our economy. Sources:
• Christie, Lee, “HOPE Prevents 1 Foreclosure,” CNNMoney.com. • Eye on the Bailout, ProPublica, bailout. propublica.org/main/list/index. • FairRecovery.org, The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. • MSNBC, “Latinos, Blacks Losing Jobs at Faster Rate,” msnbc.msn.com/id/29843053. • United for a Fair Economy, “Foreclosed: State of the Dream 2008.”
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International Perspectives Facing the Brick Wall in Booming Economies S. P. Udayakumar, Research Fellow for the Kirwan Institute
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ccording to economists, the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) will grow their share of the world economy even faster than the original forecast. As one of them put it, “Of the four BRIC countries, Russia, China, and India have all grown on average 2 percent more than we suggested [in 2003]… they are now collectively 16 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), so it is all happening a lot quicker.”1 A 2004 Goldman Sachs study predicted that the number of people with income over $3,000 per capita in the BRIC countries could double in the next three years. According to the study, “In a decade, over 800 million people across the four economies may have crossed that threshold. A substantial pool will be much richer. By 2025, over 200 million people in the BRICs could have incomes over $15,000—larger than Japan’s and Germany’s 2025 population combined.”2 The conclusions of an earlier 2003 Goldman Sachs study were divided under five main topics—economic size, economic growth, incomes and demographics, global demand patterns, and currency movements. However, under the “incomes and demographics” section, the study posits that “[d]espite much faster growth, individuals in the BRICs are still likely to be poorer on average than individuals in the G6 economies by 2050.” As India’s population continues to grow throughout the next 50 years, it will have “the potential to raise its U.S. dollar income per capita in 2050 to 35 times current levels. Still, India’s income per capita will be significantly lower than any of the countries we look at.” Similarly, the study posits rightly that “[w]here labour force and population growth is rapid, income per capita tends to rise more slowly as higher investment is needed just to keep up with population growth.” India’s GDP grew by 6.9 percent in 2005, making it the fastest growing economy after China. Indian foreign exchange reserves have increased from $1 billion to $1.4 billion, making it a creditor to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), not a borrower.3 In the case of Brazil, investment and savings are lower but public and foreign debt is much higher.4 A follow-up Goldman Sachs study posits that the BRICs weight in the world economy could rise over the next few decades quite considerably; their share of world GDP could be as much as 45 percent in U.S. dollar terms by 2025 (60 percent in purchasing power parity, or PPP, terms). However, “[i]ndividuals in the BRICs are still likely to be poorer on average than individuals in the G6 economies, except in Russia.”5 Although the Chinese economy could overtake the U.S. economy by 2039, per capita income in the United States could reach roughly $80,000 by 2050, and China’s per capita income could only be about $30,000. India’s GDP may outstrip that of Japan by 2032. One of the major challenges China faces today, according to the vice minister of State Environmental Protection Administration, is the fact that 300 million people do not have access to clean water. The country also faces the problems of desertification, water pollution, new pollutants, and increasing CO2 emissions. China also confronts poverty, income disparity, unemployment, poor production conditions, and soaring traffic. Russia faces problems such as 6
multiethnic population, competition for resources between regions and minorities, the phenomenon of the “working poor,” the graying of the society, and the problem of migration.6 Similarly, among the BRIC countries, India “receives low marks for education indicators, particularly at the primary and secondary levels.” After all, many cross-country studies have found positive and statistically significant correlations between schooling and growth rates of per capita GDP. Higher education is also helpful in contributing to more rapid growth and catch up. “India has the most work to do in expanding education.”7 In other words, the overall international and national economic disparities and opportunity impediments are likely to prevail (or worsen) in spite of economic growth at national levels because of the global meltdown. One may wonder what would happen to the state of those who are already lagging behind such as women, minorities, the landless peasants, the urban poor, unorganized workers, and other weaker sections. If we combine this economic discrimination with equally (if not more) debilitating racial/ethnic discrimination and political disempowerment, we encounter a heinous system or structure that builds on and feeds into all of the building blocks: poverty, marginalization, discrimination, disempowerment, regress, violence, degeneration, and so forth. As an Indian CEO has said, “Global trade bodies have to reexamine their policies, which were more apt for an industrial age, and tailor them for the knowledge era. How well we manage this change is going to determine our future. If this change is not handled in a mature fashion, the result will be turmoil. For instance, global terrorism is to some extent a fallout of large-scale economic and social changes.”8 1 2
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“Tumbling Western economy to help BRIC,” Deccan Chronicle, June 9, 2008. Dominic Wilson, Roopa Purushothaman and Themistoklis Fiotakis, The BRICs and Global Markets: Crude, Cars and Capital (Global Economics Paper No. 118). New York: The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 2004. p. 11. Quoted in “BRICs set for dramatic transformation,” Swift, February 20, 2006. Ibid., pp. 8, 10, 15. Dominic Wilson et. al., 2004. pp. 9, 6. From the presentations at the international conference that was held in September 2005 in Berlin on BRICS+G. Wilson and Purushothaman, 2003, pp. 10, 13, 14. 9th Annual Global CEO Survey, 2006, p. 28.
