URPL-GP 2620 Race, Ethnicity & Class in American Cities

UPDATED 3-3-15

URPL-GP 2620 – Race, Ethnicity & Class in American Cities

ROBERT F. WAGNER GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICE

Spring 2015

Angela Glover Blackwell

Course Meetings: From 9 am-3:00 pm on January 30, February 13, February 27, and March 13

Location: WAVE 567

Faculty Contact Information:

Email:

Office Hours: From 3:30-5:00 pm on January 30, February 13, February 27, and March 13

Office Hours Location: Puck 3045 (Adjunct Office)

Course Description:

As America bolts toward becoming a majority people of color nation, dozens of cities are already there. This urban transformation is occurring against the backdrop of rising inequality and persistent racial inequity. The resulting friction sometimes overshadows, and in the long run threatens to undermine, the incredible opportunities afforded by the resurgence of cities. To maintain their competitive advantage, cities will have to address the following tough questions.

· Who benefits from the investments?

· Who gets to live in dense neighborhoods rich in culture and opportunity?

· How do we open up opportunity to everyone?

To answer these questions, we need fresh thinking about job creation, education, housing, economic development and everything that makes cities tick. At the same time, we need to lift up groundbreaking local efforts that are beginning to fuse the achievement of racial equity and the creation of 21st century cities. This course examines how cities can meet these challenges through policy interventions.

Central Questions:

1. How do shifting race, ethnic, and age demographics impact cities?

2. What challenges are associated with these changes? Do they differ from city to city?

3. Can effectively addressing the issues of those being left behind benefit the entire metropolitan area?

4. How can various sectors (public, private, labor, philanthropy) work together to shape communities of opportunity across the nation?

Grading Policy:

Wagner's grading scale is as follows: A/4.0, A-/3.7, B+/3.3, B/3.0, B-/2.7, C+/2.3, C/2.0, C-/1.7, and F/0. For more information, please visit https://wagner.nyu.edu/adjunct/files/gradingGuidelines.pdf

Participation:

1. Attendance, Punctuality and Class Participation: 20%

2. Metropolitan Profile: 30%

3. Policy Brief Outline: 5%

4. Policy Brief: 30%

5. Op-Ed: 15%

Attendance Policy:

Since this class is compressed, the quality of your class experience (and your grade) depends on you attending all four sessions. If you are unable to attend, please email me before the class with an explanation.

Late Assignment Policy:

Extensions will be granted only in case of emergency. Late submissions without extensions will be penalized ½ letter grade per day (B+ to B, e.g.).

Academic Honesty:

This course follows NYU’s policy on plagiarism and cheating. All exams and assignments must be the sole work of the individual student. Violations of these standards will automatically result in all participating students failing the course and being remanded to the discipline committee for further action.

For more information, please review the Wagner School Academic Code at https://wagner.nyu.edu/students/policies/academic-code#sec-B1.

Background Texts:

Required:

Hartman, Chester, ed. 2014. America's Growing Inequality: The Impact of Poverty and Race. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Choose two additional texts:

Blackwell, Angela Glover, Stewart Kwoh and Manuel Pastor. 2010. Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America's Future. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Ltd.

Jacobs, Jane. 1992. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Massey, Douglas S. and Nancy A. Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Lipsitz, George. 2011. How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Suggested Readings:

Canada, Geoffrey. 2010. Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Tough, Paul. 2008. Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America. New York, NY: Houghton Miffling Harcourt

PART 2: HOUSING POLICY

Guest Speaker: Kalima Rose, Senior Director of the PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity, PolicyLink

Readings:

Sugrue, Thomas J. 2014. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Updated Edition). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapters 2, 3, 7, 8.

John R. Logan. 2014. “Separate and Unequal in Suburbia.” Census Brief prepared for Project US2010.

Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 2014. “Discrimination and Segregation in Housing.”

Sharkey, Patrick. 2013. Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress toward Racial Equality. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Chapters 2 and 4.

Kneebone, Elizabeth and Alan Berube. 2013. Confronting Suburban Poverty in America. Harrisonburg, VA: Brookings Institution Press. Chapter 2.

2014. “Development without Displacement: Resisting Gentrification in the Bay Area” by Cause Justa: Just Cause.

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing:

· Read the Proposed Rule in the federal register.

· Review the Proposed Assessment Tool.

· Read the comments submitted by PolicyLink and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

· Review the St. Louis Region’s Fair Housing and Equity Assessment.

Suggested Readings:

Semuels, Alana. Feb 3, 2015. “Is Ending Segregation the Key to Ending Poverty?” in The Atlantic.

