HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SUBTRACK

SUB-TRACK DESCRIPTION

The three-part set of courses use U.S. and state/city policies, politics, and programs as the central context and learning foci, while also making significant use of New York City case studies. They emphasize the role of non-profits in housing and community development, as well as course modules on federal policy-making as it affects local options and funding patterns. Among the issues addressed in these courses are such timely concerns as: city-neighborhood linkages and dependencies; the demographic and housing market trajectories of neighborhoods (e.g. gentrification); housing foreclosures and the loss of equity; and a host of planning tools and data sets including research on urban program effectiveness (e.g. the federal Moving to Opportunity program). Also included are issues of green development and sustainability, with a particular focus on governmental regulation and environmental policies. It is relevant to note that a number of non-profit housing groups in NYC, such as the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation and Phipps Houses, as well as some for-profit developers and intermediaries like the Enterprise Foundation, have stressed the importance of environmentally responsible and affordable design and housing development. – Professor John Goering

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

PAF 9141: Community Development: History, Present, and Future *Beginning Fall 2010

This course will trace the history of the community development movement in the United States, from approximately 1960 to the present, and consider the possibilities of the movement’s future. Students will examine the complex economic, political, and social context that gave rise to the idea of community development, and then follow the successes and challenges in the field over its nearly fifty-year history.

PAF 9142: Housing Policy *Beginning Fall 2010

This course serves as a gateway to the field of housing and community development, and gives the student the background necessary to become informed participants in policy analyses and debates over the future of housing policy at both national and local levels.

PAF 9143: “Greening” and Growing Cities: Sustainability and Public Policy Choices *Beginning Fall 2011

This course focuses on environmental policies as they relate to cities and sustainable growth. It will critically examine current policies and programs at the national and local levels, with particular attention paid to sustainability programs and proposals in New York City.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Together these three courses constitute a “sub-track” in housing and community development. Students who take all three courses can declare a Housing & Community Development Sub-track within the MPA. Others following the Nonprofit, Policy Analysis, or Public Management tracks can use 2 of the three courses to satisfy track requirements, and the third would be used as a “Free” elective. Students will also have the flexibility to take any, all or none of these electives as part of their MPA.

FACULTY BIOS

Hilary Botein's research focuses on the development of low income housing and community development policies and programs in the U.S. She has a particular interest in the relationship between labor unions and housing policies, as well as how housing policies address the needs of vulnerable populations. Prior to her academic career, she worked for eighteen years as an attorney and policy analyst on affordable housing and economic justice issues, primarily in New York City, including positions as a legal services lawyer representing low income tenants and tenant associations, as a manager at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and as coordinator of the Housing First! Advocacy campaign. She received her Ph.D. from the Division of Urban Planning at Columbia University, her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, and her B.A. from Swarthmore College.

John Goering received his Ph.D. from Brown University, Ph.D. in sociology and demography. He is the several dozen articles as well as editor or author of several books including, The Best Eight Blocks in Harlem; Housing Desegregation and Federal Policy; Mortgage Lending, Racial Discrimination and Federal Policy. He received Ford Foundation, Fannie Mae Foundation, and HUD funding for a national conference on the state of fair housing research and policy. The findings from this conference were published as, Fragile Rights within Cities, by Rowman & Littlefield in 2007. His next book is, Moving to Opportunity: The Story of an American Experiment to Fight Ghetto Poverty, co-authored with Prof. Xavier Briggs, from MIT, and Dr. Susan Popkin, of the Urban Institute and will be published later in 2009 by Oxford University Press. He has served on the editorial boards’ of the Urban Affairs Review, New Community, Housing Studies, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

His current research is on sustainability and urban development. He presented a paper in June 2009 at an APPAM conference in Seoul on the conference topic of Environmental Policy.

Nicole Marwell is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and is a faculty affiliate of Baruch’s Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management. Prior to beginning her academic career, Dr. Marwell worked in the field of nonprofits and philanthropy; she spent several years as a staff member at New York’s Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, and then worked as a staff member or consultant at the AT&T Foundation, the Levi Strauss Foundation, and Nike. Dr. Marwell received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago in 2000. She has published articles in the American Sociological Review, Qualitative Sociology, and the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and is a member of the Editorial Board ofContemporary Sociology. Dr. Marwell’s 2007 book, from the University of Chicago Press, is entitled Bargaining for Brooklyn: Community Organizations in the Entrepreneurial City. Her current research includes a new book on the Latino middle class, and an analysis of government contracting to nonprofit organizations thatis supported by the National Science Foundation.