OPPORTUNITIES

All In: Data for Community Health 2021 National Virtual Meeting

 [ Call for Proposals ]

On November 8 - 10, 2021, All In will host, All In: Data for Community Health National Meeting, bringing together a diverse group of people from public health, community-based social service, healthcare, national organizations, and other groups at the nexus of working across sectors to leverage data to improve community health. The three half-day virtual events will feature inspirational keynote speakers and sessions co-led by practitioners working alongside community members who will share their stories, tools, and lessons. All In is seeking proposals from applicants who are actively engaged in multi-sector collaborations of organizations, community members, local and state government agencies, and other stakeholders working together to improve health and well-being through data sharing. They are especially interested in projects that address the meeting’s themes including centering racial equity, navigating the spectrum of community engagement, and focusing on policy change. To learn more, click here. 

Urban Institute Launches Equity Scholars Program

[ Funding ]

The Urban Institute is kicking off a new effort to grow the field of researchers building evidence to accelerate racial justice and strengthen equity across society. The Equity Scholars program offers emerging and established scholars the opportunity to deepen their own policy-oriented research on race, equity, and/or structural racism while contributing to equity-focused analyses underway at Urban. Over two years, as members of a cohort, Equity Scholars will develop research to interrogate the effects of structural racism on people and places, develop evidence-based solutions to advance racial equity, and share their insights to decisionmakers best positioned to act. Interested in being a part of this inaugural group of scholars? To apply to the Urban Institute Equity Scholars program, launching January 2022, click here.

FACT SHEET: The American Rescue Plan

RESOURCES

Placemaking, Preservation, and Private Sector Investment: A New Approach to the Affordable Housing Crisis

Centering Black People in Community Development

An “All-Out” Effort to Achieve Desegregation and Equality of Opportunity: Assessment of Fair Housing 2.0

Can Place-Based Investments Like New Markets and Opportunity Zones Help Low-Income Neighborhoods and Residents?

As cities look to recover equitably from the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers from both sides of the aisle are looking to place-based programs like the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program and Opportunity Zones (OZs) to regrow local economies and improve quality of life in low-income neighborhoods. These policies differ from person-based policies, such as the earned income tax credit or unemployment insurance, that target people based on their individual or household characteristics, such as income or employment status. The US federal government spends at least $10 billion on place-based jobs policies each year, and states spend another $50 billion. Some have argued that place-based programs like these can be an effective source of equity for Black businesses. But do place-based incentives attract new investment, or do they provide tax subsidies to private companies who would already have invested in those neighborhoods? And do these programs help incumbent residents with low incomes or speed gentrification and displacement? Early evidence suggests OZs have had little impact on property prices and that observed price increases are driven by the higher end of the OZ market, challenging the overall societal and economic benefits of the program. Recently, Urban Institute analyzed the NMTC to better understand these questions. To read the report, click here. 

Housing Design That Advances Health

How California Set Off a Backyard Apartment Boom

For years, permitting figures languished for granny flats, garage apartments and other types of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, thanks to local restrictions that forced homeowners to submit to cumbersome discretionary approvals before local boards. Back in 2016, California passed a state law that required cities to ease these regulations and grant permits by set standards. Two more bills that followed in 2017 relaxed the rules around ADU construction. That’s when backyard apartments took off. Four years later, ADUs account for a growing share of homes built across the state. California homeowners built some 12,000 backyard flats in 2019 — more than double the number permitted just two years earlier and a ten-fold increase since the state passed its preemption laws. Unlike other categories of housing in California, the numbers for new permits for ADUs are rising — with growth likely to continue thanks in part to efforts by local governments to help them go up quickly. In some cases, very quickly. To learn more, click here.

Detroit Showed What ‘Build Back Better’ Can Look Like

American cities stand at a precipice. Burdened by an overwhelming public health crisis, drained of resources by economic stagnation and torn apart by racial injustice and unrest, cities are confronting the reality that conventional formulas of municipal finance and practices of working cannot sustain our urban places. The significance of this moment was not lost on the Biden-Harris administration, which quickly advanced an ambitious mandate commensurate with the challenge: a domestic Marshall Plan called Build Back Better. Already, the first prong — the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan — has helped shore up city budgets, restore desperately needed funding for public transportation and keep businesses open and families in homes. The second leg, the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, represents a bold shift from short-term recovery to long-term transformation. To read the full article, click here.

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