1. john a. powell, Jason Reece and Stephen Menendian
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity
Prepared for the United States Department of Justice
Housing and Civil Enforcement Section
Washington, D.C.
July 8, 2010

2. The Community of Opportunity Model for Fair Housing & Educational Equity

3.  Today’s Discussion
 Opportunity Matters (john)
▪ The Community of Opportunity model for fair housing
 Methods and Implementation (Jason)
▪ Why and how do we map opportunity?
▪ What have opportunity maps been used for?
 Legal Applications (Stephen)
▪ Educational applications and potential use for liability
and remedy

4. I was born…
4

5. I grew up…
5

6. My parents were
sharecroppers in
the South.
They left the South
in search of
opportunity.
6

7.  They moved north
seeking
opportunity and
bought a house.
 Today I would say
they bought into a
low opportunity
neighborhood.
7

8. The vacant grassy plots
are not parks.
8

9. Vacant lots and
abandoned houses
9

10. I grew up in a low opportunity structure in a declining
opportunity city. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. LOW OPPORTUNITY HIGH OPPORTUNITY
 Only 1 in 4 students in Detroit  The year my step daughter
public schools finish high finished high school, 100% of
school (based on analysis from the students graduated and
Education Week in 2007)
 More the 60% of the men will 100% went to college
spend time in jail  Most will not even drive by a jail
 There may soon be no bus
service in some areas  Free bus service
 It is difficult to attract jobs or  Relatively easy to attract capital
private capital
 Very safe; great parks
 Not safe; very few parks
 Difficult to get fresh food  Easy to get fresh food
13

14.  “Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals in a
position to be more likely to succeed or excel.
 Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to success:
 High-quality education
 Healthy and safe environment
 Stable housing
 Sustainable employment
 Political empowerment
 Outlets for wealth-building
 Positive social networks

15. Racialized… Spatialized… Globalized…
• In 1960, African- • marginalized people • Economic
American families in of color and the very
poverty were 3.8 times globalization
poor have been
more likely to be spatially isolated
concentrated in high- from opportunity via • Climate change
poverty neighborhoods reservations, Jim
than poor whites. Crow, Appalachian
mountains, ghettos, • the Credit and
• In 2000, they were 7.3 barrios, and the Foreclosure crisis
times more likely. culture of
incarceration.

16. Physical
Social Cultural
Outcomes
&
Behaviors
These structures interact in ways that produce racialized outcomes for different groups, but also
in ways that influence racial identity

17. Some people ride the “Up” Others have to run up
escalator to reach the “Down” escalator to
opportunity get there
17

18.  Five decades of research
indicate that your environment
has a profound impact on your
access to opportunity and
likelihood of success
 High poverty areas with poor
employment, underperforming
schools, distressed housing and
public health/safety risks
depress life outcomes
 A system of disadvantage
 Many manifestations
▪ Urban, rural, suburban
 People of color are far more
likely to live in opportunity
deprived neighborhoods and
communities
 Social determinants of race: Where
you live dictates access to
opportunity structures and also
determines racial norms
18

19. • One variable can explain
why differential outcomes.
…to a multi-dimensional understanding….
• Structural Inequality
– Example: a Bird in a cage.
Examining one bar cannot
explain why a bird cannot fly.
But multiple bars, arranged
in specific ways, reinforce
each other and trap the bird.

20. Source: Barbara Reskin. http://faculty.uwashington.edu/reskin/
20

21. School Lower Educational
Segregation Outcomes for Urban
(Economic) School Districts
Increased Flight
Neighborhood
of Affluent
(Housing)
Families from
Segregation
Urban Areas
21

22. 22

23.  Everyone should have fair access to the
critical opportunity structures needed to
succeed in life.
 Low Opportunity neighborhoods limit the
development of human capital
 A Community of Opportunity approach
can develop pathways that result in
increased social and economic health,
benefiting everyone
 Looking at people, places and linkages
▪ Linkages = building connections to areas of
opportunity
▪ Example: Opportunity based fair housing
23

24.  Deliberate, coordinated, and
regional investments in people,
places, and linkages
 Two-pronged approach:
▪ Targeted in-place, urban
revitalization strategies
▪ Mobility-based investments for
marginalized residents to
access high opportunity
communities’
These are Not opposing strategies! A sustainable,
transformative development strategy requires both

25. How do you map opportunity? What has it been used for?

26.  Why are maps particularly effective
in dealing with issues of equity?
 Regional, racial and social inequity often
manifest as spatial inequity
 Maps are naturally the best tools to display
this spatial phenomena
 Other disciplines and sectors are
using multivariate mapping to
problem solve
 Private industry
 Public sector
▪ NSP
▪ Recent interest in mapping by HUD for supporting
sustainable communities
▪ See recent Urban Institute report
26

