Report published through CES4Health examines impact of concentrated poverty in the suburban context, with focus on foreclosure crisis

[Announcement from Comm-engagedscholarship]

Dear community-engaged scholarship colleagues,

We define "health" broadly at Community-Campus Partnerships for Health to include the socio-economic and environmental determinants of health and this is reflected in the guidelines we follow for reviewing products of community-engaged scholarship for peer-reviewed publication through CES4Health. "Windy Ridge Sub-division, Charlotte NC" reflects this beautifully. This report

- the product of an action research partnership between UNC Charlotte & the Windy Ridge Neighborhood Association - examines the impact of concentrated poverty in the suburban context & in particular, for neighborhoods hit by the foreclosure crisis.

See abstract below - the full product & accompanying application can be accessed at http://bit.ly/14dNiO6

If you have a product of community-engaged work that's in a form other than a journal article, consider submitting it for peer-reviewed publication & dissemination through CES4Health!  Find out more by watching a webinar on CES4Health at http://bit.ly/1049iXY

For technical assistance in preparing a product submission, email CES4Health Fellow Marlynn May at may@CES4Health.info

Visit http://CES4Health.info to search for products, submit products for peer-reviewed publication, and apply to be a reviewer.

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Windy Ridge Sub-division, Charlotte NC

Abstract: This report was written as part of an ongoing project directed by Dr.

Janni Sorensen (Geography and Earth Sciences) and Dr. Jose Gamez (Architecture) at UNC Charlotte. Primarily, we document the work that went into the development of organizational and social capital in the suburban Charlotte, North Carolina neighborhood of Windy Ridge. Secondly, we share the results of our research regarding the development process of the subdivision and the implications of this process for Windy Ridge and similar communities. Windy Ridge is representative of the particular hardship experienced by starter home subdivisions—neighborhoods built within the past decade and with average home prices of less than $150,000. Such communities proliferated during the housing boom of the early 2000s. In Charlotte, as in other Sunbelt cities, the neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis were newly built, suburban communities without necessary levels of social capital to fight back. In this report, we explore the many factors contributing to the foreclosure crisis as it manifest in Windy Ridge. Such factors include public policy, civic culture, development and land-use regulations, and the clustering of low-income neighborhoods in increasingly peripheral locations. The document is representative of the community’s voice, as neighborhood residents have worked side by side with faculty and students throughout the project’s duration in activities ranging from neighborhood clean-ups and celebrations, to grant writing and efforts to secure viable street lighting. Together, we have worked to solve pressing problems facing the community, and, in the process, partnered through action research to learn more about the unique challenges of suburban concentrated poverty in starter home subdivisions.

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