Deborah Kobes

1
HARTFORD, CT
Deborah Kobes
DUSP, MIT, April 13, 2005
2
Outline

• History of Hartford
• Current Population and Problems
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Future Research

3
Early History

• Trading City
• Located on the Connecticut River
• 1623 trading post, grew into major trading center
• Agricultural economy
• Other Industries
• Developed the insurance industry
• Hartford Fire Insurance Group founded in 1810
• Precision manufacturing (Colt firearms)

4
Modern Industry

• Diverse Industrial Composition
• FIRE still important, about 10 of employment
• Education, health and social services are 22
• Several other industries each account for about
  10 of employment manufacturing retail trade
  professional and management and arts
• Knowledge Corridor
• Hartford to western Massachusetts
• Hartford-Springfield Economic Partnership was
  created in 2000 as an attempt to promote
  regionalism

5
Major Employers

• Top Five Hartford Employers
• Connecticut government
• United Technologies Corp (Manufacturing)
• Hartford Financial Group (Insurance)
• Aetna Inc (Health Insurance)
• Hartford Hospital (Health Services)

6
Political Profile

• Problems
• Hartford does not have same story of corruption
  as the rest of Connecticut and many third-tier
  cities
• Series of revitalization mistakes made by many
  cities post WWII
• Mayor Eddie Perez
• First Puerto Rican mayor of major US city
• First elected in 2001, now in his second term
• Changed the role of mayor city switched from
  city manager to strong mayor
• President of major Hartford nonprofit SINA
  before becoming mayor

7
City Composition

• Demographics
• 121,578 residents in 2000
• Total population has decreased by 13 since 1990
  and by 36,500 since 1970
• 28 white, down from 71 in 1970
• 38 black, up from 28 in 1970
• 40 Hispanic, up from 8 in 1970
• Geography
• 18.5 square miles

8
Neighborhoods
9
Race
White
Black
Hispanic
10
Foreign Born
11
Poverty

• Poverty
• Nations 2nd poorest city
• 28 families and 30 of individuals in poverty
• 1/3 of population is children under 18 and 41 of
  children under 18 are in poverty
• Single Female Headed Households
• 80 babies are born to unwed mothers
• 20 of all households are single females with
  kids
• 46 of these families are poor, 50 of single
  moms with children under 5 years old are poor
• Comparison to Pawtucket poverty not quite as
  correlated to family type but more single female
  headed households

12
Poverty
13
Well-being Indicators

• Income
• 24,820 median household income
• 13,428 per capita income
• Employment
• 57 labor force participation rate
• 9 unemployment rate
• Homeownership
• 25 homeownership
• Median home value is 93,900

14
Education

• School System
• 39 of residents have less than HS degree
• 12 had bachelors degree

Less than HS degree
15
School Politics

• Profile
• 94 students are black or Hispanic
• 50 drop-out rate
• Privatization
• First US city to entirely privatize schools, 1994
• Education Alternatives Inc ran schools and failed
• Segregation Battles
• Series of court cases about school segregation
  beginning in 1989
• 1996 mandate to desegregate schools
• Offering to pay for suburban kids to attend
  magnet schools in the city, 2002

16
Crime

• Crime Rates
• Ranked 7th most dangerous city overall (by Morgan
  Quinto), between DC and New Orleans
• 4th for cities of 100,000 - 500,000, just below
  Gary, Indiana
• Comparison to Connecticut
• Overall crime rate is about 3 times the state
  (9,000 per 100,000 as compared to 3,000)
• Violent crime rate is about 4 times the state
  (1,250 per 100,000 as compared to 311)
• Corruption
• Police scandals in late 1990s and 2000

17
External Support

• Coalition of Corporate Leaders
• 177.5 million in Hartford region (1999)
• Aetna, Fleet, Peoples Bank, Waterford Group
• Spur economic development downtown, primarily
  through real estate investment
• Other Revitalization Efforts
• Martson/Putnam Heights housing Citigroup, Local
  Initiative Support Coalition, CT Preservation
  Loan Fund
• New Markets Initiative (public-private
  partnership)
• HUD Neighborhood Jobs Initiative (1 of 5
  cities), loan to SINA, Community Empowerment Fund

