Urban Revitalization in Cleveland

Résumé du livre

This paper offers a detailed case study of Cleveland's 1994-2004 Empowerment Zone initiative (EZ), by examining how the program fit with the prevailing "urban poverty debate" narratives which sought to explain the emergence of concentrated poverty in America's older industrial centers. Records show that while Cleveland's Empowerment Zone proposal appeared to address certain aspects of the "urban poverty debate," many important features of these narratives were either left out or not considered. In the end, the majority of funds available to Cleveland's Empowerment Zone neighborhoods were used mainly for real estate development, as well as a few varied workforce development programs, and support for already-existing Community Development Corporations (CDCs). Data suggests that these efforts may have improved unemployment and poverty rates significantly; however they likely did little to alter the economic status of disadvantaged residents in relation to the region or decrease racial segregation