Q&A with Kweku Forstall, Casey Foundation Atlanta Site Director

A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation takes a solutions-focused approach to the disparities that persist for Black Atlantans living on the Southside in access to affordable housing, educational resources and opportunities of wealth creation.

Despite progress, racial inequality has increased in Atlanta since 2019, according to the Casey Foundation’s new study, Changing the Odds: Comprehensive Solutions for Atlanta’s Future. The philanthropic association produces this report every five years to report on the status of important issues facing Atlanta’s communities, such as the expansion of high-quality housing, education and employment in predominantly black neighborhoods in South Atlanta.

For example, even though Black households are earning more money since the Casey Foundation’s last report in 2019, the income gap with white households has widened. In 2021, the average median income for a Black household in Atlanta was $38,854 — an increase of $6,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2013 — but that compares to $114,195 for a white household . This represents a wealth gap of more than $75,000, an increase of $3,500 since 2013.

We spoke with Kweku Forstall, who has run the Casey Foundation’s Atlanta civic site for more than a decade, to learn more.

The Atlanta Civic Site works in partnership with Casey Foundation nonprofits to reduce racial inequities for predominantly Black residents of Atlanta’s Southside. Forstall and his team have been analyzing data in the Changing the Odds reports they have produced since 2015 and coordinating community partnerships to find solutions.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is the Casey Foundation producing this report?

This report is the third in the series to understand the impact of racial disparities on Atlanta residents’ ability to access employment, housing, education and business opportunities. We published the first in 2015, then the second in 2019.

We track these trends over the years – and new ones emerge. We’re trying to see if we’re filling any gaps.

How does this relate to the Atlanta civic site?

We are focused on building long-term relationships and investing in long-term initiatives, people, organizations, leaders and neighborhoods here at Southside. We worked in the southern neighborhoods of the city, primarily those that are part of Neighborhood Planning Unit V (NPU-V). But we’re expanding more and more into the surrounding neighborhoods and really thinking about the city of Atlanta as a whole.

Do the findings of the most recent report match your expectations and projections? Was there anything that surprised you?

So in the report you will see that we still have a tale of two cities. Black people have been forgotten in recent decades in working-class neighborhoods. North of I-20, typically North Fulton, you know, that area north and north around 285, Georgia 400. You’ll find mostly white, upper-middle class communities there, as well as thriving businesses.

We make no assumptions on the ground since we have been working in the community for almost 25 years. We track what’s happening on a daily basis and these reports allow us to review the data. The trends suggest progress in some cases and setbacks in others.

If you asked us what our expectations were, we knew that the economic downturn due to COVID-19, and even the racial reckoning we experienced in 2020 and 2021, had an outsized impact on low-income communities of color , including black neighborhoods in the south of England. Atlanta.

What we’re thinking about is how, despite all the interruptions and disruptions, Atlanta continues to thrive. The economy is growing and everyone is moving here because of the opportunities. It is said to be the best place in the country for black businesses to start and grow. But we find that this is not true for all Atlanta residents. And unfortunately, this fact breaks down along racial and geographic lines.

Economic opportunities in terms of jobs, business growth and development, new office park development and more occur more frequently on the North Side. So we weren’t really surprised by the impact of COVID-19. The economic downturn has been disproportionate when it comes to low-income black communities in the South. They have not benefited from years of investment. They don’t have the kind of security in terms of economic stability.

What recommendations emerge from the report to close this economic stability gap?

We want to talk about how we create living-paying jobs in the South. Another problem is that people are not investing in the south and creating jobs through business development, construction and other sectors. We need more people to think about investing here and not continue to build on what has already been built on the north side.

Education is another obstacle (to economic stability).

Moving on to early learning, we need to ensure that there is greater availability of quality home-based early learning centers or services, as well as center-based services. This is an area where we have seen some improvement in recent years. The early learning coverage rate is around 80% in this side of town, which means that around 80% of the needs are met. In other words, there are places for around 80% of the population who need early learning support. We need it to be 100%.

Most people in this city work and need early education and child care. They need to know that their children are growing up in a quality environment so that they can start off on the right foot. We know a lot about children’s brain development and the importance of early developmental opportunities. And there are examples of this. We need it to be for all children, not just some children, even 80%.

We have the highest high school graduation rate in the history of Atlanta Public Schools. It even exceeds the state’s high school graduation rate by 3 percentage points (87% versus 84%).

But we also see that Atlanta public schools, which are predominantly black, offer very few advanced placements and rigorous coursework. Those located primarily in the north of the city offer many, many more advanced placement courses. And we all know that these types of offers are a prerequisite for students who want to pursue post-secondary education or access high-demand jobs.

So yes, high school graduation has improved. But how many of these students will benefit from the courses necessary to pursue their choice? This is what we are trying to peel the onion on.

Another thing we can do is work together to make sure tenants know their rights. Progress has been made in this area, including during the recent legislative session, during which tenants’ rights saw incremental gains (HB 404). People should not have to pay more than two months’ security deposit to rent an apartment. They should not have to live in uninhabitable conditions. People can stand up for their rights and stand up for themselves. They have the right to protect themselves and their families.

All of this contributes to stability and keeping people in place. We don’t want people to leave the community because they can’t afford to stay, because they were forced to leave.

How do people working in employment, education and housing come together to influence communities?

We should think about who we serve and who we want to stay in place. Even as new people are invited to join the community, we want existing former residents to benefit from the prosperity that is potentially within their reach.

How do we approach the partnership so that housing is accessible and people can stay in school and know that they are in a quality school that offers rigorous courses? How can we know if these neighborhoods provide quality early learning opportunities so that children can get a good start? What types of retail stores exist in these communities so that people can buy what they want in their community, including fresh food and fruit? We can talk about each component, but it is not exhaustive. This is why solutions must be global.

What are the key takeaways you would like readers to take away from the report?

The first is that all of these things are interconnected. You can’t really isolate one thing. Housing affordability impacts your education, which impacts job opportunities, whether you live in a safe neighborhood where you can play outside and have recreational opportunities and that impacts on your mental health.

So, on the one hand, we don’t want to focus on just one thing. What I will say is that possible partnerships in this community can move things forward.

Beating the odds is a never-ending exercise. Thinking about these issues on an individual basis suggests that it is up to each individual to figure it out for themselves.

Changing prognosis requires us to first put on a community-wide hat and then think in terms of the systems – including local and state policies – that prevent people from accessing opportunities and thriving. We want change these chances, so that people don’t have to keep trying to beat the chances.