Bending the Arc

We continue our special

Urban Strategies Inc.

We continue our special series focused on Urban Strategies, Inc., a national non-profit that exemplifies the quest for urban equity and inclusion. Urban Strategies works with more than 30,000 low- to moderate-income families in 31 communities across 24 major metropolitan areas. In this episode, we talk about promoting housing and economic justice, the Urban Strategies way. I talk with Alicia Walter, Regional Vice President at USI and Ta’Londa Holland, Senior Director of Operations of Policy and Influence for USI. We delve deeply into USI’s experience leveraging place-based redevelopment initiatives as a platform to change families’ lives and advance broader systems change.

Urban Strategies Inc.

We continue our special

Urban Strategies Inc.

Revised

Katherine

Envisioning Home Documentary

This episode kicks off a special series focused on Urban Strategies, Inc., a national non-profit that exemplifies the quest for urban equity and inclusion. Urban Strategies serves as a social impact partner in neighborhoods across the country that are undergoing a physical revitalization. USI designs and implements place-based human capital strategies to ensure that all families impacted by neighborhood redevelopment are stable and thriving.

Founded in 1978, and based in St. Louis, Missouri, USI stands out for the longevity, scale and depth of its national and local engagement and influence. Today Urban Strategies works with more than 30,000 low- to moderate-income families in 41 communities across 24 major metropolitan areas. Led by executives of color and staffed largely by people of color, USI is also exemplary for its explicit commitment to disrupting structurally racist practices and policies.

This kickoff episode focuses on USI’s origin story. I talk with Erika Wilson, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for USI, and Marlene Hodges, Assistant Project Manager of USI’s community initiatives in St. Louis. Both have been with USI for several years and have progressively moved into increasingly levels of leadership with the organization. They provide an in-depth perspective on the evolution of USI and what makes it unique in the community development field.

Urban Strategies Inc.

This episode explores the backstory behind the university research center that created and delivers these podcasts, the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities, based at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Time to give our listeners a glimpse into who we are and what we do. Colette Ngana is the guest host for this episode. She is a doctoral fellow with NIMC and is wrapping up her doctoral degree in sociology at Case Western. The guests for this episode are Mark Joseph, Founding Director of NIMC and the Leona Bevis and Marguerite Haynam Professor of Community Development at the Jack, Joseph and Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Debbie Wilber, Associate Director at NIMC and a Research Associate at the Mandel School, and Salin Geevarghese, President and CEO of SGG Insight and long-time collaborator with NIMC.

Mark is the co-host of Bending the Arc and founded NIMC almost ten years ago. Debbie has been with NIMC over three years and serves in part in a chief of staff operations role and in part as a leader on NIMC projects. Salin Geevarghese has been working as a close-in consultant with NIMC for almost seven years since he wrapped up his stint as a senior official in the Obama Administration. 

National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities

SGG Insight

In this episode we talk with Dr. Ed Goetz, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and a faculty member at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Ed co-authored an essay for the What Works volume with Anthony Damiano and Rashad Williams. Their critique is focused on why promoting economic advancement for low-income African Americans and other people of color often means having to leave their neighborhood and move to a “opportunity neighborhood.” They argue against a dominant focus on resident mobility to address segregation and marginalization and they advocate for a community development focus which would prioritize enabling low-income families of color to thrive in place.

Ed is the author of four books: The One-Way Street of Integration: Fair Housing and the Pursuit of Racial Justice in American Cities, New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy, Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America, and Shelter Burden: Local Politics and Progressive Housing Policy. Ed has served on the board of directors of nonprofit housing agencies in the Twin Cities, and on several regional commissions related to affordable housing and development. Early in his career, he worked at the Mayor's Office of Housing and Economic Development in San Francisco and for several nonprofit community developers in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Conversations with Ed are always lively and thought-provoking and this one is no exception. I

National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities

What Works to Promote Inclusive, Equitable Communities Volume Website

Ed Goetz, Anthony Damiano, Rashad Williams.2020. Changing the Narrative and Playbook on Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty

Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota

Equity in Place - The Alliance Advancing Regional Equity

This episode is the first time we’ve explored in-depth the inner workings of one neighborhood as it transitions to a more socially and economically mixed community. Our guests, Matthew Martin and LC Johnson, are residents and change agents in Weinland Park in Columbus Ohio, a neighborhood that has been on a mixed-income journey for the last 20 years. Weinland Park is experiencing a complete revitalization from decades of neglect and disinvestment to now being one of the most intentionally cultivated mixed-income neighborhoods in the country. Matt Martin is the Director of Community Research at the Columbus Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, Matt was a Senior Researcher at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. Matt has a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Ohio State, and a Bachelor of Science in Urban Affairs from Wright State University. Along with his co-authors Kip Holley and Steve Sterrett, he contributed an essay on Weinland Park to our What Works edited volume on inclusive and equitable community building. LC Johnson is the visionary and social entrepreneur behind Zora’s House, a coworking space and leadership incubator based in Weinland Park that centers the creativity, leadership, and activism of women and non-binary people of color. Most recently, LC served as the Local Director of Community Entrepreneurship for Forward Cities in the Columbus area. LC has a B.A. in Women's Studies and Sociology from Duke University.

National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities

What Works to Promote Inclusive, Equitable Communities Volume Website

Kip Holley.Matthew Martin.Stephen Sterrett.2020. Weinland Park, Columbus, Ohio: Building Community as a Neighborhood Transitions to Mixed-Income

Zora’s House Website

In this episode I talk with Bethany Friel, Vice President of Property Operations at the TREK Development Group real estate company which has properties throughout the Greater Pittsburgh Region. Our center and our partners have been working with Trek for over five years now and we’ve been eager to feature them on the podcast as a stellar example of a company working hard to strengthen its ability to promote thriving mixed-income communities. Bethany has a fascinating perspective on mixed-income development having worked her way into senior leadership at TREK through several roles in the company. She joined TREK in 2014 as the Supportive Services Coordinator and she has led the company’s community engagement initiatives and developed their approach to resident services. Most recently she completed the operational task of integrating resident services and property management divisions. Bethany is a proud alum of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland – she has her Master's in Social Science Administration from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences where our impact research center is based.

National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities

What Works to Promote Inclusive, Equitable Communities Volume Website

Frankie Blackburn.Bill Traynor.2020.A Call for Property Management Transformation to Meet the Challenges of Mixed-Income Communities

Trek Development Website

In this episode we talk with Tony Pickett, the CEO for Grounded Solutions Network, the nation’s leading expert for inclusive affordable housing policies and programs. We focus on efforts to advanced racial justice within the field of community development, including within local grassroots organizations, foundations, financial institutions, and intermediaries. In particular, Tony shares some of his own personal and professional experiences, such as those related to addressing anti-Black racism and in helping to launch the CEO Circle of Color organization. In addition, Tony shares insights about the importance of shifting power and resources towards low-income people and communities of color through Community Land Trusts (CLTs). Tony and co-author Dr. Emily Thaden contributed to the What Work’s volume in an essay titled: "Community Land Trusts: Combining Scale and Community Control to Advance  Mixed-Income Neighborhoods"

National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities

What Works to Promote Inclusive, Equitable Communities Volume Website

In this episode we talk with Dr. Bryan Grady and Carlie Boos on the topic of how state finance agencies can play a more innovative role in promoting mixed-income housing and mixed-income communities. Many of us have never thought much about the wide latitude and extensive tools that state housing finance agencies have to shape affordable housing policy and investment. Bryan and Carlie’s incredibly informative and compelling essay makes a strong argument that there are existing resources at the state level that could be used much more effectively and creatively. Both Bryan and Carlie have rich experience in housing policy and as you’ll hear, they worked closely together to help advance some innovative strategies when they both worked at the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Bryan in a research role and Carlie in a policy design and implementation role. Bryan currently serves as the Labor Market Information Director for the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. Prior to that, he was Chief Research Officer at the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority for three years. Carlie is currently the Executive Director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio. Prior to that she served as Community & Economic Development Counsel at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus.

National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities

What Works to Promote Inclusive, Equitable Communities Volume Website

Bryan Grady.Carlie Boos.2020.Qualified Allocation Plans as an Instrument for Mixed-Income Placemaking

National Council of State Housing Agencies