Clear all

88 results found

reorder grid_view

Divided by Design

July 31, 2023

Low-income communities and communities of color have been and continue to be disproportionately harmed by our approach to transportation in the United States. This damage has come in many forms, but most egregiously through the manner in which the U.S. constructed of the Interstate Highway System. A growing understanding of this reality helped lead to the creation of new provisions and programs aimed at undoing some of this damage in the November 2021 infrastructure bill. But these steps were modest and policy interventions continue to focus largely on past harms or small, insufficient reforms, ultimately failing to grapple with the reality that the fundamental approach of our current transportation program creates and exacerbates inequities.Past decisions, including routing the Interstate Highway System through communities of color, dividing and often demolishing them in the process, still shape our built environment. And most importantly, the foundation of the modern transportation program was built on models, measures and standards that have their roots in this era. Without a fundamental change to the overall approach to transportation, today's leaders and transportation professionals, no matter their intent, will perpetuate and exacerbate the damage.

People + Places, Now + Then: The Kresge Foundation 2022 Annual Report

June 20, 2023

This annual report highlights how work Kresge supported in 2022 invested in people's dreams and communities' aspirations and how Kresge has done so for almost a century. Five immersive multimedia stories center on partners in Memphis, Detroit, Toledo and Atlanta.

Wealth Opportunities Realized Through Homeownership (WORTH): Baseline Report

May 15, 2023

This report is part of an evaluation of the Wealth Opportunities Realized through Homeownership (WORTH) initiative. Led by the Wells Fargo Foundation, WORTH supports efforts to close persistent disparities in homeownership in Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Diego, and rural and tribal areas. In each market, we examine housing supply and demand, homebuying activity, homeownership trends, and preservation conditions. We found that in almost every market, white households have higher homeownership rates than every other racial or ethnic group. Moreover, macroeconomic forces driving market conditions, like higher interest rates and moderating house prices, can significantly dampen or thwart market collaboratives' efforts to boost homeownership rates for people of color. Future evaluation will examine the implementation processes used in each market. The larger body of work contributes to understanding the crucial connection between homeownership and wealth-building and the multitude of barriers that households of color face in achieving homeownership. It also supports research-backed strategies for increasing homeownership for households of color and for reducing racial disparities.

The South Has Something to Say - An Examination of Student Loan Debt in the South Part One: Atlanta

April 13, 2023

This paper series is an expansion of the Student Borrower Protection Center's exploration of the geography of student debt disparities and the economic distress that borrowers of color, particularly those who are Black and Latino, face in the student loan market. Research has increasingly shed light on the vast racial disparities present in the student debt crisis. Beyond rising balances and unaffordable monthly bills, student debt has far-reaching effects on the lived experience of student loan borrowers and the communities in which they live.In 2020, the SBPC published Disparate Debts, an examination of racial disparities in student debt burdens and borrower distress across US cities in general and in DC, Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco in particular. Expanding on Disparate Debts, this series, Student Debt in the South, leverages previous work to examine the intersection of race and student debt throughout the South, including efforts to highlight the burdens that student loan borrowers face in both cities and rural communities.As a part of the Student Loan Law Initiative (SLLI) and in partnership with the University of California Berkeley, we have analyzed proprietary data from the University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UCCCP) data on the far-reaching effects of student debt in several metropolitan and rural areas across the South. The descriptive and demographic insights gleaned from these data help us understand the local effects of rising student debt and borrower distress and to underscore where the student debt crisis disproportionately affects certain communities, particularly communities of color.The first report in this series focuses on the city of Atlanta, providing a case study on the effects of student debt on the Black middle class and the shifting impacts of student debt on communities of color over the past decade.

