Event Details

The Division of Social Studies Junior Fellows Speakers Series presents Susan Jones visiting from George Washington University School of Law. Free to the Public.

Message to Simon's Rock Faculty and Students from Susan Jones:

I am delighted to participate in the Junior Fellows Programme & Proseminar in Social Scientific Inquiry at Bard College at Simon's Rock on Thursday, November 6, 2008 and I look forward to meeting you.    During this carefully constructed opportunity for immersion in social theory, social research and social action and consistent with the theme "Home and the Haunts of Modernity" I hope to explore with you New Visions of Home:  Through the Legal Lens of Community Economic Development  & the Economic Justice Movement.

In an effort to provide context for the time we will spend together, what follows is a brief overview of the community economic development (CED) field.    I hope it will serve as a platform for my reflections on a broad conception of "home" and the role of lawyers as abolitionists working to end homeless and poverty and creating affordable housing and livable communities.

CED began in the 1960s and involves numerous strategies for the revitalization of low- income communities from the creation of affordable housing to small business development.   Initially supported by the federal government and the Ford Foundation, the movement expanded in the 1970s to address further deterioration of rural and urban communities.  The deindustrialization of the 1980s intensified public antipoverty and social welfare efforts and community organizations became the major vehicles for delivery of housing and job programs in low-income communities.  The 1990s ushered in the demise of welfare, devolution from federal to state government, and a public policy emphasis on economic self-sufficiency. Today, the CED movement is characterized by public-private partnerships and New Markets Tax Credits, America=s most recent economic development initiative. 

Throughout the evolution of the CED movement, transactional lawyers have worked with community residents to provide a wide range of complex legal services.    Initially, legal representation focused primarily on affordable housing, but today, legal advocacy has expanded to the creation of microbusinesses supported by microenterprise development organizations and worker-owned cooperatives, child care and health care and the creation of community development banks and credit unions.  Market-based CED initiatives such as the Low-Income Tax Credit Program have spurred new programs such as New Markets Tax Credits designed to stimulate investments in low-income rural and urban communities B from commercial real estate to small businesses development B using tax credits.  At the same time, CED advocates promote economic justice tools such as living wage, accountable development, sector employment intervention, and other income and asset accumulation strategies such as individual development accounts.  

Given this historical backdrop and present day realities consider the following:  What roles can "activist" students play in the contemporary CED movement? Are there examples from your "lived" experience or your work?    What opportunities are there for interdisciplinary collaborations between law and other disciplines that would benefit low-income communities and advance economic justice agendas?