Transcript
Sessions:
Introduction and Opening Remarks
Panel #1: Perspectives on Locally Based Community Development
Panel #2: Passing the Torch: The Next Generation of Urban Problem Solvers
Luncheon Discussion: A Conversation on Solving the Urban Crisis
Panel #3: Global Approaches to Fighting the Urban Crisis
T. Mann:
I am delighted to welcome you to this conference on Solving the Urban Crisis Through Sustainable Community Development. I want you to know I consider it an honor and a privilege for Brookings to host this meeting of some of the most creative, dedicated and effective leaders of urban nonprofit organizations in the country. Their stories are compelling and the lessons that we might take from them are encouraging.
Now, this conference is an part of and a result of the hard work of one Dr. Joyce Ladner, who, with the support of the Kellogg Foundation, has been traveling the District of Columbia and the rest of the country meeting with leaders in urban areas trying to understand what makes it possible for them not just to create organizations, but to sustain them through difficult times, and to offer new hope and promise to neighborhoods that have faced very, very difficult times.
I'm happy to say Joyce Ladner, who was once president and vice president of academic affairs at Howard University is now a senior fellow in the governmental studies program here at Brookings. Joyce's most recent book is called The Ties That Bind: Timeless Values for African American Families. For those of you who haven't read it, all I can tell you is that you read it and you understand why Joyce has been out traveling the country and why she is so fundamentally optimistic about the task of dealing with, coping with, overturning one of the most difficult problems confronted by our cities.
With that, I'm happy to turn the podium over to Joyce Ladner.
[Applause]
J. Ladner: Good morning. Thank you very much, Tom.
I will make my remarks very brief because we're very fortunate to bring to talk to you today some of the most interesting people that you would ever want to hear talk. And I also want to say that this meeting is being telecast throughout the building on our in-house television circuit.
I want to welcome you to this conference on solving the urban crisis. We have, indeed, chosen an ambitious theme, recognizing that the very definition of the urban crisis varies from one person to another. And over the past year, we've conducted a project here at Brookings that essentially boils down to two words, and that is, what works.
We sought out individuals, most of the people who are speaking here today have been interviewed by us, who are working in urban, mostly nonprofit-based, community-based organizations, some like the public school systems, or not working the nonprofit sector. They are persons who, for the most part, have developed effective methods to fix some of these problems. We've talked to them in-depth and we've observed their strategies at work. We've talked to others about them. We've read everything that's been published about them practically. We've seen the successes they've been able to achieve through the sheer dint of their efforts, despite the daunting problems they grapple with each day, with inadequate funding, with policy barriers, small staffs, and an overall scarcity of resources. What is remarkable is that they have also figured out how to remain afloat. And in many cases to grow their organizations and have their methods replicated in other places.
Our purpose here today is two-fold. First, we want to introduce you to some of the most highly effective problem-solvers working in communities across the country. And as they talk about their work, our hope is that you will gain a greater appreciation of the complexities of the problems that they grapple with from day to day. We also hope that some of you who are working in similar areas will be able to replicate some of their methods in your own work as they are appropriate.
A second purpose, which is one of my very personal interests, is to search for ways for the critical skills and knowledge of these innovators to be passed on to the next generation of leaders.
Today, we will also hear from some of the young leaders themselves on the second panel. They will tell us about the organizations they've started, or that they work in, the policy issues they focus on, how they navigate the public policy barriers, and then propose solutions for solving these problems as they ascend, in many cases, to the helm of organizational leadership. Some of them have already started their own organizations.
We're focusing here today on sustainable development because these individuals have made the priorities to develop policies and programs that are tipped to ensure permanency to the greatest extent that is possible in this day and age. They are targeting their efforts on developing information that, while improving human welfare, will allow the changes to be long-lasting through the most efficient and responsible use of scarce resources. And, to the extent possible, to ensure the viability for future generations.
There is no single definition, as we'll soon learn, of what constitutes the urban crisis, as you will hear from these individuals, their views range from viewing it as basically a spiritual crisis of a lapse in the moral fiber of the nation to a more structure approach that focuses on the institutional forces as causative factors. These include concrete problems such as income disparity, lack of quality education, flight of the middle class from central cities, lack of marketable skills and affordable housing, safe communities, and I could go on and on.
What is important is that we're confronting barriers in the opportunity structure of the society that have life-long consequences for many citizens. Middle class and poor alike have an equal stake in finding solutions to the plethora of problems affecting urban residents from infancy to elderly. Moreover, many of the traditional methods for solving these problems have proven to be ineffective. This, combined with the absence of a coherent set of effective national urban policies, exacerbates the problems, making it even more difficult for these social change leaders, who work in the trenches each day to be effective.
