community

24Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Network Science Uncovers The Hidden Structure Of Community Dynamics – From In-Crowds To Power Couples

The world is a networked place, literally and figuratively. The field of network science is used today to understand phenomena as diverse as the spread of misinformation, West African trade and protein-protein interactions in cells. Network science has uncovered several universal properties of complex social networks, which in turn has made it possible to learn details of particular networks. For example, the network consisting of the international financial corruption scheme uncovered by the Panama Papers investigation has an unusual lack of connections among its parts. But understanding the hidden structures of key elements of social networks, such as subgroups, has remained elusive. My colleagues and I have found two complex patterns in these networks that can help researchers better ...

A Historic Black Community Races To Save Its Future Six Months After Hurricane Ida

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

A Historic Black Community Races To Save Its Future Six Months After Hurricane Ida

Briana Flin Residents of Ironton, Louisiana are rallying for their share of recovery funds. Audrey Trufant Salvant has deep roots in Ironton, a close-knit, majority-Black community 25 miles downriver from New Orleans. Her great-great-great grandmother, who had been enslaved, is buried here, and her descendents kept the unincorporated town in Plaquemines Parish alive, despite near-impossible circumstances. Founded by formerly enslaved people in the late 1800s, Ironton’s residents have since endured racial terror, segregationist parish leaders, and decades without even the most basic services. But they fought to survive. They gained access to running water in 1980 and rebuilt the town after Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac in 2005 and 2012, respectively. Today, residents say devastation from...

Isolated Success Stories Suggest Community And Officer Buy-In Might Be Key To American Cities Long Struggle To Reform Their Police

30Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Isolated Success Stories Suggest Community And Officer Buy-In Might Be Key To American Cities Long Struggle To Reform Their Police

The guilty verdicts delivered against Derek Chauvin on April 20, 2021, represented a landmark moment – but courtroom justice cannot deliver the sweeping changes most Americans feel are needed to improve policing in the U.S. As America continues to grapple with racism and police killings, federal action over police reform has stalled in Congress. But at the state level there is movement and steps toward reform are underway in many U.S. cities, including Philadelphia; Oakland, California; and Portland, Oregon. Many of these efforts are geared toward ending specific practices, such as the granting of qualified immunity, through which officers are shielded from civil lawsuits, and the use of certain police neck holds and no-knock warrants. Mayors and city councils nationwide have also pushed...

Offering A Chance For Community To Stand In Solidarity And Support – Trans Day Of Visibility

29Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ

Offering A Chance For Community To Stand In Solidarity And Support – Trans Day Of Visibility

Visibility within the transgender community is often a Catch-22, especially for trans people of color, or those living in rural, conservative areas. Hiding one’s identity can be a damaging experience and increase feelings of isolation, stigma and shame. But standing out as a trans person can make someone a target for discrimination or violence. As a trans man who studies transgender health and well-being, I believe Trans Day of Visibility – celebrated annually on March 31 – is an important day that allows community members to come together and find support and solidarity by knowing they are not alone. A celebration’s history Trans Day of Visibility acknowledges the contributions made by people within the transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse communities (hereafter referred to as “tran...

Community land trusts could help heal segregated cities

11Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS

Community land trusts could help heal segregated cities

American cities represent part of the nation’s long and grim history of discrimination and oppression against Black people. They can also be part of the recovery from all that harm. Some cities’ work can be symbolically important, such as removing public monuments that honor oppression. But as professors of urban sustainability and community development at Arizona State University, we see that cities can do much more to address inequality, starting with an area that was key to past discrimination: how land is used. Zoning rules, including requirements that prohibit duplexes or anything other than single-family homes on residential lots, have helped maintain class and racial segregation. Lending practices like redlining that discriminate mostly against people of color in specific urban ne...

What colleges and universities can do to improve police-community relations

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

What colleges and universities can do to improve police-community relations

In the wake of the death of George Floyd – and the protests that it has sparked around the world – public attention is focused on ending police brutality like never before. Even before Floyd’s May 25 death in Minneapolis, public trust and confidence in law enforcement and America’s legal system were already in a perilous state. The difference now is that calls are being amplified to defund and disband police departments as they are currently known. What can America’s higher education system do to reduce the use of excessive force among police? As a public policy scholar who examines the interplay between race, policing and public governance, I see multiple things that colleges and universities can do to make a difference. 1. Teach courses that rethink public safety As a professor, I help...

During COVID-19 A Community Rallies to Change Prison Rules

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

During COVID-19 A Community Rallies to Change Prison Rules

Here at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, four living units—each housing roughly 200 prisoners—share one recreation yard. And around this time of year, I could watch as teams gathered almost daily to compete on the soccer field or practice around the baseball diamond, as countless residents strolled the quarter-mile track, which surrounds both. Outside the track, some played horseshoes, bocce, handball, basketball, and used the array of pullup and dip bars, while others sat at cement tables slapping cards and banging dominoes. Needless to say, our yard isn’t small. All this changed in early April, after news that the first cases of COVID-19 inside a state prison had been confirmed at Monroe Correctional Complex, where the reformatory is. Courageous fellow residents, refusing to...

What happens when community college is made free

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION, IN OTHER NEWS

What happens when community college is made free

Free community college proposals are gaining attention. But do they work? And if so, for whom? Policymakers and presidential hopefuls are having a spirited debate over whether the U.S. should offer free community college, free public college in general or additional college subsidies directed at low-income students. In a recent paper, my coauthors Chris Avery, Jessica Howell, Matea Pender and I looked at these scenarios. We found that free community college would increase the number of people graduating with associate degrees, but it would also likely decrease the number of people completing bachelor’s degrees because students would shift away from four-year schools in favor of free tuition. Community college is already virtually free For the vast majority of low-income students, commun...

How a Black Farming Community Found Justice

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

How a Black Farming Community Found Justice

Black families in the South are doing important work to continue the legacy of Black farming communities. Shirley Sherrod co-founded New Communities, a Black farming community in rural Georgia. But at one time, she wanted to leave farming far behind. As a teenager, Sherrod dreamed of leaving the South. Her mind traveled North—away from the White sheriff, known as “The Gator,” who ruthlessly and violently patrolled the area’s Black residents. Away from her family’s farm and the backbreaking days spent picking cotton. Away from the segregated schools. “My goal was to try to get as far away from that whole system and as far away from the farm as I could,” she says. But in March 1965, her senior year of high school, Sherrod’s father was shot by a White farmer during a d...

Black-Owned Banks Keep Community Money Where It Belongs

4Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Black-Owned Banks Keep Community Money Where It Belongs

A national network of financial cooperatives is helping marginalized groups keep their money out of an extractive banking system. Me’Lea Connelly is from the Bay Area of California, but she has deep roots in Minnesota. Her mother’s family was one of the first to migrate to the state after slavery ended. When she was 15, her parents divorced, and she moved with her mother to Minneapolis. “I’ve always just felt more at home here,” Connelly said. “All my ancestors are just calling me home.” But that home, in Minneapolis’ Northside, has a severe shortage of shopping centers, grocery stores, and banks. In 2017, Minnesota was named the second-most unequal state for Black people in a study of Black and White inequality by 24/7 Wall St., a financial news and opinion website. Despite the ...