Life stressors are something that all of us deal with every single day. But it is well documented that people and families living in poverty face disproportionate and compounding circumstances. In this episode we hear about how in Omaha, Nebraska, the trifecta of crises—health, economic and racial justice—are affecting poor and Black and brown communities. Listen
Just about every distressed urban neighborhood in America was once a healthy, thriving place; many the center of African American commerce and society. And almost every one of them had a highway built through the middle of it. It is just one of a series of mal-intended public policies that combined to engineer the distressed urban neighborhoods we now confront. … Continue Reading →
Public and private interventions over the past half century have helped to alleviate the effects of poverty, but they have done too little to address its root causes. … Continue Reading →
It’s been a convenient diversion from the truth that’s been told since Reconstruction - that the segregation we’ve seen and continue to see in America is just the effects of private individual biases and incidents of discrimination, rather than codified in law. But, when we look at the facts, that myth breaks down pretty quickly with the abundant examples of policies in local, state, and federal government across the country that explicitly discriminated against African Americans.
In this bonus episode, Richard Rothstein and Shirley Franklin, former Executive Board Chair of Purpose Built Communities discuss the history and myth of de facto segregation in America - and what it will take to reverse the toxic effects of that history. Listen
More Americans are sent to jail than ever before in human history. Most of them are young, African American men living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Mass incarceration devastates the communities where it has removed a generation of residents, with long-term impacts for generations.
Dr. Todd Clear, professor at Rutgers University's School of Criminal Justice, presented to the Purpose Built Communities annual conference in Orlando in 2018 about how over-incarceration impoverishes communities, hurts our country, and ultimately fails to achieve its original goal - to deter criminal behavior and lower the overall crime rate. Listen
Too many communities are failing in America. Millions of people are trapped in poverty, fighting for their American Dream. And racism is at the core of why poverty is concentrated in some neighborhoods and not others, why the American Dream can be out of reach for so many of us. We must attack the underlying discrimination baked into our system throughout America's history to help communities become places where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Listen
To effectively address intergenerational poverty, it’s essential to take a more holistic approach than just looking at education, housing, or community wellness on their own. Doug Jutte, MD, MPH is Executive Director of the Build Healthy Places Network, a national organization that catalyzes and supports collaboration across the sectors of community development and health with the goal of increasing investment in low-income neighborhoods, maximizing the health benefits of these investments, and improving outcomes measurement. Watch
Criminologist Todd Clear explains how over incarceration impoverishes communities, straps municipal budgets and fails to deter criminal behavior. Watch
Pervasive current and historical trauma caused by systemic racism, violence, isolation, poverty, and substance abuse undermine the social cohesion that is a necessary foundation for initiating community building and sustaining community development efforts. In this session, Emily Weinstein presents a model of Trauma-Informed Community Building that takes in to account the realities of community trauma and offers alternative strategies to de-escalate chaos and stress, build social cohesion and foster community resiliency over time.
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Purpose Built Communities is helping dozens of neighborhoods do exactly that: build community consensus on a plan to transform schools, housing and other neighborhood assets to turn distressed neighborhoods into healthy ones. We estimate that a one-time investment of $200 billion could similarly revitalize the 825 neighborhoods of concentrated urban poverty in America. Our nation spends $1 … Continue Reading →