“How We Got Here: The Historical Roots of Housing Segregation” from The Future of Fair Housing: Report of the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. Dec 2008.

PART 3: POLICY ADVOCACY: HEALTHY FOOD

Guest Speaker: Judith Bell, President, PolicyLink

Readings:

2013. “Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters: A Review of the Research” by PolicyLink and The Food Trust.

2011. “Why Place and Race Matter” by PolicyLink and The California Endowment.

2011. “Healthy Food, Healthy Communities” by PolicyLink.

Explore the Healthy Food Access Portal: http://www.healthyfoodaccess.org/

Suggested Readings:

Shultz, Jim. 2002. The Democracy Owners’ Manual: A Practical Guide to Changing the World. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Chapters 6 and 11 (added to Folders on NYU Classes).

February 27

**PART 2 OF METROPOLITAN PROFILE DUE** [Now due March 4]

PART 1: CRIMINAL JUSTICE: RACE, INCARCERATION AND POLICE REFORM

Guest Speaker: James Bell, Founder, Executive Director & Board President, W. Haywood Burns Institute

Readings:

Alexander, Michelle. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press. Chapters 3 and 5.

Goffman, Alice. 2014. On The Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Chapters 1 and 7.

2014. “Limiting Police Use of Force: Promising Community-Centered Strategies” by PolicyLink and Advancement Project.

2014. “Engaging Communities as Partners: Strategies for Problem Solving” by PolicyLink and Advancement Project.

PART 2: BOYS AND MEN OF COLOR

Readings:

Blackwell, Angela Glover and Manuel Pastor. “Let’s Hear It for the Boys: Building a Stronger America by Investing in Young Men and Boys of Color.” Changing Places. Edley Jr., Christopher and Jorge Ruiz de Velasco, eds. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. 2010. Pgs. 3-35.

PART 3: COLLECTIVE IMPACT AND THE PROMISE NEIGHBORHOODS MOVEMENT

Guest Speaker: Michael McAfee, Senior Director of the Promise Neighborhoods Institute, PolicyLink

Readings:

2014. “Collective Impact for Policymakers: Working Together for Children and Youth” by the Forum for Youth Investment.

Kania, John and Mark Kramer. 2011. “Collective Impact” from Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2011). Added to Folders on NYU Classes.

2010. “The Results-Based Accountability Guide” by the Results Leadership Group. Added to Folders on NYU Classes.

Review materials in ‘Promise Neighborhoods Institute’ Folder on NYU Classes.

Suggested Readings:

Heifetz, Ronald and Marty Linsky. 2002. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Harvard Business School Press.

March 13

**POLICY BRIEF OUTLINE DUE IN CLASS**

PART 1: COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENTS

Guest Speaker: Julian Gross, Attorney, Law Office of Julian Gross

Readings:

Gross, Julian, Greg LeRoy and Madeline Janis-Aparicio. 2005. “Community Benefits Agreements: Making Development Projects Accountable” by Good Jobs First and the California Partnership for Working Families.

Gross, Julian. “Community Benefits Agreements.” Building Healthy Communities: A Guide to Community Economic Development for Advocates, Lawyers, and Policymakers. Clay Jr., Roger and Susan R. Jones, eds. American Bar Association Publishing. 2010. Chapter 13. Added to Folders on NYU Classes.

Excerpt from an in-depth grad student research report on the Hunters Point Shipyard Project in San Francisco. Chapter 4 (pgs. 40-52). Excerpt Added to Folders on NYU Classes—please read pgs. 40-52.

PART 2: COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Readings:

Pastor, Manuel, Jennifer Ito and Rhonda Ortiz. 2010. “Connecting at the Crossroads: Alliance Building and Social Change in Tough Times.”

Pastor, Manuel. “Keeping It Real: Demographic Change, Economic Conflict, and Interethnic Organizing for Social Justice in Los Angeles.” Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition.

Kun and Pulido, eds. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. 2014. Pgs. 33-66.

PART 3: INFLUENCING POLICY THROUGH THE MEDIA

Guest Speaker: Milly Hawk Daniel, Vice President for Communications, PolicyLink

Readings:

Blackwell, Angela Glover and Mary Kay Henry. 2013. “Don’t Pull Up the Ladder.” Op-Ed in The Huffington Post.

Pastor, Manuel. 2014. “Are Latinos Really Turning White?” Op-Ed in The Huffington Post.

April 3

**POLICY BRIEF DUE**

**OP-ED DUE**