Thriving Neighborhoods Lab

How did concentrated poverty become engineered into specific neighborhoods across America? In this conversation, Kirk sits down with David Edwards, the Policy Advisor for Neighborhoods at the City of Atlanta and Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Urban Research at the Jimmy and Rosalyn School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology to explore Purpose Built Communities' groundbreaking white paper, "Poverty and Place."

Together, they unpack the sobering science behind intergenerational urban poverty—from the toxic stress that impedes children's brain development to the deliberate public policies that segregated our cities and concentrated disadvantage. Edwards explains how 50 years of anti-poverty programs have relieved symptoms without addressing root causes, and why the solution lies not in fixing people, but in transforming the neighborhoods where they live. This episode lays the essential foundation for understanding why place-based strategies aren't just one approach to community development—they're the approach that science and research increasingly point toward. If you've ever wondered why some neighborhoods thrive while others struggle generation after generation, this conversation reveals the uncomfortable truth: it was by design, which means it can be redesigned.

Link to the White Paper Mentioned in this episode: https://purposebuiltcommunities.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Poverty-and-Place-White-Paper-Digital-Edition.pdf

Before we dive into the world of holistic neighborhood development, meet the father-son team behind the Thriving Neighborhoods Lab podcast. Kirk Wester-Rivera brings 28 years of lived experience transforming a historically disinvested Tulsa neighborhood, from founding a federally-qualified health center to leading the creation of Tulsa's only inclusively grown neighborhood in a decade. Markos Wester-Rivera was born and raised in that same community, witnessing neighborhood transformation firsthand while developing expertise in data science and spatial analysis.

Together, they founded Cerca Solutions to help organizations become powerful forces for community transformation. In this brief introduction, learn how their unique combination of lived experience, systems thinking, and analytical rigor shapes their approach to supporting community quarterbacks across the country.