The Durban Review Conference: Hopefully More Than Words Lidija Knuth, Research Fellow for the Kirwan Institute
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n Monday, April 20, activities began early at the United Nations building in Switzerland where representatives of organizations accredited to the Durban Review Conference stood in long lines to register for the badges to access the U.N. Durban Review Conference. For a full week, state representatives from all around the world reviewed progress toward implementing the measures adopted at the 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban. Unfortunately the conference took place with many fewer participants than initially expected. Joining Israel, Canada, the United States, Italy, and Australia in announcing boycotts one weekend before the start of the conference were Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. These countries declared their decision with the fear that the conference may turn out to be a platform for
anti-Semitic statements. The U.S. administration has been widely criticized by U.S. human rights and anti-racism organizations for boycotting such an important and unique conference, arguing that the United States needs to engage in a dialogue, take a position, and condemn such statements at the conference and not just withdraw. This conference was very important for the victims all over the world who need states to agree on some global guidelines, global strategies to implement best practices to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerances. The major outcome of the Durban Review Conference is the declaration, which is by various civil society groups viewed as an important achievement. At the same time, they regret that major countries, such as the U.S. and Germany, have not adopted it. However, this document shall be seen as a new starting point for lobbying with the U.S. government, requiring the
administration to first adopt it and then start implementing it at national and local levels. The declaration omits references to “defamation of religion,” and it does not single out Israel or the question of the Middle East conflict. Also, the problematic language around “negative stereotypes of religion” has been amended. It’s not quite far enough, but it addresses some important issues (e.g., migrant rights and the identification of Roma Gypsies as one of the most vulnerable groups having been subjected to a very specific situation of concern). Indeed, it can be said that the document is a basis and a call for states, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society to finally take action and protect victims of racism, intolerance, and discrimination at the international, national, and subnational levels.
Kirwan Institute Blog
This blog is devoted to stimulate and sustain dialogue around issues of race, ethnicity, social hierarchy, democratic principles, and other intersections of social justice.
(kirwaninstitute.blogspot.com) MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009
To initiate a new discussion…
Deep Faith
e-mail kirwanblog@gmail.com.
By Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Assistant Professor of History with a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute
A recent New York Times/CBS News Poll found that two-thirds of Americans say that race relations are generally good, up significantly from slightly more than half in July 2008.1 Most notably, the percentage of African Americans who say that race relations are good has doubled during the same period, from 29 percent to 59 percent, reaching a historic high. The presence of Barack and Michelle Obama in the White House is clearly the source of this newfound optimism. According to the Times/CBS poll, Barack Obama’s approval rating among African Americans is a statistically unheard of 96 percent, while the percentage of African Americans who disapprove of his performance is 0. Meanwhile, Michelle Obama’s approval rating is 88 percent, falling 8 percentage points below her husband because 12 percent of the respondents were either undecided or did not have enough information to make a reasonable judgment. But like her husband, the percentage of African Americans who disapprove of her performance is 0. These are the highest favorable ratings accorded any president and first lady by African Americans. There is a direct correlation between the Obamas’ high rating among African Americans and the rise in the percentage of African Americans who say that race relations are generally good. The Obamas’ favorable ratings not only reflect a lingering euphoria over his election and a genuine satisfaction with his and the First Lady’s first 100 days in the White House, but
also the widely held view among African Americans that the spotlight shining brightly on the Obamas will reflect positively on African Americans as a whole, prompting white Americans to abandon long held prejudicial beliefs and behaviors. When asked in the same poll if, in the next four years, Barack Obama’s presidency will bring together or divide different groups of Americans, 94 percent of African Americans said that it would bring people together and only 3 percent said that it would drive people apart. At the same time, however, 55 percent of white Americans said that Obama’s presidency would bring different groups together, while 31 percent said that it would not. The difference between the two groups is telling, pointing to the very real possibility that African Americans are overestimating the power of the Obamas’ presence and effectiveness in the White House to improve race relations. Only time will tell if they are right or wrong. At the very least, though, these poll numbers for African Americans demonstrate the deep faith that black people have in the Obamas, a faith that transformed a presidential campaign into a social movement and seeks to transform a presidency into the salvation of the nation. 1
For complete poll results see documents.nytimes.com/new-york-timescbs-news-poll-obama-s-100th-day-in-office/page/1#p=1.