Critics of urban reform, in some cases, argue that past structures have been built on an ad hoc basis, rarely having the permanency required to be long-lasting. That the reforms have been segmented, that there has been little sharing of information and resources with others operating similar undertakings. Residents of inner city communities are suffering the consequences of the devolution of government, corporate restructuring and downsizing. The increasing focus on regional issues, which also is an advantage, and a service sector economy requiring much more highly skilled than many of them are.
So that some of the issues that we will address today is how to develop effective leadership in these communities that can operate with new paradigms. Effective leaders, I think, will be those persons who can formulate solutions based on these new realities. They'll be required to develop strategies and methods about what works and why. They will have to increase capacity through alliances and partnerships with a broader range of stakeholders, from government to business, from other nonprofits, from individuals, and the like.
They will also have to increase capital through increasingly raise capital through private sources, while maintaining whatever public support they can continue to garner. Hence, the issues we will grapple with today are, how do we rebuild the foundation of our schools, of our playgrounds and community centers? How do we link neighborhoods with regional economies? How do we develop an integrated systems approach to family intervention by working with family, school, workplace, and the other intersecting institutions that impact people's lives? How do we, in one case, us algebraic formulas, as in The Algebra Project, to teach self-esteem and personal empowerment, community organizing and citizenship, as well as marketable skills? How do we, as one of our speakers, Lloyd Smith, says, take a problem apart, fix it and put it back together one block at a time?
These are just some of the issues that our speakers will focus on. In the main, they will tell us what works, what does not, and how they've been able to sustain themselves and their programs in the space of scarce resources and other difficulties. There are also a number of public policy questions to be considered as well. For example, what are the proper relationships between nonprofit leaders and their organizations, and the new procedures for governing? What is the optimal relationship between government and the voluntary sector in which the leaders operate? What is the role of nonprofit leadership in seeking allies to alleviate poverty? What is the proper role of nonprofit leaders in seeking access to the decision-making structures that have an impact on the constituents they serve? To what extent is or should cultural diversity be a factor in these leadership paradigms?
The leaders who will speak to you today have begun this tedious process of rebuilding neighborhoods, of eliminating maternal addiction, providing high quality public education to children in economically distressed areas, and showing that they can get higher test scores than anyone would ever expect of them. Designing innovative charter schools to serve those children who have been adjudicated by the courts or, as in one case, organizing the very first inner city boarding school in the nation, which is here in Washington. They've devised methods to stimulate economic development in areas where others refuse to invest. They've assisted public housing residents in eliminating gang activity and drugs.
Our preliminary findings are hopeful, some of which are the following: First of all, I want to say that the prevailing notion that young people are stricken with apathy is absolutely wrong. We found just the opposite. There is a tremendous amount of community activism among our younger generation today. Perhaps the reason it is not recognized so easily is because it is wearing a different hat. And also, there is no large social movement that would propel them to a lot of high visibility.
Secondly, there is a clear interconnectedness between race, housing, education, safety and jobs. Compartmentalizing these issues and problems will not lead to effective results.
Thirdly, neighborhood economies are clearly linked to regional economies. Creation of artificial boundaries makes for ineffectiveness.
Fourth, smaller nonprofit organizations have to turn to private funding sources oftentimes due to the bureaucratic quagmire that's demanded of them as a prerequisite to receiving public funds.
The next finding is that when the bar is raised high, people jump higher to reach it. We will find here that high expectations, like Thaddeus Lott from Houston will tell you, when you expect a lot, and tell children that you expect a lot of them, you get the high quality results.
Next is that the problems affecting families and children can rarely be solved outside the context of the communities of which they are a part.
And certainly due to the internships and aggressive outreach programs, the younger generation is beginning to be in positions of responsibility and leadership in social change organizations. However, it is becoming apparent that these same organizations will need staff who have very specific and specialized skill sets in order to be effective today.
Complex problems require long-term institutionalized solutions. This residual or Band-aid method that we've used so often in the past simply masks the problem, but does not get to the source of it.
And, finally, I would say that training that is continuous, high quality, and focused is necessary to ensure that staff perform at their peak performance.
Our program will consist of three panel discussions. The first will address perspectives on locally-based community development. The second is the panel on young leaders, it's called Passing The Torch: The Next Generation of Urban Problem Solvers. After which we'll break for lunch, and we will have a conversation on the urban crisis, on solving the urban crisis. Our senior fellow E.J. Dionne here at Brookings will be the moderator, and Robert Woodson, the founder and president of National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise; Bruce Katz, who is director of our own Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy here at Brookings will be the speakers in a dialogue. We will re-gather here again at 1:30 for the third panel that looks at broader, more global approaches to fighting the urban crisis.
At this time, I would like to introduce my colleague and friend, Isabel Sawhill, who is a senior fellow, economist, and who occupies the very prestigious Johnson Chair on Urban Policy here at Brookings, and who has a wonderful long-term program here on child welfare issues that she is focusing on. She will serve as moderator, and then I would like to invite the other people on the first panel to come to the podium, please.
Thank you very much.