Tackling Racial Inequities: What’s BU Learning?

On Monday September 26th, the Initiative on Cities (IOC), alongside the Boston University (BU) Research Office, hosted Tackling Racial Inequities in Boston: What’s BU Learning? Organized in a “Research on Tap” format, What’s BU Learning? featured over a dozen BU faculty members presenting micro-talks on their research into racial inequities in areas ranging from public health to education to economics (please see below for a list of presenters and their slides). Presenters also offered ideas for how they as individuals, or members of the Boston University community, could help mitigate these inequities.

Although the presentations only scratched the surface of the work being done on racial equity throughout Boston University, What’s BU Learning? provided attendees with a glimpse of this important research. It also highlighted the breadth of disciplines at Boston University involved in research related to race and racial equity.

Throughout the presentations, a number of key themes emerged.

Partnerships in Research: Making the Subject a Partner

Several researchers, including Linda Sprague Martinez (BU School of Social Work) noted the value of engaging the community as a research partner, something she has done through her work evaluating health interventions in communities of color in Boston. She recognized opportunities to directly involve community members in her research, as hired team members and reporters through methods like photovoice. Judith Gonyea (BU School of Social Work) also emphasized community based participatory research, especially when working on issues of social justice and inclusion. When she conducted an asset and needs assessment in subsidized housing for older adults in Boston, she recruited community members to serve as both interviewers and participants in the research.

Both researchers agreed that the value of these partnerships comes from the shared sense of ownership between the University and the community, particularly in determining how the research affects the community. They suggested an opportunity to build collaboration across the University and systematically engage the community members by creating a Center dedicated to research partnerships.

Harold Cox (BU School of Public Health) also shared his experience working with community partners through the Partners in Health and Housing program, which prioritized engaging resident health advocates and youth health advocates. The program’s mission is to promote the health and well-being of residents in homes managed by the Boston Housing Authority. Cox discussed this work, highlighting the partnership’s focus on oral health care among seniors. 

Social Determinants of Inequity: Using a Public Health Approach

Public health research often seeks to understand and address social determinants of health, structural forces that shape health outcomes for different populations. In this spirit, many presenters dove into “social determinants of inequity” in trying to identify the root causes of racial inequality. Bob Margo (BU Department of Economics) provided context for the enduring economic inequities which have persisted over generations.

Travis Bristol (BU School of Education) and Chris Martell (BU School of Education) spoke about underlying issues of race in educational systems. Bristol shared his research on the number of black teachers in schools and correlations with a school principal’s race. He explained that nationally, despite the fact that more than half of public school students are children of color, only 2% of public school teachers are black men as of 2012. Meanwhile, Martell discussed his work examining how teachers teach race in the classroom. He focused on what he referred to as “culturally relevant teachers,” who emphasize equity over tolerance, discuss the ethnicity of their students regardless of classroom demographics, and place race at the center of their curriculum.

Bristol and Martell identified opportunities to address inequities within the education system, including educational development opportunities that empower teachers to work with their students on issues of race and cultural inclusion. Martell noted that even culturally relevant teachers rarely, if ever, receive any formal preparation on teaching race and multicultural education. Martell also pushed for including more culturally-focused and race-based teaching in school curriculums, including at BU. Bristol advocated for the creation of a BU center for evidence-based policies and practices aimed at closing the opportunity gap, all in the context of research into staffing and hiring strategies for teachers of color.

Shea Cronin (BU Metropolitan College) focused on the law enforcement and criminal justice, citing studies showing that stop and frisk policies and arrest decisions have a racial bias. However, he noted that neighborhood political power has proven capable of reducing systemic, racially-based problems. Despite seemingly insurmountable structural barriers, hope for improvement persists.