Coming Soon—racetalk— a new blog managed by Kirwan.
This is a sample of an entry on the Kirwan Institute blog. Please visit our web site at kirwaninstitute.org to view and comment on current postings.
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GIS Update Connecticut Opportunity Mapping Project The Kirwan Institute is conducting research on community development issues in the State of Connecticut for the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. An opportunity mapping framework is being used to assess conditions and to promote equitable community development and fair housing. The proposed Connecticut opportunity mapping assessment contains three core research areas. The first is a basic opportunity mapping analysis for the State of Connecticut with analysis of the distribution of affordable housing and racial populations in context of low and high opportunity neighborhoods. The second component will focus on mapping subprime lending, loan performance, and foreclosures to assess how the current subprime lending crisis creates challenges and opportunities for the state’s neighborhoods (see mapping spread). The third component includes qualitative research interviews with key stakeholders in neighborhoods challenged most by escalating foreclosures.
Opportunity Mapping and the Recession Connecticut: Race and Foreclosure by Census Tract
This map compares areas with high foreclosure rates between January 2007 and June 2008 to areas with high non-White population per Census tract . The data reflects that 55.6 percent of the population in tracts with the highest foreclosure rates (6.6 percent or greater) is non-White, showing a strong correlation between race and foreclosure. Freeway System State Boundaries County Boundaries Race 1 Dot = 500 Non White 987G Foreclosure Rates 0% - 2.2% 2.3% - 4% 4.1% - 6.5% 6.6% - 9.2% 9.3% - 14.1% No Data
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The Miami Workers Center in Florida contracted with the Kirwan Institute to study spatial patterns of opportunity distribution in four major metro areas in the State of Florida and to evaluate economic recovery investments and programs in relation to marginalized communities in the state.
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STATE OF CONNECTICUT This map displays the estimated number of foreclosures per Census tract between January 2007 and June 2008.
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The Kirwan Institute is working with local data providers and state and national databases to build and develop neighborhood-based opportunity indicator data. Our research will attempt to identify patterns of marginalization within Florida’s geography of opportunity by race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Our evaluation of structural and institutional barriers to opportunity will include affordable housing programs, housing stabilization initiatives (e.g., Neighborhood Stabilization program), and economic recovery investments and programs in the State of Florida. We are working with our community stakeholders and advocates to provide advocacy solutions to promote equitable use of future Community Development Block Grant funds and other publicly supported neighborhood investment strategies and programs. Our research and policy analysis will support targeted policy interventions to expand affordable housing in high opportunity communities and to align economic recovery program benefits with the needs of impacted marginalized communities. 8
91
395 84
County Boundaries Census Tracts Estimated Foreclosures 0 - 29
44 TOLLAND 291
HARTFORD
695
384 423
30 - 69
WINDHAM
Hartford
202
LITCHFIELD
3
72
70 - 171
Waterbury
New York
2
846
691
MIDDLESEX
NEW LONDON
9
NEW HAVEN 8
78
New Haven
15
95
FAIRFIELD Bridgeport
684 987
LITCHFIELD Stamford
7
HARTFORD
Norwalk
846
287 987
87
84
NEW HAVEN
907
8 97 678
908
25
83 46
27
Waterbury
Estimated Foreclosure Rates by Census Tract STATE OF CONNECTICUT This map displays the estimated foreclosure rates of each Census tract between January 2007 and June 2008.
