Transcript 2007 Opportunity Mapping Luncheon Presentation (PowerPoint)

The Geography of Opportunity in Austin:
Mapping Opportunity to Support a Vibrant Region
March 21st 2007
john a. powell
Williams Chair in Civil Rights & Civil Liberties, Moritz College of Law
Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
The Ohio State University
http://www.kirwaninstitute.org/
Today’s Presentation
► What
is the Community of Opportunity
approach to community development?
► What is opportunity mapping?
 How has opportunity mapping been used
before?
► The
geography of opportunity in Austin
► How can we use this information?
2
► What
is the
“Community of
Opportunity”
Model?
3
Place and Life Outcomes
► Where
you live is more important than what
you live in…
 Housing -- in particular its location -- is the primary
mechanism for accessing opportunity in our society
 Housing location determines the quality of schools
children attend, the quality of public services they
receive, access to employment and transportation,
exposure to health risks, access to health care, etc.
 For those living in high poverty neighborhoods, these
factors can significantly inhibit life outcomes
4
Housing and Opportunity
Housing is Critical in Determining Access to Opportunity
Health
Childcare
Employment
Housing
Effective
Education
Participation
Transportation
5
Communities of Opportunity
► The
“Communities of Opportunity”
framework is a model of fair housing and
community development
► The model is based on the premises that
 Everyone should have fair access to the critical
opportunity structures needed to succeed in life
 Affirmatively connecting people to opportunity
creates positive, transformative change in
communities
6
Communities of Opportunity
► The
“Communities of Opportunity” model
advocates for a fair investment in all of a
region’s people and neighborhoods -- to
improve the life outcomes of all citizens,
and to improve the health of the entire
region
 A focus on people, investing in our residents
(and their communities) to produce
transformative change
7
The Web of Opportunity
► Opportunities
in our society are geographically
distributed (and often clustered) throughout
metropolitan areas
 This creates “winner” and “loser” communities or
“high” and “low” opportunity communities
► Your
location within this “web of opportunity”
plays a decisive role in your life potential and
outcomes
 Individual characteristics still matter…
 …but so does access to opportunity, such as good
schools, health care, child care, and job networks
8
The Cumulative Impacts of Racial and
Opportunity Segregation
Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities
Impacts on Health
School Segregation
Impacts on Educational Achievement
Exposure to crime; arrest
Transportation limitations and
other inequitable public services
Neighborhood
Segregation
Job segregation
Racial stigma, other
psychological impacts
Impacts on community power
and individual assets
9
Adapted from figure by Barbara Reskin at: http://faculty.washington.edu/reskin/
Economic Conditions
High Opportunity
Low Opportunity
10
School Conditions
High Opportunity
Low Opportunity
11
► What
is
Opportunity
Mapping?
► How has it been
used before?
12
The Geography of Opportunity
►
The Communities of Opportunity framework is inherently
spatial
 Inequality has a geographic footprint
 Maps can visually track the history and presence of discriminatory
and exclusionary policies
 This “opportunity mapping” has been completed for many
metropolitan areas in the U.S. and is used by advocates to further
fair housing and community development goals
►
The Communities of Opportunity model uses state-of-theart geographic information systems (GIS) and extensive
data sets to analyze the distribution of opportunity in our
metropolitan areas
13
Opportunity Mapping
► Opportunity
mapping is a research tool used
to understand the dynamics of “opportunity”
within metropolitan areas
► The purpose of opportunity mapping is to
illustrate where opportunity rich
communities exist (and assess who has
access to these communities)
 Also, to understand what needs to be remedied
in opportunity poor communities
14
General Methodology
► Opportunity
mapping methodology
 Requires a comprehensive assessment of local
indicators related to opportunity
► Economic
conditions, education, neighborhood health etc.
 Would be extremely difficult without Geographic
Information Systems technology
 Analyzing multiple opportunity indicators to create a
comprehensive opportunity index
► Break
Census Tracts into quintiles (based on opportunity index
score) to distinguish between various opportunity categories
(very low, low, moderate, high, very high)
15
Similar Models Used Elsewhere
►
The concept of using neighborhood based data to assess
neighborhood opportunities and challenges is not
unprecedented and is used in various sectors (examples)
 Business: Site selection analysis by firms such as Claritas
 Community Development: Criteria used to identify areas for
targeted investment or areas targeted for specific community
development initiatives
 Housing: Models that try to connect affordable housing to areas of
job growth “work force housing initiatives”
►
The use of neighborhood based indicators for measuring
sustainability is well established in the Austin region
 Opportunity mapping adds an additional analytical lens to this
significant body of existing work in the region
16
What has opportunity mapping been
used for in other regions?
