Black community, the moment to value ourselves is now
“One callous white police officer convicted does not signal the demise of anti-Blackness. Her talons are embedded deeply in this nation’s flesh. It is like putting a $100 down payment on a $100 million house. It is progress, but you might want to hold off on scheduling the housewarming party.”
Coming out of the pandemic, how can cities counter 2020’s sharp rise in homicides?
Among 34 large cities studied, homicide rates increased almost 30% last year, compared to 2019. Reasons for the shocking spike relate in large part to the pandemic and its societal impacts, but the killing of George Floyd may have been a contributing factor as well. Evidence-based approaches and committed elected officials will be key to reducing violent crime in American cities going forward.
These 3 Houston-area cities have the highest minority homeownership rates in the US
A new study shows large, small and midsize cities with the highest — and lowest — minority homeownership rates. The No. 1 city in the U.S. is a Houston suburb.
Repairing the urban fabric torn apart by highways in America
How rebuilding freeways has helped heal mid-20th-century transportation scars in cities like San Francisco, Dallas, Syracuse and Washington, D.C., along with a cautionary tale from Houston.
Mapping inequity in Houston’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout
Like many resources in Houston, access to the COVID-19 vaccine is concentrated on the west side of the city, while the greatest need and impact of the disease is concentrated among the residents on the east side.
A data-driven approach to combating food insecurity worsened by COVID-19
In August, Urban Harvest launched its mobile market to bring healthy and affordable food options to underserved areas with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The nonprofit collaborated with the Kinder Institute’s Houston Community Data Connections to create a data-based decision support tool that helps ensure the mobile market is being dispatched to areas of Houston where residents need it the most.
House Bill 5 may create separate and unequal college paths for Texas students
Differences in course requirements across endorsements appear to provide some students a more direct path to selective four-year colleges and universities than other endorsements. What can school districts in Texas do to help students and families deal with these discrepancies?
An economist makes the case for school integration
Contrary to popular opinion, efforts to integrate schools in the 1970s and 1980s were overwhelmingly successful, says economist Rucker C. Johnson. Johnson argues that we must renew our commitment to integration for the sake of all Americans.
Mapping low-income displacement and poverty concentration in Houston
An examination of neighborhood change in America’s 50 largest metropolitan areas shows decline and poverty concentration are bigger problems than gentrification in most cities. Some, including Houston, struggle with both.
Race determines home values more today than it did in 1980
New research shows that 50 years after laws were put in place to stop the use of race in real estate appraisals, homes in neighborhoods of color are still being undervalued.
To tackle pandemic racism, we need to take action, not just take to social media
Our public transportation systems were built on a foundation of racism, and the only way to truly fix them may be to raze them and rebuild from the ground up.
What transit equity means to a transit-dependent rider in a car-centric city
Janis Scott cares deeply about transit equity. Known in the community as the “Bus Lady,” Scott has been riding METRO all of her life and considers public transit her lifeline to the world.
What transit agencies get wrong about equity, and how to get it right
All transit agencies must grapple with committing the resources necessary to effectively identify inequity and address it. In 2020, the mandate to ensure an equitable transportation system is more urgent than ever.
Racism has shaped public transit, and it’s riddled with inequities
From funding, planning and infrastructure, to design and policing, many transit agencies essentially have built two systems with different standards for “choice” and “dependent” riders (that is to say white and Black).
To ensure Houston ISD schools don’t miss out on important census-guided funding in the next decade, there needs to be a full and accurate local population count. Unfortunately, the city’s self-response rate trails that of the nation by close to 10%. And on top of that, the counting is now set to end a month earlier than originally planned.
Rice University
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