Maps prepared for the Connecticut Fair Housing Center by:
Source: H.U.D., U.S. Census Bureau. Date: February 12, 2008. 0
9
18
27
90
391
36 Miles
122
Massachusetts
495
Legend 91
395
291
HARTFORD
195
Hartford
3
79
Rhode Island 24
4
Waterbury
2
2
846
91
3
72
Above 9.5% 0% New York
10
695
384 423
140
2
6
WINDHAM
Hartford
202
LITCHFIELD
691
114
8 138
122 MIDDLESEX 495
NEW LONDON
9
NEW HAVEN
24
146
8
291
95
1
78
New Haven
15
Bridgeport
295
44
95
FAIRFIELD 384 140 84 91
987
195 3
9
Bridgeport
684
2 10
423
Stamford
Hartford
7
Norwalk
15
8
79
91
Rhode Island
287 24
4
15
384
84
TOLLAND
4.5 - 7.0% 7.0 - 9.5%
6
295
84 44
Census Tracts Foreclosure Rate 2.5% or less 2.5 - 4.5%
ps prepared for the Housing Center by:
44
24
291
146
Major Cities Freeway System 987G State Boundaries County Boundaries
987
846
87
907
2
84 114
8 138
97 678
908
95
83 46
25
Waterbury
27
New Haven
95 1
Bridgeport
Economic Stimulus Projects and Unemployment
15
STATE OF OHIO
91
This map displays the spatial distribution of unemployment in relation to jobs being created or retained because of Recovery Act investments. 95
New Haven
Note: Some of the projects are missing information on jobs being created or saved. Source: ODOT, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 May 2009.
°
§ ¨ ¦
Michigan
90
Lake Erie
2 V U
Toledo
§ ¨ ¦ 80
§ ¨ ¦
271
Cleveland
422 £ ¤
ps prepared for the Housing Center by:
82 V U
8 V U
122 495 291 295 HARTFORD
140
2 91
10
21 V U
30 £ ¤
195
76
Pennsylvania
62 £ ¤
Indiana
Hartford
3
9
§ ¨ ¦
79
75
Rhode Island
§ ¨ ¦
24
4
77
2 8
§ ¨ ¦
384
84 6
Akron
15 V U
24
146 44
11 U V
§ ¨ ¦
475
7 V U
114
138
§ ¨ ¦ Columbus
§ ¨ ¦
270
FAIRFIELD
470
§ ¨ ¦
95
1
70
Bridgeport
Dayton
§ ¨ ¦ 675
15
§ ¨ ¦
33 £ ¤
71
23 £ ¤
91 NEW HAVEN
Cities Freeway 50 System Water
£ ¤
§ ¨ ¦
§ ¨ ¦
275
74
95
Ohio Transportation Stimulus
Estimated Jobs Created/Retained
Cincinnati
New Haven
0 - 151
152 - 480
32 V U
481 - 1100
West Virginia
§ ¨ ¦ 79
1101 - 4721
4722 - 16800
Counties
Unemployment Rate
Kentucky 60 £ ¤ 0
4 V U
20
40
60
80 Miles
4.6% - 5.7% 5.8% - 6.6% 6.7% - 7.7% 7.8% - 8.9% 9% - 10.5%
9
Talking about Race The Faces, Places, and Economics of Poverty1 Andrew Grant-Thomas, Deputy Director
For those who like their insights about the economics of living in poverty well-leavened with research, I nominate Brookings’ excellent studies on Kentucky, Philadelphia, and 12 major metro areas across the country.2 If you prefer a bigger dollop of poignancy with your insight, try John Scalzi’s pithy observations on “Being Poor.”3 For those who like their insights about the economics of life in poverty leavened with both data and poignancy, I heartily recommend DeNeen Brown’s “primer” in the May 18 Washington Post (“Poor? Pay Up”). The key point is this: It’s not just that poor people have less money to buy the stuff other people buy. It’s that poor people pay more for that stuff with the less that they have. The cost of poverty is measured in “money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace.” The piece is a quick read and I’ll recapitulate few of Brown’s excellent insights here. But I will grump about the way she muddies the waters about the role of geography, and says nothing about the play of race, in the dynamics of poverty. A reader could leave Brown’s piece thinking that “poverty is poverty is poverty.” It’s not. Yes, whatever your race and wherever you live, if you’re poor, you’re less likely to own a car than if you’re not, or less able to afford to fix the car you have if it breaks down—which is likely, since you probably had to buy a cheap clunker to begin with. So you can’t get to places like Costco’s or Trader Joe’s where the real food savings are, and in any case, don’t have $200 or $300 to buy the large-volume packets of meat, cleaning supplies, and other items to realize those savings. If you’re Black or Latino, the alternative is often to buy your food at the local grocery store, where milk, bread, and eggs will cost much more than they do in supermarkets in working or middleclass neighborhoods, and where produce often isn’t fresh or available (but fast food joints and liquor stores may be abundant.) If you’re poor and White, you’re much more likely to live in a non-poor neighborhood. Nationally, three in four poor African Americans and two in four poor Latinos live in neighborhoods with poverty rates that exceed 20 percent; only one in four poor Whites does. Brown notes that the poor spend a lot of time waiting— waiting for the city bus to arrive, waiting for laundry at the Laundromat—because many don’t have cars or washing machines and dryers. This is an important point easily overlooked by those of us who rarely, if ever, suffer these inconveniences.
