Housing Equity

1. New program seeks to build ranks of minority and female developers: The program, called the Emerging Developers Accelerator Program, will provide education and funding for the developers in the hopes that they will provide more housing.
2. Builders, Lenders Praise Biden Plan To Improve Housing Supply: Administration said plan is intended to “ease the burden of housing costs over time by boosting the supply of quality housing in every community.”
3. Reducing Disparity in the Minority Homeownership Rate: Not only do Black Americans have significantly lower homeownership rates, compared with White Americans, NAR’s research shows that Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to be rejected for a mortgage.
4. Decrease in home sales predicted nationwide but NC housing experts say market remains hot: Zillow predicted home sales will be down 6.4% in 2022 compared to 2021. The report cited “spiking mortgage rates, inventory gains, and lower-than-expected pending home sales and mortgage applications” as contributing factors to the predicted outlook.
5. Multidimensional Discrimination in the Online Rental Housing Market: Implications for Families With Young Children: Consistent with prior work, we find discrimination against Black women and Section 8 recipients. We also find that only Black women and Latinas are penalized for being parents and for being single mothers to young children.

Health Equity

1. Tackling disparities and stigma around obesity and mental health care for minority populations: Physician and mother of four Tiffani Bell Washington, MPH ’22, was recently honored by the National Minority Quality Forum as one of its “40 Under 40 Leaders in Minority Health.”
2. ‘I Could Have Full-Blown Cancer Right Now’ — a Former Health Educator Urges the Black Community to Get Screened for Colon Cancer: Gloria Riley, 56, has always known the importance of cancer screenings for early detection. But that didn’t stop her from putting off her own colonoscopy for years.
3. FDA takes steps towards diversity in clinical trials: Given the increasing diversity of the US population, diverse trial participation has become even more critical. However, several challenges hinder adequate enrollment of underrepresented populations.
4. Report shows increased rates of infant mortality and youth suicide in North Carolina: In its May 2022 annual report, the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force reported data about child deaths in the state and made recommendations for legislative changes to prevent child death, abuse and neglect. It showed significant data about infant mortality, youth deaths due to firearms and adolescent suicide.
5. Racial disparities in mental health care: An explainer and research roundup: Little has changed since the office of the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report on mental health disparities two decades ago. Persisting structural racism is one of the key drivers of disparities but experts and advocates are hopeful for change.

Economic Development

1. Grant for Black-owned platforms facilitates new coworking space for small businesses: The Factory, powered by Black Dollar Corp, is a designated space for entrepreneurs and creators to work and design. The open-concept design has equipment to make everything from a logo on a coffee mug, to machinery for creating beauty products.
2. DOE Announces $53 Million for Small Businesses Pursuing Clean Energy and Climate Solutions: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $53 million in funding awards for diverse small businesses to pursue advanced scientific instrumentation and technologies to address climate change.
3. Small NC towns create social districts to increase nightlife, tourism: It’s not just the cities, but small towns in North Carolina are big on the idea of social districts – special areas where visitors can grab an adult drink and stroll the streets.
4. The Black Business Olympics hosting over 100 speakers live! Black Business Expo USA is back with new topics and speakers for its celebrated Black Business Olympics, a seven-day 24-hour virtual event dedicated to black founders, entrepreneurs, business owners, organizations, and corporations. May 16-22, 2022.
5. Minorities Seek More Financial Education for Underrepresented Groups: New research findings show that a majority of Black and white Americans believe that financial literacy is a problem in the U.S., but the two populations differ on what they think should be done to solve that problem.

Education & Equity

1. Why do young whites kill out of hate? Schools aren’t teaching nation’s racist past. White supremacist ideology is dangerously alive in younger generations. And the fight against teaching students about race and racism in schools is signaling to them that they don’t need to care.
2. The state legislature’s short session starts this week. Here’s what you need to know: During the short session, the legislature has the option to revive bills that didn’t pass last year and make changes to the budget. Here’s a round up of education-related highlights.
3. Demise of mismanaged charter school leaves some lamenting the loss: The state is closing Raleigh’s Torchlight Academy because of repeated and serious management failures, but some of its strengths and accomplishments will be lost in the process.
4. School Absences and the Poverty Related Attainment Gap: Moderated by Donald Christie, this seminar will present research findings on the role of school absences in the poverty related attainment gap in Scotland, and the implications for policy and practice.
5. Pilot program aims to address barriers to Pre-K expansion in Buncombe County: Buncombe County commissioners approved $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds for the two-year pilot program earlier this month.