► The
Kirwan Institute has conducted
opportunity mapping in approximately a
dozen metropolitan regions, some
prominent examples of this work informing
action can be found in three regions
 Chicago
 Baltimore
 Cleveland
17
Chicago
►
►
►
Chicago: The Kirwan Institute worked with the Leadership
Council for Metropolitan Open Communities and the
Institute of Race and Poverty to conduct an opportunity
mapping analysis in the Chicago region
The opportunity maps produced as part of the Chicago
research were utilized by the Leadership Council for
advising inner-city voucher holders looking to relocate to
higher opportunity neighborhoods in Chicago
In addition, the research was utilized to inform inclusionary
housing advocacy in the Chicago region, focusing on
inclusionary zoning advocacy and to assess the impacts of
the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program on expanding
access to opportunity in the Chicago region
18
Chicago’s
Communities of
Opportunity
►
This example is a 6
county Communities of
Opportunity map for
the Chicago region
 Red = Lowest
Opportunity
 Blue = Highest
Opportunity
Source: Report published by the Leadership
Council for Metropolitan Open Communities 2005
19
Baltimore (Litigation)
►
►
►
Baltimore: Opportunity mapping in the Baltimore region
was conducted as part of the Thompson v. HUD fair
housing litigation
Plaintiffs used opportunity mapping to frame their remedial
proposal, in response to a liability ruling that found the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in
violation of the Fair Housing Act
The plaintiffs have proposed establishing 7,000 affordable
housing units in the region’s high- opportunity
communities, available to volunteers who wish to relocate
out of the City of Baltimore’s public housing
20
Proposed remedy identifies
Communities of Opportunity
►
Used 14 indicators of
neighborhood opportunity to
designate high and low
opportunity neighborhoods in
the region
 Neighborhood Quality/Health
► Poverty,
Crime, Vacancy,
Property Values, Population
Trends
 Economic Opportunity
► Proximity
to Jobs and Job
Changes, Public Transit
 Educational Opportunity
► School
Poverty, School Test
Scores, Teacher Qualifications
21
Baltimore (Community Organizing)
►
Baltimore: In response to the proposed remedy, an
umbrella organization of seven social justice organizations
(known as the Baltimore Regional Housing Campaign) has
adopted the opportunity-based approach and is actively
working outside of the Court’s remedial action to develop
affordable housing options in Baltimore’s high-opportunity
communities, as well as counseling those who desire to
leave Baltimore’s public housing for new opportunities
22
Cleveland
►
Cleveland: Opportunity mapping and GIS analysis were
used in the Cleveland region to assess economic
opportunities in the region, in relation to Minority Business
concentrations
 Most MBE's in the region were clustered in neighborhoods with
declining economic opportunity, producing potential impediments to
business networking and access to markets
►
Additional opportunity analysis was used to inform regional
growth and development policy recommendations
formulated by the Presidents’ Council of Cleveland, a
committee of leading political, civic and business leaders in
the African American community
23
Cleveland opportunity analysis & race
24
► The
geography
of opportunity
in the Austin
region
25
Background on the Austin Initiative
►
►
The Central Texas Opportunity initiative was initiated by Community
Partnership for the Homeless and involved a steering committee
representing a diverse array of organizations in the Central Texas
region
The committee included representatives from
 PeopleFund, a regional community development financial institution;
Envision Central Texas, a regional planning body; Capital Metro, the
region’s public transit authority; the Indigent Care Collaborative, a nonprofit health organization focused on public health issues for the poor;
Capitol Area Council of Governments; United Way Capital Area; Habitat for
Humanity; and several professors from the University of Texas’ Community
& Regional Planning and Public Health Departments
►
The broader goal of the opportunity mapping initiative is to provide a
data resource for policy makers, community development practitioners,
social service providers, and the public to support actions to remedy
socioeconomic inequity issues highlighted by the map, such as
providing access to health care or addressing affordable housing
26
Selecting Indicators of Opportunity
► The
committee worked collaboratively with the
Kirwan Institute to identify indicators of
opportunity in the region
► The selection of indicators was based on input
regarding issues or concerns in the region, as well
as research literature validating the connection
between indicators and opportunity
 Twenty-two indicator areas were selected for the
analysis, covering education, economic conditions,
mobility and transportation, public health and the
environment, and neighborhood quality
27
Indicators of Opportunity: Austin
EDUCATION
ECONOMIC
MOBILITY &
TRANSPORTATION
HEALTH &
ENVIRONMENT
NEIGHBORHOOD
QUALITY
School Poverty
Unemployment
Commute Time
Teacher
Experience
Dependence on
Public Assistance
Access to public transit
stops
Proximity to toxic
waste
Neighborhood poverty
rates
Housing vacancy rates
Student/ Teacher
Ratio
Proximity to
Employment
Frequency of public
transit service
Access to parks and
open space
Math & Reading
Scores
Ratio of jobs to
residents
Student Retention
Job growth trends
Crime rates
Proximity to health
care facilities and
physicians
Home ownership
Access to grocery
stores
Home values
Median income
Insurance access
Figure 1: Opportunity indicators used in the Austin analysis
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General Results
► The
Comprehensive Opportunity Map (which
represents all opportunity indicators)
 As seen in the following maps, higher opportunity
areas in the region are primarily concentrated west of I35, with the highest opportunity communities found
directly west of I-35 in the Travis County area
 The lowest opportunity areas are primarily concentrated
in southeastern Travis County and in the region’s
eastern counties (Caldwell and Bastrop)
 The largest concentration of high-opportunity
communities are found in the portions of the City of
Austin west of I-35 and most of the suburban
communities adjacent to Austin west of I-35
29
How is Opportunity
Distributed in a Hot
Market City?