27.  Mapping visually represents the
cumulative effects of
opportunity segregation
 Also a strong analytical tool to
look at disparate impact
(especially those impacts which
are spatial and racial in nature)
• One map may contain tens of
thousands of pieces of information than
can be understood in seconds
A good map can enable you to tell
a story or solve a problem
• Research has shown that people can
solve problems faster with map based
information, than by looking at charts,
tables or graphs

28.  The Kirwan Institute has conducted
“opportunity mapping” for states and
metropolitan regions across the US
 Projects in at least a dozen states
▪ Full State Analysis: MA, CT, OH, FL
▪ Regions: Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore,
Washington D.C., Detroit, Austin, Sacramento, Los Angeles,
New York, Houston, New Orleans
 Why identify the “State of Opportunity”
 How are low-income groups situated in the State?
 How are racial and ethnic groups situated?
 How does housing intersect with race, class and
opportunity
 What can be done to improve the opportunity
landscape?

29.  How do you map opportunity?
 Data representing community conditions was gathered
for neighborhood (census tracts) across the state or
region
▪ Data for all indicators of community conditions was aggregated
to the Census Tract level and analyzed to create a
comprehensive opportunity index for the census tracts
(neighborhoods) throughout the state or region
 The opportunity index is then mapped and census tracts
are broken into quintiles based on their opportunity
score
▪ Very Low, Low, Moderate, High, Very High

30. EDUCATION HOUSING & NEIGHBORHOOD
 Student poverty rates HEALTH
 Reading/Math test scores
 Home ownership rates
 Adult educational attainment
 Crime incidence
 Teacher qualifications
 Vacancy rates
 Graduation rate
 Home value appreciation
 Neighborhood poverty rates
ECONOMIC HEALTH  Population change
 Proximity to parks/open space
 Proximity to employment
 Proximity to toxic waste release
 Commute times
sites
 Job growth trends
 Business start trends All indicators grounded in social science research
 Unemployment rate literature, also indicators can be more narrowly
 Public assistance rate tailored to meet the needs of particular
populations (e.g. public housing residents).
30

31. Education Economic Housing & Final
Opportunity Opportunity Neighborhood Opportunity
Score Score Score Score (Map)
31

32. Example of an Opportunity Map:
Detroit MI
(Dark Areas = Most Opportunity Rich
Communities)
(Light Areas = Most Opportunity
Deprived Areas)
32

34. 100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
% African American % Asian % Latino % Whites
Low and Very Low Opp. Moderate Opportunity High and Very High Opp. 34

35.  Background on this project
 Originated from effort to incorporate
mapping analysis into legal services
 Partners
 Massachusetts Law Reform Institute,
MA Legal Assistance Corp
(foundation) and other Legal
Services Entities
 Year long process of meeting with
stakeholders to understand mapping
needs and issues
 Training with service providers &
agencies (using mapping for
programming)

36.  Three areas of
opportunity were
analyzed using GIS
mapping capability:
 Education Quality and
Opportunity
 Economic Health and
Transportation
 Neighborhood Stability and
Health

37. Comprehensive Opportunity Map: Greater Boston

41.  Program design and use within legal services
 New programming – proposed “Adopt A Zip Code” program
 Use in exploring client concerns/challenges
 Internal use by funder (MLAC)
 State level program design (public sector)
 New $5 million state affordable housing program, targeted
to high opportunity communities (see press release)
 Targeting of $21 million in NSP funds to low opportunity
communities by the MA Department of Housing and
Community Development
 Implementation still unfolding

43.  Connecticut
 “The mapping is guiding our next round of fair
housing testing…our mapping report has been
identified by the CT Department of Economic and
Community Development as one of the three
central principles that will guide its planning over
the next five years.”
▪ Erin Boggs, CT Fair Housing Center

44.  Baltimore
 Remedial proposal in Thompson v. HUD
 Chicago (Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities)
 Use in advising voucher holders in neighborhood selection
 Austin
 Use in evaluating city’s affordable housing investments
 Related Project: Washington County, OR
 Advised on opportunity map created by the County included in recent
consolidated plan for County
▪ Exploring application in planning activities for the broader Portland region
 Child Development
 Jacksonville, FL & the Duvall County children’s commission
 Education
 Montclair, NJ and Louisville, KY (more on this in Stephen’s comments)
 Coalition Work (PRRAC)
 National Coalition on School Diversity & Civil Rights Task Force on
Federal Housing Policy

45. Education applications and potential use for liability and remedy

46. ► Since the racialized nature of
opportunity isolation is a spatial
phenomena, maps are naturally
an effective way to represent it
► Maps allow us to understand
volumes of data at a glance
through layering
► Mapping is a very powerful tool
in looking at educational
inequity & opportunity
46

