“The American Dream is predicated on the idea that anyone from any place or background can climb to the highest rungs of the economic ladder. But there is a growing body of evidence that the more time an individual spends living in a distressed community— especially at childhood—the worse that individual’s lifetime chances of achieving economic stability or success. And not all poor neighborhoods are alike; some offer vastly better chances of economic mobility than others. The United States is still a land of opportunity for many. But when it comes to life outcomes, geography is too often destiny.”

(Economic Innovation Group 2016)

Economic Innovation Group (EIG) published a number of reports to explain the resource gap contributing to the persistence of poverty in certain areas. In its 2016 report entitled ‘The Distressed Community Index’ (DCI). In all, the study covers 99 percent - or 312 million - Americans. The DCI is an attempt to map and analyze the dimensions of basic community well-being across the United States. The higher the score, the greater the distress.

According to the study, “distress manifests itself in a lack of residential investment, in shuttering businesses, and in disappearing job opportunities. Prosperity the inverse. A high school diploma is the entry-level ticket to opportunity in the economy, and they remain scarce in many struggling neighborhoods.” The study concluded that ‘swaths’ of people are being left behind in the expansion and growth of American cities.

Another study cites:

“Using U.S. Census Bureau and economic data, (National Community Reinvestment Coalition) found that many major American cities showed signs of gentrification and some racialized displacement between 2000 and 2013. Gentrification was centered on vibrant downtown business districts, and in about a quarter of the cases it was accompanied by racialized displacement. Displacement disproportionately impacted Black and Hispanic residents who were pushed away before they could benefit from increased property values and opportunities in revitalized neighborhoods. This intensified the affordability crisis in the core of our largest cities.”

(Richardson, Mitchell and Franco 2019)

“Neighborhoods experience gentrification when an influx of investment and changes to the built environment leads to rising home values, family incomes and educational levels of residents. Cultural displacement occurs when minority areas see a rapid decline in their numbers as affluent, white gentrifiers replace the incumbent residents.”

(Richardson, Mitchell and Franco 2019)

 

In many ways, gentrification represents an entrenched economic and sociopolitical policy that has impaired growth in Black communities.. Between 1920 and 1970 nearly 5 million Black Americans migrated away from the South in search of a better life. With agricultural policies decimating the South, Black workers found themselves migrating in record numbers to industrializing cities in the North. At the same time Blacks were beginning to migrate in record numbers, a new set of U.S. policies were establishing Black Americans as an underclass. In 1933, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) began outlining banking policies that prevented homeownership to Black Americans. These policies would later be termed 'redlining'. Racialized, color-coded maps communicating 'desirable' and 'undesirable' loans.

The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, redlining, gentrification and other poverty inducing programs represent entrenched socioeconomic policies that have impaired growth in Black communities.

 

Studies show that poverty imposes such a massive cognitive load on the poor that they have little bandwidth left over to help lift them out. For children who have experienced poverty, it creates a negative effect on their social and emotional regulatory patterns. These same patterns of ‘dysregulation’ in the brain have been observed in people with depression, anxiety disorders, aggression and post-traumatic stress disorders. These effects have major implications throughout Black communities.

 

The Assembly works to organize events highlighting community issues through interactive media to engage immediate solutions for ongoing community issues. Join the conversation as we explore ways to improve our community,