LibGuides: Commodore Conversations 2021: The American Dream: Zip Code Destiny or Decision

Panel Description

Session Description: Does where you are born and where you reside dictate your access to the American Dream? Raj Chetty, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, looked at this in his research. Using big data, he developed the Opportunity Atlas which examines questions such as, “Which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty?” Locally, we are fortunate to have economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, including Dr. Dionissi Aliprantis, who are working to better understand the barriers to economic inclusion within our neighborhoods.

Panelists:

Dr. Marcia Ballinger, President of Lorain County Community College

Dr. Jonathan Dryden, Provost/VP for Academic Affairs & University Partnerships

Ms. Tracy Green, VP, Strategic and Institutional Development

Dr. Marisa Vernon White, VP, Enrollment Management & Student Services

Mr. Jonathan Volpe, VP, Administrative Services & Treasurer

Online Resources

The Opportunity Atlas
Which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty? The Opportunity Atlas answers this question using anonymous data following 20 million Americans from childhood to their mid-30s. Now you can trace the roots of today's affluence and poverty back to the neighborhoods where people grew up.
Opportunity Insights
Opportunity Insights is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization based at Harvard University which conducts scientific research using “big data” on how to improve upward mobility and work collaboratively with local stakeholders to translate these research findings into policy change.

The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment

Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence F. Katz

The End of the American Dream? Inequality and Segregation in US Cities

Alessandra Fogli, Veronica Guerrieri

The Racial Wealth Gap and Access to Opportunity Neighborhoods

Dionissi Aliprantis, Daniel R. Carroll, Eric Young

Library Resources

Coming of Age in the Other America by Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lamber, Kathryn Edin; Susan Clampet-Lundquist
ISBN: 9780871544650
Publication Date: 2016
Recent research on inequality and poverty has shown that those born into low-income families, especially African Americans, still have difficulty entering the middle class, in part because of the disadvantages they experience living in more dangerous neighborhoods, going to inferior public schools, and persistent racial inequality.
Surrogate Suburbs by Todd M. Michney
ISBN: 9781469631943
Publication Date: 2017
In this history of Cleveland's black middle class, Todd Michney uncovers the creative ways that members of this nascent community established footholds in areas outside the overcrowded, inner-city neighborhoods to which most African Americans were consigned.
Neighborhood and Life Chances by Harriet B. Newburger; Eugenie L. Birch; Susan M. Wachter
ISBN: 9780812242584
Publication Date: 2011
Does the place where you lived as a child affect your health as an adult? To what degree does your neighbor's success influence your own potential? The importance of place is increasingly recognized in urban research as an important variable in understanding individual and household outcomes. Place matters in education, physical health, crime, violence, housing, family income, mental health, and discrimination--issues that determine the quality of life, especially among low-income residents of urban areas. Available through OhioLINK.
Invisible Child : Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott
ISBN: 9780812986969
Publication Date: 2021
By the time Dasani Coates comes of age in the twenty-first century, New York City's homeless crisis is exploding amid the growing chasm between rich and poor. In the shadows of this new Gilded Age, Dasani must lead her seven siblings through a thicket of problems: hunger, parental addiction, violence, housing instability, pollution, segregated schools, and the constant monitoring of the child-protection system. When, at age thirteen, Dasani enrolls at a boarding school in Pennsylvania, her loyalties are tested like never before.
Available through OhioLINK.
The Voucher Promise by Eva Rosen
ISBN: 9780691172569
Publication Date: 2020
An in-depth look at America's largest rental assistance program and how it shapes the lives of residents in one low-income Baltimore neighborhood.
Available through OhioLINK.

Audio

Fessler, P. (2019, August 5). In Seattle, a move across town could be a path out of poverty, [Audio]. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2019/08/05/747610085/in-seattle-a-move-across-town-could-be-a-path-out-of-poverty

Vedantam, S. (2018, November 12). Zipcode destiny: The persistent power of place and education, [Audio]. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/12/666993130/zipcode-destiny-the-persistent-power-of-place-and-education