Environmental justice/land use photo-tour of Springfield at WNEC Law School [Updated x2]

Yesterday I talked about environmental justice and land use with Ben Rajotte’s students at Western New England College School of Law. Van Jones (Obama’s exiled green jobs czar) set the stage with this excellent video (below). And I followed up with a guided photo-tour of Springfield’s most dramatic built environment equity issues (environmental justice tourism!). Download the slideshow here (PDF, 11.5 MB).

UPDATE: My friend Bill Childs (see his WNEC “Blawg” here) alerted me that the commercial activity around the Basketball Hall of Fame is not all national chains. Onyx is owned by two local guys (WARNING: annoying music!), one of whom is a WNEC alum. And Max’s is a regional chain.

UPDATE: Relatedly, today’s NY Times piece, “Slumbering Pittsburgh neighborhood reawakens,” is about the revival of a Pittsburgh neighborhood (East Liberty). The article refers to a “community plan” that called for “attracting shoppers to a broader range of businesses than the aging mom-and-pop stores that remained, reviving the street grid, and creating jobs and better housing.” Big boxes are never neighborhood upgrades, but I couldn’t help but consider the possibilities of attracting national chains but requiring that they are scaled appropriately, located downtown, and pedestrian-friendly.

2010 Smith College International Women’s Day speaker: Maryann Mohamoud

Click to enlarge, download, or print.

Our own Maryann Mohamoud will be guiding a discussion and presenting her film, The Secret Pain, at the Mwangi Cultural Centre at Smith College next Wednesday, March 10th, at 4:30PM. All are welcome. Maryann is herself an FGM survivor, and a courageous advocate for African immigrants in Western Massachusetts. Maryann works with immigrant families who have recently arrived (and continue to arrive), as well as with the medical and human services community (where there are often substantial culture and knowledge gaps). To sample her work and perspectives while at The Springfield Institute, click here.

New research on bonds that create community, Feb. 17 youth training in Springfield (“Be a man”) [video]

This video is part of an effort by The Wildflowers Institute to understand the informal bonds that create community (“Making visible the invisible power of community,” 29 page PDF). If we understand these bonds in a particular community, we can strengthen them. If these bonds remain invisible, more formal efforts to improve a community may inadvertently severe these critical bonds and do more harm than good.

I showed this video to my friend, James Arana (photo below), at Men’s Resources International, and he had this to say: ”What a pleasure to have the gift of this young brother taking the time to reflect on what it means for him to move through his community. I can see the connection in his brilliant presentation how masculinity plays such a powerful role, and how he gets trapped every step of the way. I love how he grasps the big picture of the hyper male not having everyone’s best interest at heart.”

Starting on February 17th, James and some young residents of Springfield are leading a free two-day youth leadership training at Tapestry Health (365 Bay St., Springfield) called “Be a Man.” The training will emphasize new perspectives on violence prevention, healthy masculinity, and community activism. Two great lunches included. Click here for more details, or to register.

James Arana from Men's Resources International (right) with workshop graduate, Chris (left).

New research: Harlem Children’s Zone replication premature? [audio, video]

An article in the current issue of City Limits (“‘There is no science’: Canada’s philosophy“), and a Brian Lehrer WNYC interview with the article’s author and Paul Tough (whom I interviewed when he visited Springfield), evaluate Geoffrey Canada’s much-lauded work. The result: We won’t know how successful this intensive wrap-around approach is for another decade. That’s when the current cohort of young people graduate–or don’t graduate–from college. So the question becomes: Is the Obama Administration jumping the gun promoting HCZ replication nationally (especially given how dependent the model is on accountability and measurable results), or is this exactly the kind of bold and aggressive approach that can help break the cycle of poverty, close the achievement gap, and turn around urban America? Also check out the trailer below for the forthcoming movie, “The Lottery,” about education innovation and what’s at stake.

El Sol Latino – Feb 2010: Holyoke computing center, Latino political power in MA, & a new online home for El Sol

Pick up the new February issue of El Sol Latino, or download it here (16 page PDF), to find out: if the new Holyoke High Power Computer Center will actually benefit the Latino community that will host it; if a new wave of Latino leaders will be an emerging political force in MA; and if El Sol’s new online home is really as cool as it sounds (it is!).

Even though El Sol now has its own online home, we will continue to read it, write about it here, and think about other ways to collaborate. Thanks for your great work, Manuel!

Leighton Ku comes to SI to hear about MA health reform & community impact

Leighton Ku, a health policy researcher at George Washington University School of Public Health and a member of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, came to The Springfield Institute last week to learn more about the community impact of health reform in Massachusetts. The need for education, employer challenges, needle exchange, and minority workforce development were among the themes discussed. These video highlights from our conversation (below) include comments from José Claudio, Michael Denney, Vanessa Otero, Trevis Wray, Herbierto Flores, and me.

WRSI/WHMP & Ch40 cover policy course and biomass

Monte Belmonte from 93.9 The River (WRSI) ran a great interview (listen here) with me and two students discussing our course and biomass in Springfield. And Channel 40 (WGGB) joined us at our final class trip (Human Service Forum Legislative Breakfast), and provided another opportunity to reference biomass in Springfield (watch here).

Students take on 4 local and timely policy topics [video]

Have the posts on this site seemed a little sparse lately? I haven’t been slacking off. In fact, I’ve been busier than ever working with twenty-one students from Amherst College, UMass, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Oberlin in the context of a January term course on applied public policy. The group split into four policy teams, and recruited a “client organization” for each:

• The charter schools team linked up with the nascent Springfield Promise Neighborhood Committee
• The biomass team linked up with Arise for Social Justice’s biomass taskforce
• The food security team linked up with the Holyoke Health Center and the Holyoke Food and Fitness Policy Council
• The homelessness team linked up with Interfaith Housing Corporation in Amherst

We have been working hard to include a very diverse range of stakeholders (not just the client org itself), with an emphasis on underrepresented groups. And we have been using a variety of media in order to tell a compelling story. You can see what we’ve done in photos, videos, and words on our splashy course web site (a wiki, really). Students will present their work at a special event at Amherst College on February 4th at 5PM (reception at 4:30). All are welcome. RSVP here. The students have done amazing work,. We are excited about raising the level of debate, and broadening participation in the debate of these regionally relevant and timely issues (does that sound like a familiar objective?). Click on my face to see a CH40 snippet about the course, and here’s an interview by Monte Belmonte with me and two students that aired on WRSI and WHMP.