Living Cities is very excited to announce the release of a new paper “State of the City: 5 Trends Impacting America’s Cities” that outlines some dominant trends that we believe will impact America’s cities and their low-income communities in the coming years; explores the trends’ interconnectedness, and offers our thoughts on how to address some of our most serious challenges.

Over the last several years, Living Cities has been committed to fundamentally adapting how we work in an effort to keep pace with the changing world. Through new partnerships and initiatives, we’re actively learning what drives our cities and what creates enduring systems change. In 2012, as we looked towards the next three-year round of our work (2013-2016), we began earnestly talking to our problem solving network—from our 22 member institutions, to our grantees, partners, and other influential individuals and organizations—to better understand the social and economic climate in which we are working.

In addition to these ongoing conversations, we partnered with McKinsey & Co. to conduct an environmental scan. This analysis was designed to feed into our strategic review process, and to synthesize and crystallize existing knowledge about the state of American cities that could be shared with the field as we develop next generation systems change approaches.

After analyzing the results of the scan, it was evident that continued municipal fiscal strain, inadequate infrastructure, poor educational outcomes, the much discussed skills/jobs mismatch, and the struggling housing market are issues that will greatly affect our cities, and low-income communities in particular, over the next four to five years. The full analysis can be found here.

We are dedicated to sharing what we are learning, and as part of our problem-solving network, we know that you have an important role to play in that. So, we would love for you to share this paper and to join the conversation on social media about these and other trends and responses that you are seeing.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Living Cities recently held a webinar exploring research by the Urban Institute, commissioned by Living Cities, focused on the Sustainable Communities Partnership and the implications of its experience for those working to break down public sector silos.

Media Related to the webinar is available for download below.

• Webinar recording
• Slides
• The Webinar in Tweets
• Urban Institute: Can Federal Programs Advance Federal and Local De-Siloing? (Full Report)
• Urban Institute: Can Federal Programs Advance Federal and Local De-Siloing? (Brief)

Thanks to our speakers, Rolf Pendall, Director of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at Urban Institute, and Catherine Cox-Blair, Program Director at Reconnecting America.

Tweet reactions or questions @tamirnovotny with the hashtag #silobusting.

There is a lot in the news these days about the U.S. criminal justice system, from protests of ‘stop and frisk’ policies to a much discussed new study from The American Civil Liberties Union that found that while marijuana use between blacks and whites is about even, blacks were almost four times more likely to get arrested for possession in 2010. Despite the volume of information and chatter out there, the extraordinary burden that this places on us as a nation is not often clearly articulated.

In 2012, Living Cities began asking ourselves and our problem solving network—from our 22 member institutions, to our grantees, partners, and other influential organizations, practitioners and innovators—what the big ‘levee issues’ of our time are. The question was originally posed by Ronn Richard, President & CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, at a gathering of our Board of Directors: “If the nation had identified and addressed the weaknesses of the levees in New Orleans before they broke, we wouldn’t be working so hard for the past six years to address the fallout from their failure.” We committed ourselves to working to identify those issues that unless addressed would leave all of our efforts to create opportunities for low- income people and improve the cities where they live ‘under water’.

Today, the U.S. incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world, both on a per capita basis and in terms of total prison population. More than 500,000 of the 2.3 million people in America’s prisons are behind bars for nonviolent drug offences. And, this reality disproportionately affects communities of color and low- income people. Sixty five out of every hundred men of color in America face incarceration during their lifetimes. On their own, these are sobering statistics. When you unpack them to reveal how mass incarceration is ravaging families and entire communities, it quickly becomes clear that this is a levee issue, and that the levee is crumbling fast.

While social change organizations like ours are working to increase access to quality education and connect people to economic opportunities that are pathways out of poverty, incarceration can impede and sometimes reverse the trajectory of a low- income person. A recent Pew report shows that ex-offenders get stuck in the lowest earnings bracket and see annual earnings reduced by 40 percent. Further, a criminal record, even for nonviolent offenders, restricts access to opportunities such as jobs, education, housing, social services, and even the right to vote. In this way, boys and men of color are being excluded from economic, social, and political life in shocking numbers. These issues are compounded when you consider the residual impact that incarceration has on children. These children have higher rates of social-emotional issues, higher dropout rates, and are more likely to become offenders themselves. This trend is a huge contributor to multi-generational poverty. In short, much of the work that is being done to address inequality and reduce poverty will never reach these families because even people with minor convictions, such as for marijuana possession, must check a box on applications for jobs, student loans, and food stamps that will in many cases render them ineligible.

Mass incarceration is a levee issue because it leaves too many low-income people and their families, under water. It is a levee issue because failure to address it will have severe implications for the social and economic future of our country. Living Cities has joined a philanthropic alliance dedicated to addressing this and other problems facing boys and men of color. And, next week, our Admiral Center is bringing together artists and cultural leaders to discuss the issues at a strategic convening in New York. Stay tuned for ideas and insights from this early exploration.

Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Creating livable communities near quality public transit that improve the lives of low-income people by connecting them to opportunities and services.

As we continue to explore new facets of Equitable TOD, we want to share our lessons learned along the way. In particular, we have learned about how to incorporate ‘equity’, what the role of a collaborative table is, and how to deploy capital all in support of Equitable TOD efforts. The lessons summarized below highlight our principal takeaways from these areas of work. For more depth, you can download a longer document here.

The ‘Equity’ in Equitable TOD

Living Cities believes that Equitable TOD strategies need to be intentional about maximizing benefit and minimizing harm to low-income communities. Our experience suggests:

1. To maximize the benefits of Equitable TOD, you need a vision that extends beyond neighborhood surrounding any single station. A corridor or network perspective will allow for more comprehensive access to opportunities and services in a more cost-efficient manner.
2. The disruption construction causes can be mitigated through proper planning & appropriate support to the affected communities
3. Connecting Equitable TOD to business growth and job creation is a critical component of the work.

Collaborative Table

Living Cities believes that implementation of Equitable TOD strategies is significantly advanced by bringing leaders from the business, government, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors together to collaborate in setting and achieving a collective Equitable TOD agenda. Our experience suggests:

1. To be successful, stakeholders need a shared vision of Equitable TOD
2. Convening new stakeholders around an Equitable TOD table is challenging
3. Regional transit and land use decisions impact local implementation of Equitable TOD

Equitable TOD Finance

Living Cities believes that appropriate financing products are an important tool for moving Equitable TOD forward. Traditional financing products and processes need to be adjusted to incorporate for Equitable TOD goals that go beyond affordable housing development and recognize the market challenges of Equitable TOD development. Our experience suggests:

1. Issues with closing and deploying capital are often an early indicator of other “non-capital” problems such as policy, public sector engagement and capacity.
2. A structured fund is not a one-size-fits-all solution for facilitating private investment in Equitable TOD.
3. Conventional financial products do not adequately support Equitable TOD strategies, but public sector entities can play a critical role in forming new financial products