Context Paper 1: Toward just education [and neighborhood] renewal: Investing in schools and their neighborhoods

• In Event: Toward Just Education Renewal and Neighborhood Reclamation: An Urban P-20 Partnership

Abstract

Objectives

In this paper, the leaders of each partnership entity will describe the approaches to two types of neighborhood investment—neighborhood proof points and systems investments—and how education is central to this investment. The partnership and neighborhood investment focuses on:

● Increasing incomes for low-income families
● Building Black wealth through a reparative justice lens
● Developing campus-based health systems and supports that serve the school’s children, families, and the surrounding neighborhoods
● Creating enabling policy conditions for the health of the neighborhood

One central investment comes in the form of the P-20 learning community we have built. This place-based proof-of-concept serves nearly 1,000 children and their families on the campus, together with undergraduates from the university partner. This paper examines how the learning community is meant to support just neighborhood renewal through just education renewal, focusing on what we know from the growing literature on the relationship between education opportunity and healthy, safe, and supportive neighborhoods/housing.

Theoretical Perspectives

Over several decades, researchers have found key indicators that support economic mobility within neighborhoods, each indicator signaling the importance of child- and family- and educational-centered approaches to investment (Chetty and Hendren, 2018). Locally, needs assessments have described the importance for “safety and belonging” and “health and well-being,” and therefore, our partnership plans to expand health and well-being services that provide care for the whole child, family, and neighborhood—vital and necessary services for families to remain and thrive in schools and neighborhoods (e.g., Putnam, 2001). Finally, a key theoretical perspective is that just education and neighborhood renewal must not displace residents, which is a central commitment of this partnership.

Methods/Modes of Inquiry

Although in early days, the partnership is continuously monitoring success through this investment. To that end, this paper employs three key modes of inquiry. First, we engaged in extensive reviews of the literature on the relationship between education and neighborhoods/housing access. Second, we examined the outcomes of several national pilots focused on building healthy neighborhoods to support education outcomes. Third, we are collecting ethnographic and demographic data on how our school partnership appears related to changes in the neighborhood and vice versa. Fourth, we systematically collect data to assess the extent to which one set of changes appears to produce shifts, although we are not yet ready for causal inference. This paper is an initial descriptive analysis that sets the stage for findings reports on student and teacher learning that follow.

Results & Significance

On the school side, we have observed positive trends in student attendance and achievement, and in students returning to the public school district. We are also documenting high levels of teacher retention, high graduation rates, and strong postsecondary enrollment.

On the neighborhood side, we are documenting increasing levels of home ownership from original residents, an increase in the number of Black-owned businesses, improved streetscape, and improved neighborhood safety statistics. According to a Brookings Institution analysis, this neighborhood is one of few in the country that appears to be renewing without displacing residents.

Authors

• Wendy Lewis Jackson, The Kresge Foundation

• Jonathan Hui, The Kresge Foundation

• Alycia Meriweather, Detroit Public Schools Community District

• Elizabeth Birr Moje, University of Michigan