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However, among poor people with access to public transportation, Latinos and African Americans (34 percent) are twice as likely as Whites (17 percent) to report using it “regularly for commuting to school or work.”4 And while fewer than six in 10 poor Black and Latino families have washing machines at home, seven in 10 poor Whites do. Poor White people have it hard. Poor people of color and their communities typically have it even harder. Let’s push those responsible for distributing economic recovery dollars to keep that in mind in the months and years ahead. 1
This article first appeared on racewire.org.
2
You can find these studies at brookings.edu.
3
See whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor.
4
American Housing Survey for the United States: 2007. Available at census.gov/prod/2008pubs/h150-07.pdf.
The Voting Rights Act: Time for Sustained Diligence and Adding New Place Settings at the Advocacy Table Wendy G. Smooth, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies with a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute
On the eve of the most recent reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, I published an essay that expressed concerns for the ways in which we continuously view the VRA as exclusively a race-based, or at best, an ethnicity-based law.1 In that essay, I proposed that an intersectionality analysis be employed to the VRA, which would illuminate ways in which passing the act increased women’s representation in electoral politics. This shift in framing, I argued, requires that two advocacy communities that often run along parallel tracks intersect— the “race and politics” and the “women and politics” advocacy communities. Congress reauthorized the legislation in 2006, extending the strongest parts of the act for another 25 years, and as a symbolic gesture, Congress named the reauthorization bill in honor of three Black women activists who contributed significantly to the voting rights struggle. However, following the reauthorization, we still view the VRA in terms of race only. Congress’ reauthorization was unsuccessfully challenged in the Supreme Court case, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder, which involved Section V of the VRA. Section V, often referred to as the heart of the VRA, requires the justice Department to review all changes in voting laws and district lines in the states covered by the VRA. In a surprising 8–1 ruling, the Court upheld Section V. However, in the court’s April hearing of the case, the justices’ inquiry rested largely on whether or
not Section V had outlived its usefulness in today’s more racially accepting society (that’s “post-race” for those of us who read between the lines). The justices’ line of questions suggested that Section V, and the VRA overall, would likely take a significant blow. It seemed that at best, it might enjoy a friendly time-limited extension in much the same way that affirmative action in higher education was put on notice by Justice O’Conner’s crafting of the majority opinion in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger case. Despite this surprising victory, now more than ever, the VRA advocacy community must sustain its diligence. The first step is to expand the groups at the advocacy table. It is time to pull out the old wooden leaf to ensure that the women’s advocacy community takes a seat at the advocacy table on behalf of the VRA. The VRA has increased representation not only for racial groups, but for women as well. Shortly after the VRA’s passage, only 160 African American women held elected office; by 1990, there were over 3,000.2 Women of color have increasingly gained election to state legislatures while the numbers of women overall have reached a plateau. African American women and Latinas have led the way in garnering representation for their racial groups as well as their gender. Given this, it is befitting that the women’s advocacy community take an active role in the politics of the VRA. Shifting the lens through which we “see” the impact of the VRA could expand understandings of its role in increasing democratic inclusion. This is, however, difficult work for advocacy groups. In Affirmative Advocacy Race, Class and Gender in Interest Group Politics (2007), Dara Strolovitch suggests that advocacy organizations are mostly designed along a single axis of representation and often focus their work in an either/or fashion, frequently failing the test of representing their members’ needs that fall at the intersections. The law’s framing of policy areas as race-based or gender-based solidifies the bifurcation of advocacy work. It also means that we end up with limited understandings of who benefits from policies and, subsequently, who has a stake in preserving them. Employing an intersectionality framework to the VRA requires a more nuanced interpretation of what is at stake and requires advocacy groups to push against conventional wisdom. This time around, we were unusually lucky with this 8–1 decision favoring the VRA. However, this is likely not the last challenge the VRA will see. The continued survival of this critical legislation may depend upon our abilities to figure out how to reframe the issues around what is at stake. Adding a few place settings at the advocacy table is a first step.
