A recent study, Jobs and Equity in the Urban Forest, showcases the small, but growing range of policies, programs, and investments that — like GreenSkills — are harnessing jobs in the urban forest to build opportunity within low-income communities and communities of color. The study is co-authored by Ecotrust, a Portland, Oregon, nonprofit that promotes environmentally sound economic development, and PolicyLink, in partnership with Portland green infrastructure contractor, Verde Landscape.

The latest brief from the National Equity Atlas team, Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros, analyzes the relationship between racial and spatial inequality in employment across America’s largest 150 metropolitan regions. We find that in several regions with large racial gaps in employment such as Youngstown and Milwaukee, unemployed workers of color tend to live in a small number of neighborhoods. In these places, neighborhood-targeted workforce development and job access strategies have the potential to increase racial equity and reduce disparities at the regional level, building stronger and more inclusive regional economies.

• Transit agencies can set the bar for equitable TOD.
• Publicly-held land assets create powerful leverage point.
• Make racial equity an explicit goal.
• Measure impact to tell your story.
• History and Culture Matter
• Collaboration and patience pay off.
• Transit is about more than just a line.

From San Francisco, California to Flint, Michigan, the nation is facing an escalating housing crisis. Skyrocketing rents, inadequate infrastructure and stagnant wages are some of the barriers that are preventing millions of low-income Americans and communities of color from reaching their full potential. Healthy Communities of Opportunity: An Equity Blueprint to Address America’s Housing Challenges weaves together insights from the fields of healthcare, housing and economic security to outline a case for progressive, equity-focused policy.

• Archived webinar
• “This Is a Nationwide Epidemic”: A Frank but Hopeful Conversation with Evicted Author Matthew Desmond

"Healthy Communities of Opportunity provides an actionable roadmap to solve the interwoven housing and health crises that impact many people. This thorough review of the housing crisis from PolicyLink and their cross-sector approach to the solutions is a significant contribution to addressing the problem."
David Fukuzawa
Managing Director, The Kresge Foundation’s Health and Human Services programs

 

For low-income people of color, where you live not only determines access to education and employment but how long you live and how well you live. This new report from PolicyLink and the Kresge Foundation puts forth an action agenda to create far greater access to vibrant, healthy communities of opportunity.
Angela Glover Blackwell
PolicyLink President and CEO

Pittsburgh is on the rise. After decades of decline following the collapse of the steel industry, the region has successfully transformed its manufacturing economy into one driven by knowledge and technology. This resurgence brings great potential to deliver long-awaited jobs, economic opportunities, and neighborhood improvements to the region’s low-income communities and communities of color. However, the benefits of new growth and development will not automatically trickle down without a focus on equitable development. Produced by PolicyLink, along with Neighborhood Allies, and Urban Innovation21, this report presents a five-point agenda for realizing the vision of a new, “all-in” Pittsburgh, in which everyone can thrive, and highlights 16 specific recommendations for action. Download the full report.

Find other equity profiles here.

Pittsburgh is on the rise. After decades of decline following the collapse of the steel industry, the region has successfully transformed its manufacturing economy into one driven by knowledge and technology. This resurgence brings great potential to deliver long-awaited jobs, economic opportunities, and neighborhood improvements to the region’s low-income communities and communities of color. However, the benefits of new growth and development will not automatically trickle down without a focus on equitable development. Produced by PolicyLink, along with Neighborhood Allies, and Urban Innovation21, this report presents a five-point agenda for realizing the vision of a new, “all-in” Pittsburgh, in which everyone can thrive, and highlights 16 specific recommendations for action. Download summary here.

Aligned contributions occur when leaders work together to take effective action that is complementary, mutually supportive, and leveraged to produce measurable improvement in a result. [Authors: Jolie Bain Pillsbury and Raj Chawla]

Designed by Clear Impact and based on the principles of Mark Friedman's Results-Based Accountability™ framework, the Results Scorecard™ helps Promise Neighborhoods leaders to collaborate, make data-driven decisions, and align the performance of their programs and initiatives with the impact that they create in the community. 

Exposure to a traumatic event places a young person at risk of: a lower reading proficiency, a lower grade-point average, and more days of school absences. Throughout their lifetimes, many young students living in underserved communities will experience one or more traumatic events-putting them at risk of chronic absenteeism and lower academic proficiency. During this webinar, Sue Fothergill (Attendance Works) and Rachel Donegan (Baltimore Promise Neighborhood) discussed: the impact of traumatic events on a student’s learning and trauma-informed strategies to improve academic and attendance outcomes for students living in Promise Neighborhoods.