47. ► School Composition
layered over census
tract data in Montclair,
NJ
► Maps illustrate how
residential segregation
can manifests in
schools
47

48. ► Magnet school policy
counteracts effects of
neighborhood
segregation
48

49. ► Educational outcomes are a product of many inputs.
► Using social science research, we can identify factors
that correlate with educational performance.
► Mapping looks at multiple factors which correlate
with educational outcomes and social benefits, in a
given neighborhood.
49

50. Direct Education Indicators
School poverty rate
Average teaching experience
Percent reading proficiency - 11th grade
Percent writing proficiency - 11th grade
Percent math proficiency - 11th grade
Graduation rate 2004-2005
Percent of teachers with Bachelor's degree
Percent of teachers with Master's degree
Total hardware/software (computer expenditure)
Access to libraries
Percent associates degree or higher
Other Neighborhood Indicators
Percent poverty
Percent unemployed
Access to prenatal care
Total crime indicator
Percent of houses owner-occupied
Percent of houses vacant
Housing median value
Child poverty rate
Median household income

51. SOUTHWEST OHIO SOUTHWEST CENTRAL OHIO

52. ► Mapping the geographic distribution of
opportunity helps us to evaluate where
these opportunity mismatches exist in a
community and to design interventions to
move people to opportunity
► Student assignment policies can be
created using these indicators, drawing
attendance Zones, boundaries, or through
controlled choice plans.
52

53. District Indicators Steps Notes
Jefferson 1) Median HH Income 1) Parental Choice Two-Zone model
2) Racial Composition of
County/Louisville Neighborhood
within Resides Zone
, KY 3) Ed. Attain of Parents
Berkeley , CAL 1) Average Nbhd Income 1) Sibling Controlled Choice, 3
2) Ed. Attain of Adults in 2) Parental Choice within Attendance Zones;
Nbhd Zone assignment
Upheld by Cal. Ct. of
3) Racial Composition of
Nbhd Appeals
Montclair, NJ 1) Median HH income 1) Special needs Magnets Plan,
2) HH Poverty Rates 2) ESL
Freedom-of-Choice,
3) # of F/R Lunch Stds 3) Siblings
4) Ed. Attain of Adults in 4) Parental Choice within 3-Zones, K students
Nbhd Zone Assignment only
5) Racial Composition of
Nbhd
Chicago, IL 1) Median family income 1) Siblings 4 Census Block
2) Adult Ed. Attainment 2) ½ of remaining seats
3) % of Single-Parent HH proximity lottery
Zones
4) % of Owner-Occupied 3) Remaining Seats by
Homes SES census block
5) % Of ESL students zone

54. Source: Civil Rights Project at UCLA

55. Source: Civil Rights Project at UCLA

56. “We conclude that the particular policies
challenged here – which aims to achieve social
diversity by using neighborhood demographics
when assigning students to schools – is not
discriminatory. The challenged policy does not
use racial classifications; in fact, it does not
consider an individual student’s race at all
when assigning the student to a school.”
- ACRF v. Berkeley Unified School Districts

57. ► GOAL: Each school has
diversity of students
from each zone, within
5% point deviation of K
class zone baseline.
► K and transfer students
are assigned based on
parental preference and
zone balance.

58. 58

59. 59

61. Notes on Parents Involved
61

62. Justice Kennedy’s opinion is controlling as the fifth vote.
62

63. J. Kennedy, Concurring
That the school districts consider these plans to
be necessary should remind us that our highest
aspirations are yet unfulfilled. School districts
can seek to reach Brown’s objective of equal
educational opportunity. But the solutions
mandated by these school districts must
themselves be lawful.
In my view, the state-mandated racial classifications at
issue, official labels proclaiming the race of all persons
in a broad class of citizens – elementary school students
in one case, high school students in another – are
unconstitutional as the cases now come to us.

64. “If school authorities are concerned that the student-
body compositions of certain schools interfere with the
objective of offering an equal educational opportunity
to all of their students, they are free to devise race-
conscious measures to address the problem in a
general way without treating each student in a different
fashion soley on the basis of systematic, individual
typing by race.
School boards may pursue the goal of bringing together students of
diverse backgrounds and races through other means, including strategic
site selection of new schools; drawing attendance zones with general
recognition of the demographics of the neighborhoods; allocating
resources for special programs; recruiting students and faculty in a
targeted fashion; and tracking enrollments, performance, and other
statistics by race. These mechanisms are race-conscious but do not lead
to different treatment based on a classifications that tells each student he
or she is to be defined by race.
64

65. ►After decades of integration efforts and hard
won gains, many districts concerned that the
reversion to neighborhood schools and local
control would result in rapid resegregation
implemented voluntary integration plans.
►This refers to integration efforts and
strategies that a school system might
employ, absent a legal obligation to do so.

66. 66