A generation ago, a documentary revealed an unseen housing crisis in Houston
URBAN EDGE : April 23, 2023
In 1979, a documentary filmmaker and an architect trained both of their lenses on Houston’s housing crisis. The result was a film that could have easily been made today, as housing costs, inflation and demographic change continue to reshape the region. It is also a film that demands a second viewing.
Education leader Ruth Simmons ponders what's next for diversity, equity and inclusion
URBAN EDGE : April 16, 2023
With publicly-funded state universities eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion as part of the hiring process, and proposed legislation targeted at other DEI policies in higher education, private institutions have an opportunity—and an obligation—to respond, Ruth J. Simmons said at the Kinder Institute Forum on Wednesday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
New research is helping Houston get its arms around the needs of students and families
URBAN EDGE : January 27, 2023
Recent findings by the Kinder Institute’s Houston Education Research Consortium indicate that mental health services, food and housing are among the greatest non-instructional needs for students in the Houston Independent School District. HERC, HISD and local partners are looking to find more ways to bridge resources within the community to meet these needs.
Historic Tamina community’s $21 million water deal comes at another cost
URBAN EDGE : January 11, 2023
James Leveston has been fighting for more than 20 years to bring basic public services to the Montgomery County community of Tamina, where he’s lived for most of his life. Late last year, he went door to door asking his neighbors if they would support a deal with the nearby city of Shenandoah to provide water and sewer service. About 150 of the 190 affected households agreed, he said.
Greener Gulfton effort plants seeds for alleviating neighborhood's nature inequity
URBAN EDGE : November 16, 2022
In August of 2020, a heat mapping campaign identified Gulfton as the hottest neighborhood in Houston. The effort, co-led by The Nature Conservancy and the Houston Advanced Research Center, indicated that the southwest Houston neighborhood was 17 degrees warmer than the coolest neighborhood measured. A community-driven plan, “Greener Gulfton,” seeks to decrease the sweltering temperature, while adding an array of benefits to the immigrant-rich area that 45,000 residents call home.
Accountability, capacity building and collaboration key to a healthier Settegast
URBAN EDGE : October 25, 2022
Settegast’s estimated life expectancy of 65.7 years, more than 20 years lower than the highest expectancies in Clear Lake and River Oaks, makes it among the most vulnerable communities in our area. While residents of the historically Black neighborhood in northeast Houston have called out inequities over the course of several decades, those concerns have mostly gone unheeded. But there is hope that change is coming.
Stephen Klineberg: A retrospective
URBAN EDGE : May 3, 2022
Houston understands itself a little more clearly thanks to 40 years of insight from this Rice social psychologist turned urban visionary.