Economic Development Policy and Practice:

1
Economic Development Policy and Practice

• A Case Study of the Transition of Pittsburghs
  African Americans
• Morgan Windram
• Michael Finley
• Anna Brendle
• Matt Johnson
• Andrew Huddart

2
Project Overview

• Trace historical and present socioeconomic
  conditions of Blacks in Pittsburgh
• Assess contributions made by philanthropic and
  community employment organizations
• Explore employment options in advanced technology
  industries
• Analyze spatial relationships between
  environment, race, and urban redevelopment

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Assimilation and Discrimination of African
Americans

• Pittsburgh Urban Leagueearly 1900s, worked to
  assimilate blacks and obtain jobs for them, or
  did it?
• African American Workers Union1980s, more
  equitable uplift of blacks both socially and
  economically.

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Thematic Map
Source American Factfinder http//factfinder.cen
sus.gov
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Black-Owned Businesses Strongest in Services
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Minority/Women Business Stats
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Unemployment Rates
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Charitable Foundations

• Howard Heinz Endowment overview
• Major Pittsburgh Heinz Endowment funding
  recipients
• United Way
• University of Pittsburgh
• Innovation Works, Inc.

9
Community Employment Organizations

• Hi-Tech headhunters agencies
• Pennsylvania CareerLink overview
• Independent community employment organizations
• JobLinks
• East Side Community Employment

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Locations of Employment Agencies by Zip
Codewhite 0, yellow 1, orange 11, red 28
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Advanced Technology

• Research and Design to fill the void left by the
  steel industry
• Unskilled and semi-skilled labor force
  marginalizedespecially African Americans
• Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse to grow a new
  industry

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A Case for Manufacturing

• Employers suffering labor shortages
• Higher wages compared to service and retail
  employment
• Stimulant for economic activity

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Challenges for High-Tech Manufacturing

• Geographical dispersion
• Small firm sizelimited resources for recruitment
  and education
• Absence of an anchor firm
• Success Stories New Century Careers Siemens and
  Seagate

15
Urban Environmental Quality and Race

• Importance of environmental quality in quality of
  life
• Data from primary field work and secondary
  sources
• Cartographic analysis
• Correlation between race and environmental
  quality
• Lack of redevelopment in areas with very high
  black populations

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Explanations for Redevelopment and Race Trends

• Political
• Racist attitudes in government
• Minority under representation
• Institutionalized problems
• Racial Conflicts
• Not limited to Pittsburgh

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Solutions

• Economic development as a life line for low
  income areas
• Community and business must work together
• Diversity must be emphasized and encouraged
• Housing redevelopments must be given high
  priority
• Literature full of examples of success stories
• Learn from other cities, not just in US

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Conclusions

• Progress towards social and economic equality,
  yet continued racial disparities
• Foundations annually donate large amounts of
  money to well-structured charity organizations
• Headhunter agencies serve the hi-tech job force,
  but few employment organizations serve lower
  income employees
• To better serve the lower income job force,
  hi-tech initiatives should focus more on
  manufacturing
• Disparities between environmental quality of
  white and black areas are being addressed by
  recent redevelopment initiatives