The Emergence of Stable Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Communities: A Case Study of Neighborhoods in Nine U.S. Cities

(1998)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development worked with the Policy Research Action Group (PRAG) to study the factors central to creating and sustaining viable, inclusive, diverse, stable urban neighborhoods. In each of nine cities presented here: Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, and Chicago Lawn (Chicago); West Mt. Airy (Philadelphia); Vollintine-Evergreen (Memphis); Park Hill (Denver); Sherman Park (Milwaukee); Jackson Heights, Fort Greene (New York City); Southeast Seattle (Seattle); San Antonio and Fruitvale (Oakland, California); Houston Heights (Houston).

PRAG coordinated a team of researchers and local community-based partners to: interview residents, business people, and community leaders; review key documents; and otherwise assess the basis for diversity and stability within these special neighborhoods. Each team also drew on prior studies and census analyses.

View Journal Issue Racially and Ethnically Diverse Urban Neighborhoods

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Black, White and Shades of Brown: Fair Housing and Economic Opportunity in the Chicago Region

(1998)

The Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities commissioned CURL to write a report answering the questions, “What is the state of fair housing in the Chicago region today, especially related to race and ethnicity?  What are its implications for economic opportunity and development?” 

Download Report Black, White and Shades of Brown: Fair Housing and Economic Opportunity in the Chicago Region 

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Development of Peer Intervention in Risk-Taking Behavior Among Teenagers

(1997)

This project developed between the principal and the faculty of Pierce Elementary School and CURL researchers to make recommendations for strategic interventions to effect risk taking by their students.  Dr. Vera and her colleagues went on to publish an article in the Journal of Clinical Child Psychology called "A Qualitative Investigation of Perceptions of Violence Risk Factors in Low-Income African American Children."

Download Report A Qualitative Investigation of Perceptions of Violence Risk Factors in Low-Income African American Children

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The 1996 Chicago Latino Registered Voter Political Survey: Political Participation and Public Policy Positions

(1996) 

This article published in Harvard's Journal of Hispanic Policy presents the results of a survey of 408 registered Latino voters in Chicago, Illinois. The findings advance a multidimensional understanding of Latino political behaviors and attitudes through the examination of multiple measures of political participation and opinions concerning political parties and public issues such as welfare reform, immigration, naturalization and official language policy, bilingual education, capital punishment, gun control, and affirmative action.

Download Journal Article The 1996 Chicago Latino Registered Voter Political Survey: Political Participation and Public Policy Positions 

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Saving our Homes: The Lessons of Community Struggles to Preserve Affordable Housing in Chicago’s Uptown

(1996)

In collaboration with Organization of the NorthEast (ONE) a community organizing group on Chicago’s north side, CURL worked to produce a study of nine affordable housing buildings in Uptown and the tenants’ and community organizations’ efforts to keep the housing affordable. The research process included open-ended interviews with community leaders and close-ended resident surveys in eight sample blocks in Edgewater and Uptown along with less-structured interviews with additional residents on these blocks. The interviews touch on a wide variety of issues, but a primary focus was to gain an understanding of racial, ethnic, and social class conflict and cooperation in the two communities. 

Download Final Report Saving Our Homes: The Lessons of Community Struggles to Preserve Affordable Housing in Chicago's Uptown

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