Problem 1
There is a shortage of 120,000 PK-12 teachers in the United States caused by a combination of high attrition rates and low supply. This shortage is concentrated in hard-to-staff rural and urban schools that have high concentrations of students from low-income households (Title I schools), and the subjects that are most affected are math and science. For example, the U.S. Department of Education estimates that only 50% of public high schools are able to offer Calculus and only 60% are able to offer physics.
Code: Utilize new technology platforms (VR, AR, high-speed internet) to enable award-winning teachers to teach more students in real-time (not just pre-recorded distance learning of the past) and to mentor new teachers (to help with attrition).
Legal: Work with teacher unions, school districts, and state agencies to make it possible for teachers with different state certifications to work across state lines and to ensure equitable opportunities for teachers to participate, earn additional income and receive support.
Markets: Pay these award-winning teachers a stipend on top of their salaries to participate, thereby incentivizing them to stay in the classroom (instead of being pulled into administration where salaries are higher). Create a business model that makes use of this platform a cost-savings to districts when compared to the cost of professional development and teacher replacement.
Norms: Promote the importance of equitable access to the fields of the future (STEM) in rural and urban communities through parent organizations, advocacy groups, and the media.
Problem 2
My neighbors in Dorchester—parents, kids, family members; homeowners and renters; local business owners; school leaders and teachers, civic and religious leaders—simultaneously feel priced out of their neighborhood and unsafe as violence persists, particularly among discouraged and disconnected young men and women who may identify as Black, Central American, Caribbean or as affiliated with a street gang. These issues have deep historical roots with linkages to segregation, economic exclusion, immigration, housing policy, education policy and investment, political disenfranchisement, community-level conflicts, and general disconnection from the power centers in Boston and Massachusetts. Simply calling this “gentrification” misses, in my view, the complexity of the forces at work and, therefore, the challenges of identifying a point of entry that can lead to a meaningful “solution.”
Code: Going to interpret code liberally and include the built environment. Work with developers to build housing that aims to accommodate mixed-income communities and add to the economic well-being of the Dorchester neighborhood specifically.
Legal: Use zoning and other housing policy tools to focus on truly accessible low-middle income housing construction within every new development, as well as the use of land-trusts, prohibitions of the sale of public lands for private development without appropriate public-use, mixed-housing development or public transportation improvements.
Markets: There is a housing shortage in Boston and so prices are inflated; this creates the potential for triple bottom line thinking, meaning there is enough of a margin between construction costs and market value that social and environmental investments could be made without mixed-use housing projects becoming unprofitable. In other words, investors could still make money and be attracted to projects that are oriented towards community retention and health instead of displacement. In fact, like fair trade goods, investors may even pay a premium for socially conscious, community-focused real estate development.
Norms: The vast majority of the resources needed to make these large-scale changes happen are in the hands of others who need to be influenced, so utilizing the power of the ballot, lobbying, media campaigns and awareness strategies will all be necessary. There are also many resources within the community that could be mobilized through public messaging campaigns to explore what can be done without city/state government—to think about how to promote land trusts, school partnerships with trade unions or other local businesses for training programs, and networking existing mentorship/youth programs.
Problem 3
A community I work with in rural Mississippi has an anemic local job market that, combined with fifteen generations of race-based exclusion, is having a devastating impact on the outlook of teenagers who may identify as Black. They have no reason to have faith in the underfunded schools, see unemployment in the area that is as high as 30% and few jobs outside of entry-level service positions, and they imagine that the only way to succeed is to leave for Memphis or Atlanta. They want a bright future but have limited opportunities (especially since there is no local public transportation system) to even begin to chart out a pathway for themselves.
Code: Mobile education unit featuring a technology, arts and entrepreneurship curriculum; partners with after-school programs, local schools and businesses in the area.
Legal: Promote career pathway programs in high schools that allow for work apprenticeships that are credit-bearing and that can lead to an associate’s degree at the local community college.
Markets: Paid positions for student workers, scholarship and entrepreneurship opportunities for student participants, and apprenticeship programs with local businesses.
Norms: Build a sense of place within the youth program—a place for relationship building and acceptance, not just skill development. Expand this sense of place through partnerships with other civic organizations in order to create a community dialogue focused on valuing its assets, truly facing its history, and building an inclusive economy for the 21st century.