Place-Based Inequities

The impact of context and place was clear. Jonathan Levy (BU School of Public Health) shared his research on the impact neighborhoods and housing have on a person’s health, highlighted by his work leading the newly supported Center for Research on Environmental Health and Social Stressors in Housing Across the Life Course (CRESSH), a partnership between the Boston University School of Public Health and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In particular, he focused on the Center’s work in Chelsea, MA and the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, MA, two environmental justice communities where low income residents and residents of color experience negative health outcomes. The CRESSH team examines how exposures to chemical stressors, non-chemical stressors and social determinants of health lead to disparities in environmental health outcomes. Levy argued that pushing for more green housing practices in subsidized housing could mitigate some of the negative health effects for people in these neighborhoods.

Yvette Cozier (BU School of Public Health) also looked at outcomes at a neighborhood level. Every part of the city, she argued, must have access to good schools and health care in order to be successful. Further, neighborhood development ought to include factors beyond business and housing – health, education, and the community voice must be a part of development efforts in order to achieve citywide equity.

Jessica Simes (BU College of Arts and Sciences) shared her findings on incarceration across race, and the numbers were staggering. The national rate of incarceration has quadrupled over the past 40 years, she explained, and of the 2 million people behind bars, over 60% are people of color. In Boston and beyond, this disparity across racial lines has had a tremendous effect on neighborhoods as thousands of individuals are taken to prison each year. A time laps map of prison admissions in greater Boston between 2009-2014 revealed stark disparities in incarceration between neighborhoods. 

Opportunities for Educators: Shaping Current and Future Leaders

The presenters offered a range of ideas for how Boston University, as an educator, could help mitigate many of the problems at hand.

An emphasis on leadership underpinned many of the presentations. Walter Earl Fluker (BU School of Theology) touched on this most directly, citing his work with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Initiative for the Development of Ethical Leadership. His research focuses on ethical leadership theory and practice, helping him develop programs built to address racial inequity and racial healing on a community level. He also identified the capacity of MOOCs to leverage Boston University research, connect to a large student audience and help develop the next generation of leaders.

Nancy Kressin (BU School of Medicine and School of Public Health) and Cronin discussed the creation of training and education programs at Boston University for service providers. From Kressin’s perspective, training could help develop cross-cultural competency and promote better understanding of racial barriers in the health and education systems. Similarly, Cronin spoke about opportunities to better educate members of law enforcement and inform police practices.

Finally, Ashley Farmer (BU College of Arts and Sciences) shared her research on African American women in the Black Power movement, providing some historical context to civil rights movements in Boston. Like Martell, she saw great value in creating courses at BU that exposed students to the history behind racial inequities in Boston while empowering them to reshape the city’s racial landscape.

 

The event served as the beginning of a longer conversation that the Initiative on Cities is organizing throughout the fall 2016 and spring 2017 semesters. To learn more about this series, please visit our Reducing Disparities: Advancing Towards Racial Equity page.

 

Tackling Racial Inequities in Boston: What’s BU Learning?

Research Presentations:

    Robert A. Margo, PhD, Professor, Department of Economics, College of Arts & Sciences; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research
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      Travis Bristol, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Education
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        Christopher Martell, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Education
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          Linda Sprague Martinez, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
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            Harold Cox, MSSW, Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice, School of Public Health, and Director of the School of Public Health Activist Lab
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              Judith G. Gonyea, PhD, Professor, School of Social Work
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                Jonathan Levy, ScD, Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Director, Center for Research on Environmental Health and Social Stressors in Housing, School of Public Health
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                  Yvette Cozier, DSc, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, and Assistant Dean for Diversity & Inclusion, School of Public Health
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                    Nancy R. Kressin, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Director, Health/care Disparities Research Program, and Associate Professor, Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, School of Public Health
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                      Jessica Simes, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences
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                        Shea W. Cronin, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan College
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                          Walter Earl Fluker, PhD, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership, Editor and Director, The Howard Thurman Papers Project, School of Theology
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                            Ashley D. Farmer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of History and African American Studies, College of Arts & Sciences
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