Understanding Economic Development and Black Displacement: Historical Contexts and Impacts

1. Does Context Matter: Economic Development and Black Displacement Brandi Blessett 2011 NASPAA Annual Conference

2. Revised NASPAA Standards • Diversity is addressed in a variety of ways: • Promote a climate of inclusiveness • Recruit and retain diverse faculty and students • Enhance educational experiences and cultural interactions of students • Student outcomes • Ability to communicate and interact with a changing workforce and citizenry

3. 2010 Census Data • Population changes • Latinos - 16% • African Americans - 13% • Asians - 5% • US Census reports by 2050, African Americans, Asians, and Latinos will make up 50% of the population

4. Demonstrating Capacity • Competencies indicate the necessary effort for a task or activity to be performed successfully (Daley, 2012). • Minimum requirements for a job • Identifies the essential skills, knowledge, and abilities (SKA) for effectiveness • Encompass results

5. New Deal Culture Public investment Environment Urban Deterioration • Blight • Disinvestment • Substandard housing Economic growth/ Business expansion Public-private partnerships Enabler Interstate Highway System of 1956 Housing Act of 1937 Housing Act of 1949 Racism Use eminent domain Site public housing locations Accumulate land Route highways Strategies Business expansion Secure profits Attract capital investments Displacement Neighborhood destruction Re-segregation Outcomes

6. Baltimore, Maryland • Phases of economic development • Public housing: push-pull • Urban renewal: complete dispossession • Outcomes • >25,000 people displaced (90% African American) • Reorganization of people and space

7. Miami, Florida • Economic development • Public housing: push-pull • Transportation: neighborhood destruction • Outcomes • >35,000 families displaced • Fulfill racial desires ‘remove every Negro family from the city limits’

8. Cape Town, South Africa • Apartheid system • Public policies • Group Areas Act • Removal, relocation, restricted movement, limited access to public facilities • Outcomes • >4 million people displaced • Financially and psychologically damaging to families

9. Cultural Competencies • Understand personal bias regarding racial and ethnic minorities • Acknowledge the historical context of administrative actions with regard to minority populations

10. Competencies (cont’d) • Recognize power and privilege relationships and its implications for underrepresented groups • Value the experiences and contributions of racial and ethnic minorities

11. Conclusions • Creates awareness • Provides real-world examples of past injustices • Highlights the role of the administrator