(Austin, TX)
Opportunity in the Austin
region is more
centralized (not a hollow
region like Cleveland or
Baltimore). Although,
opportunity is more
centralized it is still
spatially segregated.
30
An in-depth view of
the distribution of
high and low
opportunity areas in
and around the City
of Austin
31
Other Opportunity Maps: Education
► The
east-west divide along I-35 is evident in
educational conditions in the region, with all
high-opportunity areas found west of I-35
► Areas of low educational opportunity are
concentrated east of I-35, but centered
around Travis County
► Most areas in Caldwell and Bastrop Counties
scored as “moderate” areas of educational
opportunity
32
Education
Opportunity Map
(based on educational
indicators for
elementary schools)
33
Other Opportunity Maps: Housing
and Neighborhood Quality

The distribution of high and low opportunity
census tracts based on the housing and
neighborhood quality analysis is seen in the
following map
 The highest opportunity areas in the neighborhood
analysis are located west of I-35, spreading from Hays
to Williamson County
 Most of the high-opportunity tracts in Travis County are
west of Route 183
 The lowest opportunity tracts in this analysis are located
in the center of Travis County, directly east of I-35
34
Neighborhood
Conditions
“Quality”
Opportunity Map
(based on
neighborhood quality
indicators for census
tracts)
35
Other Opportunity Maps
►
Economic Opportunity
 Economic opportunities in the region are generally centralized, but
are more concentrated to the west of I-35
►
Opportunity related to Transportation Mobility
 Mobility-related opportunity in the region is highly concentrated,
reflecting the centralized nature of the public transportation system
and lower commute times for urban workers (also related to the
general concentration of jobs near the City of Austin)
►
Public Health and Environmental Quality
 The highest performing areas in the region are concentrated west
of I-35, including parts of western Travis County and portions of
Williamson County
36
37
Public Health and
Environmental
Quality
Opportunity Map
(based on indicators of
public health and
environmental quality)
38
► How
can we use
this analysis and
information?
39
Using this Information to Produce
Action (Some Examples)
► Assess
and work to remedy racial, ethnic,
economic segregation from opportunity in
the region
► Look at affordable housing and access to
high opportunity areas
► Exploring linkages with the opportunity
mapping data (e.g. public transit and health
care facilities)
40
Opportunity Segregation
► Just
like a weak market city, hot markets
can result in segregation from communities
of opportunity for marginalized groups
 In weak market regions (Detroit) people are
disconnected from high opportunity
neighborhoods in the suburbs
 In hot market regions (Austin) people may be
disconnected from high opportunity
neighborhoods in the city
41
Opportunity Segregation in Austin
►
Latino and African American populations are concentrated
in the region’s low and moderate opportunity communities
 While 39% of Whites in the region are in very low- or lowopportunity census tracts, 60% of Latinos and African Americans
are concentrated in these tracts
 Linguistically isolated populations are also more likely to be
concentrated in low-opportunity areas, with 56% of all linguistically
isolated people located in very low or low opportunity census tracts
 Latino and African American children are much more likely to be
located in the region’s low opportunity areas, with 2 out of 3
African American and Latino children found in these communities
 For children in poverty, this isolation from opportunity is more
pronounced, with 69% of children in poverty in the region found in
the region’s low-opportunity census tracts
42
Segregation from Opportunity
Table 1: General Population Figures for Opportunity Areas from the 2000 Census
Opportunity Level
Total Population
Total White
Total Non-White
Hispanic/Latino
African American
Liguistic Isolation
High or Very High
43.5%
21.9%
34.5%
39.4%
22.1%
38.5%
55.4%
21.0%
23.6%
59.9%
20.4%
19.7%
59.8%
22.2%
17.9%
56.4%
19.9%
23.7%
Opportunity Level
Total Children
Non-White Children
Hispanic Children
Afr. Amer Children
Children in Poverty
Seniors (Over 65)
47.1%
24.2%
28.7%
58.8%
22.1%
19.1%
62.6%
21.1%
16.3%
62.1%
23.6%
14.3%
68.6%
17.2%
14.3%
45.7%
21.1%
33.2%
Low or Very Low
Moderate
Low or Very Low
Moderate
High or Very High
43
Linguistically Isolated
