Furman Center Launches New Research Initiative on Racial and Economic Integration

News & Events | September 24th 2013

This week, the Furman Center convened 60 of the nation's leading researchers, policymakers and practitioners to discuss research required to better understand the need for, and challenges of, racial and economic residential integration.The event marked the launch of the Furman Center’s new Integration Research Initiative, a yearlong series of programs that will involve scholars from around the world and across disciplines.

The goal of the Integration Research Initiative is to develop a body of research that will address issues of racial and economic inequality and integration in neighborhoods and schools that are raised by profound changes in the demographics, housing markets, and current challenges of metropolitan areas across the United States.

The roundtable took place September 16th and 17th at NYU School of Law. Participants included the NYU School of Law's Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice's 2013-14 Fellows. These scholars will spend a year in residence at NYU School of Law to conduct path-breaking research and scholarship on racial, ethnic, and economic integration.

The roundtable featured a keynote address by Henry Cisneros, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1993-1997 under President Clinton and current chairman of CityView, an institutional investment firm focused on urban real estate and metropolitan infrastructure. Secretary Cisneros spoke about the need to better integrate neighborhoods across the country in order to develop the next generation workforce the United States needs to compete in a global economy.

The event also featured a talk with playwright Bruce Norris, who was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Clybourne Park, which addressed neighborhood racial change.

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