UPDATED 3-3-15
URPL-GP 2620 – Race, Ethnicity & Class in American Cities
ROBERT F. WAGNER GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC SERVICE
Spring 2015
Angela Glover Blackwell
Course Meetings: From 9 am-3:00 pm on January 30, February 13, February 27, and March 13
Location: WAVE 567
Faculty Contact Information:
Email: agb7@nyu.edu
Office Hours: From 3:30-5:00 pm on January 30, February 13, February 27, and March 13
Office Hours Location: Puck 3045 (Adjunct Office)
Course Description:
As America bolts toward becoming a majority people of color nation, dozens of cities are already there.
This urban transformation is occurring against the backdrop of rising inequality and persistent racial
inequity. The resulting friction sometimes overshadows, and in the long run threatens to undermine, the
incredible opportunities afforded by the resurgence of cities. To maintain their competitive advantage,
cities will have to address the following tough questions.
 Who benefits from the investments?
 Who gets to live in dense neighborhoods rich in culture and opportunity?
 How do we open up opportunity to everyone?
To answer these questions, we need fresh thinking about job creation, education, housing, economic
development and everything that makes cities tick. At the same time, we need to lift up groundbreaking
local efforts that are beginning to fuse the achievement of racial equity and the creation of 21st century
cities. This course examines how cities can meet these challenges through policy interventions.
Central Questions:
1. How do shifting race, ethnic, and age demographics impact cities?
2. What challenges are associated with these changes? Do they differ from city to city?
3. Can effectively addressing the issues of those being left behind benefit the entire metropolitan
area?
4. How can various sectors (public, private, labor, philanthropy) work together to shape
communities of opportunity across the nation?
Grading Policy:
Wagner's grading scale is as follows: A/4.0, A-/3.7, B+/3.3, B/3.0, B-/2.7, C+/2.3, C/2.0, C-/1.7, and F/0.
For more information, please visit https://wagner.nyu.edu/adjunct/files/gradingGuidelines.pdf
Participation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Attendance, Punctuality and Class Participation: 20%
Metropolitan Profile: 30%
Policy Brief Outline: 5%
Policy Brief: 30%
Op-Ed: 15%
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Attendance Policy:
Since this class is compressed, the quality of your class experience (and your grade) depends on you
attending all four sessions. If you are unable to attend, please email me before the class with an
explanation.
Late Assignment Policy:
Extensions will be granted only in case of emergency. Late submissions without extensions will be
penalized ½ letter grade per day (B+ to B, e.g.).
Academic Honesty:
This course follows NYU’s policy on plagiarism and cheating. All exams and assignments must be the sole
work of the individual student. Violations of these standards will automatically result in all participating
students failing the course and being remanded to the discipline committee for further action.
For more information, please review the Wagner School Academic Code at
https://wagner.nyu.edu/students/policies/academic-code#sec-B1.
Background Texts:
Required:
Hartman, Chester, ed. 2014. America's Growing Inequality: The Impact of Poverty and Race. Lanham,
MD: Lexington Books.
Choose two additional texts:
Blackwell, Angela Glover, Stewart Kwoh and Manuel Pastor. 2010. Uncommon Common Ground: Race
and America's Future. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Ltd.
Jacobs, Jane. 1992. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Massey, Douglas S. and Nancy A. Denton. 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the
Underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lipsitz, George. 2011. How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Other Suggested Readings:
Dreier, Peter, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom. 2013. Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twentyfirst Century (2nd Revised Edition). University Press of Kansas.
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Course Outline by Session:
Readings should be completed BEFORE the class for which they are listed.
January 30
PART 1: THINKING ABOUT RACE, ETHNICITY AND CITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Readings:
Hartman, Chester, ed. 2014. America's Growing Inequality: The Impact of Poverty and Race. Lanham,
MD: Lexington Books. Pgs. 25-31; 186-190.
