Welcome to the PRRAC Update!  Every other Thursday, PRRAC sends out a brief digest of news, recent publications, and other points of interest related to our work in housing, education, and health. We welcome feedback and encourage you to forward to others. To join the PRRAC email list, click here.    

HUD's "Choice Neighborhoods Initiative" has improved upon the old HOPE VI public housing redevelopment program by providing one-for-one replacement of lost public housing units, and guaranteeing a right to return to the new development for most residents.  However, the new program is still lagging behind in expanding housing choices for relocated residents outside of segregated areas, both during the initial relocation process, and in the location of off site replacement housing.   Dr. Martha Galvez did an initial survey of the program's progress in our latest Program Review.  

Dept of Ed avoids integration again:  In a classic display of bureaucratic prose, the Department of Education has once again refused to prioritize school diversity in one of its important competitive grant programs, "Investing in Innovation."  The Department continues to pour money into deeply segregated schools and seems unaware of its responsibility to help states and local districts ameliorate conditions of stark poverty concentration and racial isolation.  We will continue to work with the National Coalition on School Diversity on this important issue, but our frustration is increasing - we were expecting better in the Obama administration's second term.  See the coalition's comments here - and the Department's responses here (p. 18684).

Other News and Resources:  

Save the date:  Building One America National Summit - July 18-19 in Washington, D.C. - "Building Inclusive, Middle Class Communities and Economically Competitive, Environmentally Sustainable Regions" - for more information and registration go to www.buildingoneamerica.org/summit.  

Philip Tegeler

Poverty & Race Research Action Council

Washington, DC