Fusing Education and Housing Policy to Promote Integrated Schools and Communities
Segregated communities cause segregated schools, and segregated schools contribute to housing segregation. Education and housing advocates share the same goal of improving opportunities for low-income and minority children and families. Even so, advocates have often struggled to identify successful strategies to realize their shared vision of integrated, high-opportunity schools and communities. Recent developments may present a unique and unprecedented opportunity. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project identifies integration as a primary purpose of the Fair Housing Act, emphasizing the importance of “striving to achieve our historic commitment to creating an integrated society.” Similarly, the new “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development seek to bring multiple stakeholders in communities together to discuss plans to foster integration. This workshop will present examples of housing-education policy collaboration in support of integration at the state and local level, and will suggest how state and federal housing and education agencies can work more closely together in the future.
FEATURING:
- Yvonne Brandon, Former Superintendent, Richmond Public Schools and Executive-in-Residence at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education
- Christie Huck, Executive Director, City Garden Montessori Charter School
- Dr. Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education
- Philip Tegeler, Executive Director, Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Moderated by Brenda Shum, Director of the Educational Opportunities Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
RESOURCES
- PowerPoint presentation by Genevieve Siegel-Hawley: “Two sides of same coin: The relationship between school and housing policy”