Collaborative Outcomes from the Youth Justice and Employment Community of Practice

October 18, 2022

Established in mid-2021, the Youth Justice and Employment Community of Practice (CoP) is a partnership of the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), and Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) formed to improve outcomes for youth with justice involvement by increasing collaboration among local workforce and juvenile justice systems. The CoP began during the middle of COVID-19 at a time when counterparts in each jurisdiction were seeking to reestablish pandemic-disrupted communication and collaboration. CoP participants met monthly to share knowledge and expertise on topics of importance to both systems. Based on work from the CoP, participating cities and counties produced notable improvements in building relationships, expanding partnerships, and promoting investments that benefit justice-involved young people in their communities. This report documents successes and offers recommendations for others seeking to improve outcomes for these young people.

Engaging Atlanta’s Youth and Young Adults in Economic Opportunity - Strategic Planning Research

September 6, 2022

This report explores findings from a research project led by and drawing on responses from youth and young adults in Atlanta. Study authors Creative Research Solutions (CRS) worked with five young leaders who, drawing from their experiences, developed a research strategy to better understand the educational and career aspirations of Atlanta's young people, as well as the obstacles they face in pursuit of their goals

Black Women’s and Birth Workers’ Experiences of Disrespect and Abuse in Maternity Care: Findings From a Qualitative Exploratory Research Study in Atlanta, Georgia

April 19, 2022

Public health research has generated increasingly sophisticated theories and methods for linking the biological to the social, and for understanding how historical and current forms of discrimination, trauma and injustice find expression in health outcomes. Stark racial disparities in maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity are particularly appropriate for this exploration because women's sexuality and reproduction has always been a crucial battleground for social control of disadvantaged groups, for assertions of biomedical dominance and professional hierarchies, and for humiliation—and selective celebration—of individuals to further promote specific gender and racial ideologies.Yet, simultaneously, women's sexuality and reproduction has also provided the setting for women to assert their personhood, express their community and cultural solidarity, and define and demand their political and social citizenship. Over the last four decades, women of color have built social movements to link this profound understanding of the personal and political meaning of reproduction to the wider struggle for social justice across a broad range of social institutions where racism finds different forms of expression–schools, police and courts, voting rights and political representation, media and social discourse. The recent surge of attention to what advocates, scholars, politicians and journalists now routinely call the "Black maternal health crisis" helps to create an important opportunity for research to link to action, indeed for research to be action.This report is just one step towards recognition of the role of racism in maternal health. It describes findings from an exploratory, qualitative research study of Black women's experiences during pregnancy and childbirth in Atlanta, which was conducted in 2018 in partnership between Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) program of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Center for Black Women's Wellness (CBWW), and other local community-based organizations. This was part of a larger study conducted in New York City in 2017 (Freedman et. al., 2020). Specifically, the study in Atlanta sought to understand Black women's perceptions of the disrespect and abuse they experienced during pregnancy and childbirth. By focusing on disrespect and abuse during childbirth, the study links to a wider global movement that is mobilizing around the concept of respectful maternity care (Armbruster et. al., 2011). It also constitutes initial steps in pursuit of a wider agenda led by BMMA and women of color organizations that seek to transform knowledge and how it is generated, and by doing so, build power and shift culture, bending the arc of history toward social justice (Aina et. al., 2019).

Community-driven Development at Pittsburgh Yards

March 21, 2022

For nearly two decades, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has been a key partner in the redevelopment of a 31-acre former industrial site in Atlanta's Pittsburgh neighborhood. Though the project — now known as Pittsburgh Yards — has evolved since UPS first sold the land to AECF Atlanta Realty (a subsidiary of the Casey Foundation) in 2006, the mission has remained the same: spur more equitable career, entrepreneurship and wealth-building opportunities for Black residents in the surrounding communities of Neighborhood Planning Unit V (NPU-V).To realize that vision, staff in Casey's Atlanta Civic Site, which serves as primary investor and advisor on the project, used the Foundation's Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide as a blueprint. In doing so, Casey and the Pittsburgh Yards development team have prioritized community engagement from the start, maximizing community-based strengths and assets and creating pathways for residents to participate in key decisionmaking processes.This brief describes those community engagement efforts and identifies lessons and recommendations that may be useful to other organizations interested in undertaking similar redevelopment efforts.

