Social inclusion through mixed-income development: Design and practice in the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative

ABSTRACT

Social Inclusion is an emerging term, used to encompass ideas of equity, social, economic and civic participation, and the proactive protection of human rights. In the United States, one potential vehicle for social inclusion is the development of mixed-income communities. Using a process perspective, this study explores the design and practice of social inclusion in the context of mixed-income development, by conducting a qualitative analysis of the federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. Utilizing a combined content analysis and grounded theory analysis of archival grant reports and conducted interviews, this study aims to answer the question: How do mixed-income development practitioners design and practice social inclusion? Through this analysis, the study generates a process theory of social inclusion through mixed-income development, identifying 57 practices, processes, programs, and structures that mixed-income development practitioners utilize in designing and practicing social inclusion.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all those who participated in and supported this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Notes

1. Please see the appendix for the two English-language interview guides. Spanish-language interview guides available upon request.

2. Supplementary tables that provide exemplary quotes for each of the second-order codes can be found in the appendix.

3. We only provide definitions in the text for thematic labels we used that are not self-explanatory. Our definitions of all of the terms are available in the Appendix.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Morgan Bulger

Morgan Bulger is a community research partner and cooperative organizer, who is dedicated to community ownership. She has a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University and completed a Postdoc at the National Initiative on Mixed Income Communities at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. In 2018-2019, Morgan led the resident needs assessment at Woodhill Homes as a part of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. She has built on that work and her relationship building with residents to facilitate the ongoing development of a cooperative laundromat for the neighborhood, as one of the founding members of the Woodhill Community Co-Op in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mark Joseph

Mark Joseph is the Leona Bevis and Marguerite Haynam Associate Professor of Community Development at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. He is the coauthor of Integrating the Inner City: The Promise and Perils of Mixed-Income Public Housing Transformation. He is the Founding Director of the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities. Joseph is a member of the Board of Trustees of the George Gund Foundation and an external advisor to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He serves on the Governing Board of the Urban Affairs Association and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Community Practice, Housing Policy Debate and the Journal of Race, Ethnicity and the City. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, was a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago and a Harlech Visiting Scholar at Oxford University.

Sherise McKinney

Sherise McKinney is a Research Associate at the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities. McKinney provides research and management support on a variety of consulting and research projects aimed at promoting successful mixed-income communities through the creation and implementation of strategies designed to foster strong community ties across lines of difference. Current projects include an evaluation of the social, investment, and neighborhood change impact of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative implementation in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago, an evaluation of stigma and bias in inclusionary housing for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and evaluation projects for mixed-income housing developers in San Francisco, CA and Washington, D.C. focused on maximizing economic and social outcomes for residents. McKinney holds a BASW from California State University, Long Beach and a MSSA from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Diana Bilimoria

Diana Bilimoria is KeyBank Professor and Chair of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. Her research interests focus on gender, diversity, equity and inclusion in governance and leadership, and organizational transformation. She has written multiple books and has published in leading journals and edited volumes. She is an elected member of the board of governors of the Academy of Management, and has served as the Chair of its Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division. She has served as the editor of the Journal of Management Education. Recent awards she has received include the Scholarly Contributions to Educational Practice Advancing Women in Leadership Award, Weatherhead School of Management Enduring Research Impact Award, Janet Chusmir Distinguished Service Award, Weatherhead School of Management Teaching Excellence Award, and the Weatherhead School of Management’s Doctoral Teaching Excellence Award.