Development The work of the Kirwan Institute is made possible by the generous support of numerous people and organizations. External funding includes the following:
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The African American Male Project Advanced Racial Equity Planning Project
The Ford Foundation
General operations The Diversity Advancement Project The Integration Initiative
The Presidents’ Council (of Cleveland) Regionalism and its effects on African Americans in Cleveland
Public Interest Projects
Fulfilling the Dream Fund (National Fund) “A New Paradigm for Affirmative Action: Targeting Within Universalism”
The Tides Foundation Core operating support
The Open Society Institute
School Desegregation Project Core Operating Support Framing Racial Justice through Emotive Strategies
Democracy Alliance General operations
1
See Smooth, W. (2006). “Intersectionality in Electoral Politics, A Mess Worth Making” in Politics & Gender v 2, n3 (September).
2
For the most up-to-date numbers of women in elected office, see the Center for the American Woman in Politics cawp.rutgers.edu.
For more information on making a commitment to excellence with a donation to the institute, please contact: Heather A. Schwenker Director of Development Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (614) 688-5429 schwenker.4@osu.edu
11
v From the Editors
Fourth Issue of Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts ArtiCleS
1 “Panopticism,” from Punish & Discipline: The Birth of the Prison MICHEL FOUCAULT
13 Locking Down Civil Rights: Criminal Record-based Discrimination
Volume 2 Number 2 • Spring 2009
Volume 2 Number 2 • Spring 2009
CoNteNtS
Race / ethnicity Multidisciplinary Global Contexts Volume 2 Number 2 • Spring 2009
HEATHER ROsE and GLEnn E. MARTIn
21 Life Capacity Beyond Reentry: A Critical Examination of Racism and Prisoner Reentry Reform in the Us VIVIAn nIxOn, PATRICIA TICEnTO CLOUGH, DAVID sTAPLEs, YOLAnDA JOHnsOn PETERkIn, PATRICIA ZIMMERMAn, CHRIsTInA VOIGHT, and sEAn PICA
LOïC WACqUAnT
AnTHOnY GOODMAn and VInCEnZO RUGGIERO
Race / ethnicity
The latest issue of the journal Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts, published by the Kirwan Institute, explores the implication of race and ethnicity 45 Extirpate and Expel: On the Penal Management of Postcolonial in systems of secondary education across the globe. Scheduled for spring 2009 Migrants in the European Union publication, the issue opens with an excerpt from Pedagogy of the Oppressed by 53 Crime, Punishment, and Ethnic Minorities in England and Wales Paulo Freire that underlines the distinction between oppressive and transformative 69 Moralizing security: “Corrections” and the Post-Apartheid forms of education. According to Freire, oppressive forms of Prison education discount the experiences and cultures of those being educated, while transformative forms engage 89 An Institutional suicide Machine: Discrimination against Federally sentenced Aboriginal Women in Canada all participants in dialogue. The outcome of the struggle of developing countries Criminology: Voices from Prison and marginalized populations to participate in121 theConvict transformation of their societies depends on whether the educational environment is oppressive or transformative. kELLY GILLEsPIE
JEnA McGILL
sTEPHEn C. RICHARDs, DOnALD FAGGIAnI, JED ROFFERs, RICHARD HEnDRICksEn, and JERRICk kRUEGER
137 Incarceration and Beyond: A Personal Perspective
We focus this issue on secondary education, which provides many children with their 151 Incarceration Data: selected Comparisons final, formal education, and on the character and content of that education. In doing 157 Erratum so, we recognize that formal learning environments must be considered within larger 159 List of Contributors cultural, societal, national, and even global contexts to account for the content and impact of the educational experience. INDIANA EGInALD A. WILkInsOn
compiled by CHARLEs PATTOn III
INDIANA
race and Secondary education: Content, Contexts, Impacts
For more information about the journal or to subscribe, go to raceethnicity.org.
Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts Call for Papers
raceethnicity.org
Intersections of Race and Gender (Autumn 2010)
Mediating Race and Labor (Winter 2011)
What is the relationship between gender and racial discrimination? Is gender discrimination likely to be most severe in places where racial discrimination is also severe, or are the two largely independent phenomena? Why is that the case? How do race and gender intersect with each other to mediate access to social opportunity? By what means does the intersection of “women” and racial/ethnic “other” as identities so often result in the creation of a subclass considered expendable and exploited? More generally, what are the consequences of discriminatory behaviors, institutions, and structures acting at the intersection of race and gender? What can be done? How might we celebrate the intersections of race and gender?
Submissions are invited that explore the role of race and ethnicity in mediating labor at all levels. What is the impact of race on national and international labor flows and the global economy? How does race shape the development and direction of labor movements? What factors account for the existence, or not, and strength of organized labor in different national contexts? How does race determine occupation so that certain tasks become racialized, and to what degree and in what ways do certain racialized groups of workers enjoy privileges as workers and citizens? How does labor contribute to the creation of new social classes/ castes or otherwise impact cultures? How have or might governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other groups address issues of race and labor?
Submissions due September 2009
Submissions due December 2009
Please send manuscript submissions to Leslie Shortlidge (shortlidge.2@osu.edu). To prepare your document in accordance with the Race/Ethnicity style guidelines, visit raceethnicity.org/styleguide.html. Submission of artwork for the cover that relates to the theme of the issue is welcome. Visit raceethnicity.org/coverart.html for submission guidelines.
12
Kirwan Institute Events Upcoming Events
Transforming Race: Crisis and Opportunity in the Age of Obama The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity is pleased to announce its second biannual Transforming Race Conference. The theme of the March 2010 conference is “Crisis and Opportunity in the Age of Obama.” The following three tracks will be featured: Racial Dynamics and Systems Thinking: Systems or systemsbased thinking dynamics recognize that some of the explanation of outcomes is found in the organization and dynamics of systems themselves, and not simply in the actions of individual parts. The analytic benefits of adopting a systems approach to problem diagnosis and problem solving have long been explored in the fields of organizational development, medicine, international relations, and elsewhere; the fields of social and racial justice have lagged. Sessions in this strand will consider the utility of systems thinking as a mode of analysis and a guide to advocacy strategizing and policymaking in the pursuit of racial equity, social justice, and human rights. Race Talk: For many Americans, the view that race shapes social meaning and access to opportunity in the United States received added impetus with the election of the country’s Black president.
In the context of a public that disproportionately views substantive “race talk” as irrelevant or necessarily divisive, how do we talk constructively about race? Sessions engaging this theme will report the best research and thinking on such key conceptual elements as implicit bias, frames, symbolic attitudes, values, and persuasion as a means of identifying the implications of that work for communications about race and ethnicity. In so doing, we hope to sow the seeds of a productive and inclusive dialogue in the service of racial justice. Race, Recession, and Recovery: The impact of the current economic downturn has had a profound effect on the United States and global economies. Marginalized groups, including people of color, immigrants, women, and rural residents, have borne the brunt of the devastation. Sessions that engage this theme will document the disparate racial and ethnic burden of the recession and benefits of the ongoing recovery; outline the ways that the downturn has created both crisis and opportunity in such areas as education, health, employment, and housing; and point to the kinds of institutional and policy reforms needed to ensure a more equitable distribution of benefits and burdens in the future. Watch for upcoming information in the Kirwan Institute’s eUpdate, Update, and at kirwaninstitue.org.
Recent Events
Professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt book discussion Hasan Kwame Jeffries, author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt (NYU Press, 2009), discussed his new book on July 8, 2009, at the King Arts Complex. Jeffries, an assistant professor in history at The Ohio State University with a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, specializes in African American history and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. The book focuses on the history and contributions of the rarely observed Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO), an allBlack, independent political party formed in Alabama in 1966. The group’s ballot symbol, a Black Panther, which would later be adopted by the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was created in a time when Blacks in rural Lowndes County felt fervently discouraged from voting. Jeffries’ book focuses on the seminal actions of the LCFO and includes a collection of government documents and personal interviews with Lowndes County locals and members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Bridging the gaping hole in the literature between civil rights organizing and Black Power politics, Bloody Lowndes offers a new paradigm for understanding the civil rights movement. 13
New Staff
Jamaal Bell
Leslie Shortlidge
Mark Harris Jr.
Jamaal Bell
Media Relations Manager Jamaal Bell joined Kirwan this month as the media relations manager for the institute. His communications experience includes work for school districts, government, and marketing communications firms. Jamaal has also served four years in the United States Navy. He holds a BS in public relations from Ball State University.
