Segregation in Dallas Is a Poverty Trap

The scale and depth of Dallas' poverty is obscene, morally and economically unacceptable, and abnormally high compared with other major cities. We are replete with maps, reports, commissions and commentary that identify the problem and rightly express outrage. But here's the harsh reality: Despite the anti-poverty rhetoric, we continue to maintain the very structures and systems that cause and perpetuate poverty in the first place.Over many years, economic and racial housing segregation has remained one of the main organizing features of our city. Dallas is one of the most residentially segregated places in America, according to the Pew Research Center, with low-income families (disproportionately people of color) overwhelmingly clustered in areas of concentrated poverty, and high-income families (disproportionately white) overwhelmingly clustered in areas of opportunity. One in three Dallas children lives in concentrated poverty, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, and that far exceeds the state and national average. For low-income families, this geographic isolation compounds inequality and erects generational barriers that hinder educational and career attainment.  Continue reading...