SAVE THE DATE – NCSD’s Fifth National Conference on School Integration will be held on March 26-27, in Washington, DC. The conference (the largest cross-sector school integration convening in the nation) provides a space for parents, students, educators, researchers, advocates, activists, policymakers and other supporters to coalesce around a shared commitment to integrated education. Attendees exchange best practices, generate tools and ideas to promote school diversity initiatives in their communities, and build supportive relationships. More information here.
School integration advances in the House: This week twelve members of the Congressional Black Caucus have joined with 35 other members of the House to co-sponsor the Strength in Diversity Act (HR # 2639), which would authorize a competitive grants program to support state and local school integration efforts (similar to Secretary John King’s “Opening Doors” grant program that was canceled by Secretary DeVos).
Children and the Trump Administration: next week, the House Committee Oversight and Reform and four of its subcommittees will hold an in-depth, two-day series of hearings to examine the negative effects of regulations proposed by the Trump Administration relating to children’s poverty, housing, hunger, and health. The housing hearing, which will assess the proposed demolition of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, is titled “A Threat to America’s Children: The Trump Administration’s Proposal to Gut Fair Housing Accountability” (Wednesday, February 5, 2020, 2 p.m. at 2154 Rayburn House Office Building)
Other Resources
Changing school demographics: The Urban Institute has released an impressive new interactive data tool that tracks changes in racial/ethnic enrollment in every public school in the U.S. from 1989 to 2016.
Child Opportunity Index 2.0: The Brandeis-based DiversityDataKids group has released its newly updated version of the Child Opportunity Index, a comprehensive multifactor national mapping tool that helps to highlight disparities in conditions across neighborhoods affecting child health, educational achievement, and long term outcomes. We use the COI in our housing mobility work to help identify well-resourced neighborhoods where families with vouchers have historically been excluded. DiversityDataKids has also put out a report to accompany the updated index, The Geography of Child Opportunity: Why Neighborhoods Matter for Equity.
Funding opportunity – research on responses to homelessness: The Poverty Action Lab at MIT has issued a call for proposals to organizations working to address homelessness who are interested in participating in studies of the impacts of their programs – see the call for proposals here.