Pulido, Laura and Manuel Pastor. 2013. “Where in the World Is Juan—and What Color Is He?: The
Geography of Latina/o Racial Identity in Southern California” from American Quarterly.
powell, john. 2012. Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an
Inclusive Society. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Chapter 4.
Masuoka, Natalie. 2011. “The “Multiracial” Option: Social Group Identity and Changing Patterns of Racial
Categorization” from American Politics Research.
Suggested Readings:
Florida, Richard. Jan 27, 2015. “The Striking Decline in African-American Household Mobility” in Citylab.
Teaford, Jon. 2000. “Urban Renewal and Its Aftermath” from Housing Policy Debate, Volume 11, Issue 2.
PART 2: USING DATA TO LOOK INTO THE PAST AND THE FUTURE
Guest Speaker: Sarah Treuhaft, Deputy Director, PolicyLink
Readings:
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco & the Urban Institute, eds. 2014. What Counts: Harnessing Data
for America’s Communities. Pgs. 260-270; 296-317.
Hartman, Chester, ed. 2014. America's Growing Inequality: The Impact of Poverty and Race. Lanham,
MD: Lexington Books. Pgs. 191-198.
Please take a few minutes to explore:
1) The National Equity Atlas: http://nationalequityatlas.org/
2) PolicyLink’s Equity Tools: http://www.policylink.org/equity-tools
3) National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership: http://neighborhoodindicators.org/
4) Community Indicators Consortium: http://communityindicators.net/
February 13
**PART 1 OF METROPOLITAN PROFILE DUE**
PART 1: EDUCATION: THE HARLEM CHILDREN’S ZONE
Guest Speaker: Geoffrey Canada, President, Harlem Children’s Zone
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Readings:
2009. “Whatever It Takes: A White Paper on the Harlem Children’s Zone” by Harlem Children’s Zone.
Suggested Readings:
Canada, Geoffrey. 2010. Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Tough, Paul. 2008. Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America. New
York, NY: Houghton Miffling Harcourt
PART 2: HOUSING POLICY
Guest Speaker: Kalima Rose, Senior Director of the PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity, PolicyLink
Readings:
Sugrue, Thomas J. 2014. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit (Updated
Edition). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapters 2, 3, 7, 8.
John R. Logan. 2014. “Separate and Unequal in Suburbia.” Census Brief prepared for Project US2010.
Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 2014. “Discrimination and
Segregation in Housing.”
Sharkey, Patrick. 2013. Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress toward Racial
Equality. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Chapters 2 and 4.
Kneebone, Elizabeth and Alan Berube. 2013. Confronting Suburban Poverty in America. Harrisonburg,
VA: Brookings Institution Press. Chapter 2.
2014. “Development without Displacement: Resisting Gentrification in the Bay Area” by Cause Justa:
Just Cause.
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing:
 Read the Proposed Rule in the federal register.
 Review the Proposed Assessment Tool.
 Read the comments submitted by PolicyLink and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
 Review the St. Louis Region’s Fair Housing and Equity Assessment.
Suggested Readings:
Semuels, Alana. Feb 3, 2015. “Is Ending Segregation the Key to Ending Poverty?” in The Atlantic.
“How We Got Here: The Historical Roots of Housing Segregation” from The Future of Fair Housing:
Report of the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. Dec 2008.
PART 3: POLICY ADVOCACY: HEALTHY FOOD
Guest Speaker: Judith Bell, President, PolicyLink
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Readings:
2013. “Access to Healthy Food and Why It Matters: A Review of the Research” by PolicyLink and The
Food Trust.
2011. “Why Place and Race Matter” by PolicyLink and The California Endowment.
2011. “Healthy Food, Healthy Communities” by PolicyLink.
Explore the Healthy Food Access Portal: http://www.healthyfoodaccess.org/
Suggested Readings:
Shultz, Jim. 2002. The Democracy Owners’ Manual: A Practical Guide to Changing the World. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Chapters 6 and 11 (added to Folders on NYU Classes).
