1. Does Context Matter: Economic Development and Black Displacement
Brandi Blessett
2011 NASPAA Annual Conference
Does Context Matter: Economic Development and Black Displacement

2. Revised NASPAA Standards
Diversity is addressed in a variety of ways:
Promote a climate of inclusiveness
Recruit and retain diverse faculty and students
Enhance educational experiences and cultural interactions of students
Student outcomes
Ability to communicate and interact with a changing workforce and citizenry

3. 2010 Census Data Population changes
Latinos - 16%
African Americans - 13%
Asians - 5%
US Census reports by 2050, African Americans, Asians, and Latinos will make up 50% of the population
Revised standards were released just at the latest 2010 Census numbers revealed drastic demographic changes
Such changes should encourage the need for a more racially diverse faculty and student population, therefore it is imperative to emphasize the need to have culturally competent public administrators

4. Demonstrating Capacity
Competencies indicate the necessary effort for a task or activity to be performed successfully (Daley, 2012).
Minimum requirements for a job
Identifies the essential skills, knowledge, and abilities (SKA) for effectiveness
Encompass results
Ultimately, cultural competencies would help students understand how race is used to frame discussions of participation, service delivery, accountability, and transparency
Next, I will discuss three cases (e.g. Baltimore, Miami, and Cape Town)… from a historical point of view, these case studies reveal administrative actions and the subsequent outcomes that disproportionately burdened racial and ethnic minorities.
These actions provide insightful lessons for public administration students to prevent similar types of injustices from reoccurring.

5. Environment
Enabler
Strategies
Interstate Highway System of 1956
Housing Act of 1949
Accumulate land
Route highways
Use eminent domain
Site public housing locations
Racism
Business expansion
Secure profits
Attract capital investments
Displacement
Neighborhood destruction
Re-segregation
New Deal Culture
Urban Deterioration
Blight
Disinvestment
Substandard housing
Economic growth/
Business expansion
Public investment
Public- private partnerships
Outcomes
Housing Act of 1937
Within the American context, this is a conceptual model that represents urban redevelopment and its impact on African American mobility…essentially re-segregation.
Each of these policies were implemented differently in each community, but ultimately the outcomes remained the same.

6. Baltimore, Maryland Phases of economic development Outcomes
Public housing: push-pull
Urban renewal: complete dispossession
Outcomes
>25,000 people displaced (90% African American)
Reorganization of people and space
In response to the need for more quality and affordable housing options,
Public housing: contributed to voluntary movement to due its location….dictate where AA could live based on the site locations of public housing facilities for AA families -- help attract AA to more desired locations
Urban renewal: completely leveled whole communities (e.g. both impoverished and stable AA communities) – consider the communal ties…while these neighborhoods were physically deteriorating, they were vibrant and maintained the core institutions for AAs

7. Miami, Florida Economic development Outcomes Public housing: push-pull
Transportation: neighborhood destruction
Outcomes
>35,000 families displaced
Fulfill racial desires ‘remove every Negro family from the city limits’

8. Cape Town, South Africa Apartheid system Public policies Outcomes
Group Areas Act
Removal, relocation, restricted movement, limited access to public facilities
Outcomes
>4 million people displaced
Financially and psychologically damaging to families
Racial hierarchy: Europeans, Coloured, Asians, and Africans
I was just in Cape Town last year and visited the District Six museum.

9. Cultural Competencies
Understand personal bias regarding racial and ethnic minorities
Acknowledge the historical context of administrative actions with regard to minority populations
Heather mentioned yesterday the ‘implicit association tests’
(e.g. institutional racism/discrimination) – FHA and HUD
Citizen review boards (e.g. meaningful or symbolic) – Social, economic, and political capital

10. Competencies (cont’d)
Recognize power and privilege relationships and its implications for underrepresented groups
Value the experiences and contributions of racial and ethnic minorities
Issues of transparency, accountability, and participation
It doesn’t help that in Texas, the contributions of AA and Latinos have been taken out of the history books

11. Conclusions Creates awareness
Provides real-world examples of past injustices
Highlights the role of the administrator