Subsidized Jobs Program Spotlight: Goodwill of North Georgia

October 29, 2021

Across the country, Goodwill rapidly engages economically marginalized jobseekers with employment, using subsidized jobs programs and other workforce development strategies. Based in Atlanta and the surrounding metro area, Goodwill of North Georgia's subsidized jobs program, operating since 1925, connects jobseekers to immediate, wage-paid employment, paired with a contextualized learning environment and individualized supportive services. This program spotlight discusses Goodwill of North Georgia's subsidized jobs model and its impact and calls for federal investments in subsidized jobs to support jobseekers facing structural barriers to employment. Goodwill of North Georgia's headquarters is located in the 4th Congressional district of Georgia. The representative for this district is Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr. (D). The Senators for Georgia are Senators Raphael Warnock (D) and Senator Jon Ossoff (D).   

Improving Community Safety Through Public Health Strategies: Lessons From Atlanta and Milwaukee

July 20, 2021

This report offers early lessons and recommendations from work the Annie E. Casey Foundation is supporting in Atlanta and Milwaukee to prevent gun violence. These communities are part of a national movement to increase safety and heal trauma by examining root causes and addressing these issues from a public health and racial justice perspective. Residents in both cities are shaping and leading safety strategies with the support of local nonprofits and other public and private partners. Their stories highlight the many ways that philanthropic and system leaders can help catalyze alternative public safety models and support their development and implementation — including helping to establish a new narrative about what it takes to keep communities safe and building and sharing evidence on effective public health interventions.As the work featured in this report shows, both public and private entities have roles to play in supporting a public health approach to safety. Residents in Atlanta, with funding and support from Casey and other investors, established a neighborhood-based advisory group and began implementing the Cure Violence model. In Milwaukee, another place where the Foundation is supporting Cure Violence, the movement to reimagine public safety is being driven by the city's Office of Violence Prevention. Each community developed strategies and programs based on local goals, needs and circumstances. One common thread underpinning their efforts has been the purposeful engagement and inclusion of people living in the areas directly affected by violence.

Black Funding Denied: Community Foundation Support for Black Communities

August 1, 2020

In light of the national uprising sparked by the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (and building on other recent tragic movement moments going back to the 2014 murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri), NCRP is analyzing grantmaking by community foundations across the country to find out exactly how much they are – or are not – investing in Black communities.We started by looking at the latest available grantmaking data (2016-2018) of 25 community foundations (CFs) – from Los Angeles to New Orleans to New York City to St. Paul. These foundations represent a cross section of some of the country's largest community foundations as well as foundations in communities where NCRP has Black-led nonprofit allies.

Cross-Community Evaluation Findings 2019: for the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative

July 1, 2020

Four years into this collective effort to aggregate and analyze data of communities in the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, we are beginning to yield some findings that are consistent year-over-year—and actionable. This report presents the findings of evaluation work completed during the 2018–2019 program year and homes in on those findings most ripe for appreciation and action.There is a strong correlation between teens' connection to Jewish values and and the influence those values have on the livesteens choose to lead. Substantive Jewish content creates a sense of belonging, a desire to do good in the world, and a platformfor teens to build friendships—these peer relationships also contribute to strong Jewish outcomes overall. Importantly, the report concludes with recommendations applicable beyond the 10 community-based teen initiatives, informing any organization committed to effective teen programs, professional development for youth professionals, and affordability of programs for parents.The report draws from a variety of sources to offer a snapshot of a moment in time, and evaluation alone cannot provide the full picture of tectonic shifts occurring on the ground in these 10 communities. Extremely complex efforts involving stakeholders, implementers, and the communities are making lasting and positive changes to the culture impacting teen engagement.We encourage you to read the complementary case studies documenting the work, along with previous reports, all found onthe Learnings page of TeenFunderCollaborative.com.