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Economic Segregation Roundtable One

August 18th, 2007

It’s official. We’ve begun sticking our toe in the waters of civil debate.

Our first Local Roundtable has met. In our first meeting on Economic Segregation, we heard from our invited expert, Dr. Charles Connerly, Chair of FSU Department of Urban and Regional Planning (also North American Editor, Housing Studies) and Village Square Founder Dr. Jim Croteau, President and CEO of Elder Care Services, Inc. and former Leon County School Superintendent.

Both experts pointed us to foundational studies in this field that outline the issue nationally.

The problem? Concentrated poverty.

Research has linked living in high-poverty areas (independent of individual characteristics) with such negative outcomes as dropping out of school early, teen pregnancy, unwed births, unemployment, and crime victimization.

Nationally, according to a Brookings Study, we’re increasingly geographically separated by income:

From 1970 to 2000, % middle class in American cities & suburbs decreased 7%, but middle class neighborhoods decreased 17%. Why? Speculation that middle class neighborhoods are tipping either to richer or poorer neighborhoods.

“No city in America has gotten more integrated by income in the last 30 years.”

In Tallahassee, with less data available, it’s harder to figure it out. While we clearly have less segregation by income than many more urbanized cities, both the most recent census data and free and reduced price lunch rates suggest that our city tracks the national trends.

We’ll be looking more closely at data and discussing whether we think there’s a problem or not, and if there is one, whether it matters, and if we can (or should) do anything about it.

We’ll keep you in the loop.

Entry Filed under: Economic segregation, Get Local: Tallahassee