18
Local Revitalization

• Economic Development / Revitalization Nonprofits
• MetroHartford Millennium Project, comprehensive
  revitalization effort
• Southside Institutions Neighborhoods Alliance
  (SINA) coalition of Trinity, medical facilities,
  and neighborhood groups that represent 1 billion
  and 7,500 jobs
• Hartford 2000 collection of Neighborhood
  Revitalization Zones
• HART oldest community organization in New
  England (from 1975), southern Hartford
• Community Economic Development Fund

19
Hartford Neighborhood Centers

• Hartford Neighborhood Centers, Inc
• Founded in 1872 as a settlement, added and
  consolidated community centers over time
• Largely focused on youth services
• Run 300-acre camp in Hebron, CT
• Services for elderly, emergency food services,
  and computer training
• Part of lots of local partnerships

20
Trinfo Cafe

• Trinfo Cafe
• Project of Trinity College
• Public space available for internet access,
  computer training workshops, and web hosting
• Apprenticeship program 8 month career exposure
  program
• Consulting and technical support
• Partners
• Dozens of partners business, organizations,
  schools
• Hartford Neighborhood Center, Inc, SINA, Hartford
  Urban League, HART

21
Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic

• Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic
• On-site collaborative legal representation and
  advocacy at Hartford Public High School
• Drop-out prevention, individual representation,
  training, education programs
• Partnerships
• Center for Childrens Advocacy
• Series of related health and child abuse programs
• U Conn Law, Med, and Social Work Schools

22
ICR (Trinity)

• Institute for Community Research
• Action research, collaborative
• Types of Research basic, intervention, and
  participatory research cultural development
• Focus on public health issues
• Partners
• PAIDS Project Hartford Hartford Health
  Department Connecticut Commission on the Arts
  Hartford Hospital Hispanic Health Council
• Hartford Housing Authority Urban League of
  Greater Hartford
• Yale University U Mass - Amherst Brown

23
Other Nonprofits

• Hartford Government Links
• Lots of community organizations seem to be
  connected in Hartford
• Link to each other, have their own web presence
• Lots of partnerships
• Note City Scan looks a lot like Hopeworks N
  Camden
• http//www.hartford.gov/community_organizations.ht
  m

24
Further Research

• Hartford Info
• Hartford Public Library and the Hartford
  Community Data Collaborative
• Links to articles, reports, maps, nonprofits and
  other data
• http//www.hartfordinfo.org/
• Hartford Studies Project
• Trinity College Program
• History archive, film, Trinity course, public
  events
• http//www.trincoll.edu/UG/UE/HSP/default.htm

25
Sources

• Online
• City of Hartford website http//www.hartford.gov/
  
• Hartford Info and Public Library
  http//www.hartfordinfo.org/
• Organization Websites http//www.trinfocafe.com/r
  evision/htm/default.htm, http//www.hartford2000.o
  rg, http//www.hartnet.org/hart/,
  http//www.metrohartford.com/, http//www.sinarepo
  rts.com/default.htm, http//www.kidscounsel.org/ki
  dscounsel/about/tlac.html, http//www.incommunityr
  esearch.org/index.htm
• Printed Media
• US Census Bureau, Census 2000
• Weaver, Diane (2003). Will the American dream
  return to Hartford? Hartford Business Journal.
  May 6
• Clinton, Bill (1999). Highlighting the Need for
  Investment in Hartford, Connecticut and America's
  Inner Cities. Speech in Hartford, CT. November
  4.
• Shapiro, Bruce (1996). Privateers flunk school.
  The Nation 262 (7) 4.
• Anonymous (1996). Unique coalition plans to
  revitalize neighborhood. Civil Engineering 66,
  (11) 12.