Black Middle Neighborhoods in Legacy Cities: Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies-- Part One: Challenges and Opportunities

Co-sponsored by the Middle Neighborhoods Community of Practice and the Center for Community Progress

Twenty years ago, most older American cities had many predominantly African-American ‘middle neighborhoods’—solid working- and middle-class, mostly single family, owner-occupied neighborhoods. Since then, large numbers of these neighborhoods have been hit hard by subprime lending and foreclosures, suburban flight, and the effects of the ‘segregation tax’ created by a racially segmented market. The session will explore the history of the Black middle neighborhood in America’s legacy cities, the forces impeding their success, and the implications of their unequal recovery on the wealth of Black households and the health of cities.

 

Presenters:

• Alan Mallach: Alan is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Community Progress and has written several recent research papers on Black middle neighborhoods in legacy cities for the Middle Neighborhoods Community of Practice and others. He is a former Housing Director for the City of Trenton, New Jersey.

• Nedra Sims Fears: Nedra is the Executive Director of the Greater Chatham Initiative, which serves four Black middle neighborhoods in Chicago. She is also a member of the National Middle Neighborhoods Steering Committee, and the Co-Chair of the Middle Neighborhoods Community of Practice. 

Learn more about the Middle Neighborhoods initiative at middleneighborhoods.org

 

Join us for Middle Neighborhoods 101:  If you would like to learn more about middle neighborhoods in general and the Middle Neighborhoods Community of Practice, join us at 11:00 EDT the same day for Middle Neighborhoods 101.  JOIN Middle Neighborhoods 101 HERE.

***This is not a Midway Chamber event and we are not the organizers***