People and the
Comprehensive
Opportunity Map for
the Austin Region
44
Children of Color and Educational Opportunity
45
Remedying Opportunity Segregation
► To
remedy such “opportunity segregation,”
the Communities of Opportunity approach
emphasizes investment in
► People
► Places
► Linkages
46
Examples
►
People
 Subsidies for affordable housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods
with good schools
► Although
inclusionary zoning is not permitted in Texas, other
inclusionary models could be explored (e.g. developer incentives for
production of affordable units)
 Promoting school mobility
 Wealth building programs for residents in low opportunity areas
►
Places
 Regional housing and neighborhood development plans
 Opportunity-based Zoning
 Targeted investment in failing schools
►
Linkages
 Improved public transportation to jobs and other critical opportunity
47
structures
Inclusion for Marginalized Communities in Hot
Market Regions
► How
can marginalized communities benefit more
from the economic growth and investment found
in hot market regions?
► Three strategies:
 Assure business investments provide benefits to
disadvantaged groups (community benefits agreements)
 Assess the racial impacts of new developments (Racial
Impact Statements)
 Assure people are prepared to be included in Austin’s
thriving 21st century economy (education)
 Focus on affordable housing opportunities in growing
high opportunity areas
48
Opportunity and
Subsidized Housing
►
►
Subsidized housing is
almost non existent in
high opportunity areas
Approximately 1 out of
10 subsidized housing
sites can be found in
high opportunity census
tracts, while 2 out of 3
sites are concentrated
in the region’s low
opportunity areas
49
How can we counter
this trend?
► Housing
should be a primary policy concern (how
do we connect affordable housing to high
opportunity areas)
 Work to assure affordable housing is included in new
investments
 Assure inclusionary housing requirement as part of
developer incentives
 Work to maintain/preserve existing affordable units
 Promote alternative revenue streams for affordable
housing (explore expanding resources for housing trust
fund)
50
Using Opportunity Mapping Data to
Explore Linkages
► Example:
How is the region’s public transit
infrastructure connected to the region’s
health care facilities (clinics, physicians
offices, hospitals)
 Public transit lines are well connected to public
health resources in the City of Austin, but
transit access gaps exist with regard to health
care resources directly to the west and north of
the City of Austin
51
52
Thinking Opportunistically
► Given
this information, what can concerned
stakeholders in the Austin region do to promote
integration with opportunity?
 Be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities and
resources for changing the regional arrangements which
isolate residents from opportunity
► Educational
reforms?
► Assuring marginalized residents benefit from transportation and
public transit investments?
► Utilizing the regions rapid investment and building boom to
promote inclusion and assuring community benefits?
 Prioritize and target specific initiatives as a starting point
53
Linked fates…transformative
change
►
►
Our fates are linked, yet our fates have been socially
constructed as disconnected
We need socially constructed “bridges” to transform our
society
 Conceive of an individuality as connected to—instead of
isolated from—“thy neighbor”
 Be advocates for “Communities of Opportunity” as
transformative change
►Transformative : An intervention that works to
permanently transform structural arrangements
which produce inequity and disparity
54
Agents of transformative change
► Recognize
that advocacy can be instrumental to
connecting people to critical opportunity
structures
 Education, Jobs, Child care, Health care,
Transportation
► All
of these are related and affect each other; all
show effects of cumulative disparity; all are ripe
for transformative change
► Creating the potential for healthier citizens,
communities and a more vibrant region
55
Concluding Thoughts
►We
need integration with opportunity
to have a truly “just” society
 A society where all people would have access to the
means essential to living a life they have reason to
value
 A society where a geographic identifier would not
predict an individual’s life chances
 Linked fate
56
Questions or Comments?
For More Information Visit Us On-Line:
www.KirwanInstitute.org
57