February 27
**PART 2 OF METROPOLITAN PROFILE DUE** [Now due March 4]
PART 1: CRIMINAL JUSTICE: RACE, INCARCERATION AND POLICE REFORM
Guest Speaker: James Bell, Founder, Executive Director & Board President, W. Haywood Burns Institute
Readings:
Alexander, Michelle. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New
York, NY: The New Press. Chapters 3 and 5.
Goffman, Alice. 2014. On The Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. Chicago, IL: The University of
Chicago Press. Chapters 1 and 7.
2014. “Limiting Police Use of Force: Promising Community-Centered Strategies” by PolicyLink and
Advancement Project.
2014. “Engaging Communities as Partners: Strategies for Problem Solving” by PolicyLink and
Advancement Project.
PART 2: BOYS AND MEN OF COLOR
Readings:
Blackwell, Angela Glover and Manuel Pastor. “Let’s Hear It for the Boys: Building a Stronger America by
Investing in Young Men and Boys of Color.” Changing Places. Edley Jr., Christopher and Jorge Ruiz de
Velasco, eds. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. 2010. Pgs. 3-35.
PART 3: COLLECTIVE IMPACT AND THE PROMISE NEIGHBORHOODS MOVEMENT
Guest Speaker: Michael McAfee, Senior Director of the Promise Neighborhoods Institute, PolicyLink
Readings:
2014. “Collective Impact for Policymakers: Working Together for Children and Youth” by the Forum for
Youth Investment.
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Kania, John and Mark Kramer. 2011. “Collective Impact” from Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter
2011). Added to Folders on NYU Classes.
2010. “The Results-Based Accountability Guide” by the Results Leadership Group. Added to Folders on
NYU Classes.
Review materials in ‘Promise Neighborhoods Institute’ Folder on NYU Classes.
Suggested Readings:
Heifetz, Ronald and Marty Linsky. 2002. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of
Leading. Harvard Business School Press.
March 13
**POLICY BRIEF OUTLINE DUE IN CLASS**
PART 1: COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENTS
Guest Speaker: Julian Gross, Attorney, Law Office of Julian Gross
Readings:
Gross, Julian, Greg LeRoy and Madeline Janis-Aparicio. 2005. “Community Benefits Agreements: Making
Development Projects Accountable” by Good Jobs First and the California Partnership for Working
Families.
Gross, Julian. “Community Benefits Agreements.” Building Healthy Communities: A Guide to Community
Economic Development for Advocates, Lawyers, and Policymakers. Clay Jr., Roger and Susan R. Jones,
eds. American Bar Association Publishing. 2010. Chapter 13. Added to Folders on NYU Classes.
Excerpt from an in-depth grad student research report on the Hunters Point Shipyard Project in San
Francisco. Chapter 4 (pgs. 40-52). Excerpt Added to Folders on NYU Classes—please read pgs. 40-52.
PART 2: COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Readings:
Pastor, Manuel, Jennifer Ito and Rhonda Ortiz. 2010. “Connecting at the Crossroads: Alliance Building
and Social Change in Tough Times.”
Pastor, Manuel. “Keeping It Real: Demographic Change, Economic Conflict, and Interethnic Organizing
for Social Justice in Los Angeles.” Black and Brown in Los Angeles: Beyond Conflict and Coalition.
Kun and Pulido, eds. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. 2014. Pgs. 33-66.
PART 3: INFLUENCING POLICY THROUGH THE MEDIA
Guest Speaker: Milly Hawk Daniel, Vice President for Communications, PolicyLink
Readings:
Blackwell, Angela Glover and Mary Kay Henry. 2013. “Don’t Pull Up the Ladder.” Op-Ed in The Huffington
Post.
Pastor, Manuel. 2014. “Are Latinos Really Turning White?” Op-Ed in The Huffington Post.
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April 3
**POLICY BRIEF DUE**
**OP-ED DUE**
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