Leslie Shortlidge
Managing Editor Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts Leslie Shortlidge comes to the Kirwan Institute with a varied background in writing, publishing, and editing. A native of Michigan, Leslie received both her BA and MA from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where she also worked as an editorial assistant for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Leslie has written on a wide variety of subjects as a freelancer including advertising, promotional, and technical copy, educational materials, study guides, feature stories, and archaeology for both adult and juvenile audiences. Leslie edited a book review journal for a nonprofit literary organization in Central Ohio before joining Kirwan.
Jen Washco
Kerra S. Carson
Stacey Chan
Graduate Research Assistants Mark Harris Jr. is completing his MA in public administration at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State this year. Mark graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University with a BA in political science and received his MA in city and regional planning from the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State. Jen Washco is a city and regional planning PhD student. She holds a BA in electrical and computer engineering and an MA in city and regional planning from Ohio State. Her interests include housing finance, equity issues, foreclosures, and issues affecting renters.
Interns Sara Brummel joined the Kirwan Institute as a legal intern to help develop FairRecovery.org and contribute to other ongoing projects. She is currently a JD candidate at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law with expected graduation in 2011. Sara graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2007 with a BA in sociology. Kerra S. Carson is a doctoral student in higher education and student affairs at Ohio State. Originally from San Antonio, Texas, her primary research interest is in Black college students and organic retention strategies. Stacey Chan is a doctoral student in economics at Boston College with interests in labor and welfare economics, specifically with respect to women and minorities. She is excited to be working with the Kirwan Institute this summer. Brookes Hammock is a third-year law student at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law and a summer legal intern at the Kirwan Institute. His primary interests are housing, regional policy, health equity, LGBT-related issues, and social science methods. Brookes earned a BA in comparative cultural studies from Ohio State.
14
Brookes Hammock
Danielle Gadomski
Mary Griffith
Danielle Gadomski joins the Kirwan Institute as a legal research intern for the summer. Danielle is a JD candidate, class of 2011, at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. She has worked previously with Kids Matter/Milwaukee CASA and plans to pursue a certificate in Children’s Studies at the college of law. Danielle earned her BA in communications from Denison University in 2007. Mary Griffith is a communications intern with the Kirwan Institute. A June 2009 graduate of Ohio State’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs with an MA in public administration, she received a BA in English education from Ohio State in 2006. She plans to pursue an MA in agricultural, environmental, and development economics at Ohio State this fall. Nicole Jackson is a PhD candidate in the Department of History, having just obtained her MA at Ohio State. Nicole’s work centers on international social activism by women of color in the 20th century and global feminist movements. She earned her BA in history in 2001 from St. Mary’s College of California. Tami Newberry is joining the Kirwan Institute as a summer intern. She is a 2009 graduate of Ohio State (summa cum laude) where she studied Arabic. She also holds a previous degree in Spanish. Newberry will be attending graduate school this fall at Ohio State, where she will studying concepts of Arab identity. Rachel O’Connor is entering her senior year at Ohio State as a psychology and criminology major with a minor in sexuality studies. After graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school for social psychology and public policy. She does undergraduate research in social psychology and is involved in a variety of volunteer activities. She has a strong passion for social justice issues and is very excited to work as a summer intern for the Kirwan Institute.
Nicole Jackson
Tami Newberry
Rachel O’Connor
Matthew Wolstoncroft is a communications/ technology intern at the Kirwan Institute. He received a BA in communications technology from Ohio State in June 2009 and holds an AA in electronKamara Jones Matthew Wolstoncroft ics and computer science engineering from DeVry University in Columbus. His expertise includes Internet technologies, desktop publishing, and social media.
VolunteerS Kamara Jones is a graduate fellow in the Department of African American and African Studies at Ohio State. She received her BA in journalism with a minor in Black studies from the University of Missouri in 2008 and graduated magna cum laude. Jones is currently writing her master’s thesis on the 2008 presidential election. She is specifically focused on the concept of post-racialism—a hegemonic narrative that developed as a result of President Barack Obama’s success. So-young Lee is working as a summer volunteer for Kirwan’s Geographic Information Systems/Housing Policy section. She started her masters program in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Ohio State in fall 2008. She will be helping with quantitative and spatial analysis.
15 UMC 09173
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