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October 3, 2014
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Poverty, Income Inequality Still Prevalent in U.S.

Over 2.3 million new jobs were created last year, the most since 2005. Still, income and poverty levels have not improved for the majority of Americans, according to U.S. Census Bureau data that came out last week. Our article examines the Census findings as well as pointing to the achievable, research-based policies that research from UC Berkeley economists show will reduce the rising wealth and income inequality in the United States. Read the article.

VIDEO ON FACULTY CLUSTERS. At the heart of the Haas Institute are seven clusters of teaching and research that focus on addressing society’s most pressing and pivotal issues related to vulnerable and marginalized populations. Our video explains the unique model of the Haas Institute while posing this question to our faculty: What does a fair and inclusive society look like?
Cities must act to stem local crises
Despite all the talk about a national housing recovery, people in working class communities have entire blocks of boarded up and abandoned homes, assets that were lost during the foreclosure crisis. The free market won't bring these communities back, but bold action by elected officials will. Saqib Bhatti, co-author of the Underwater America report, urges us to hold banks accountable and calls on local elected officials to use innovative solutions to sustain communities. Read Saqib's blog.
This is a new space in our e-newsletter for listing events centered on topics, people, and movements embracing a fair and inclusive society. Email us if you'd like to add an event!

OCT 9
"In Your Own Words: Gender, Sexuality, Identity and Coming Out"- A National Coming Out Day Event.  Multicultural Student Center. Berkeley, CA.

Berkeley Food Institute: Production to Picture to Personhood: Food, Representation and Identity in Contemporary American Cultures. UC Berkeley.

Carving New Paths to Nile Sustainability: Talk on new initiative, The Nile Project, to transform the water conflict in the Nile Basin through music, youth leadership and an innovation platform. UC Berkeley.

OCT 10
A Movement's Legacy: Ensuring Our Right to Political Speech. Lecture by john a. powell. UC Berkeley.

OCT 13
Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration. Free day-long event celebrating indigenous peoples from around the world. UC Berkeley. 

OCT 16 - 17
The New Prosperity Law: Expanding Opportunity and Reducing Inequality. 50 Years After the War on Poverty. Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law
 
OCT 16
25th Anniversary Dinner of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC). Washington D.C.

OCT 20
Autonomous University of Barcelona Online Webinar. Politics of the Developing World: Global Food System Crises & Opportunities, Online webinar with Elsadig Elsheikh of Haas Institute. 

NOV 5
The Path to a Fair and Inclusive Society: Seeing the Other in Me. KPFA and Marcus Books Presents a talk by john a. powell. Berkeley, CA. Buy tickets.

NOV 13-15
Facing Race: A National Conference presented by Race Forward, a unique collaborative space for racial justice movement making.  Dallas, TX.
Chronicle of Philanthropy: Activists Urge Grant Makers to Try to Prevent Another Ferguson
At a recent meeting with grant makers in Washington DC, nonprofit activists, including Haas Institute Director john powell, urged philanthropic leaders to support strategies that tackle racial justice issues exposed by events surrounding the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, MO. Read the article.
Detroit's Water Crisis: The Flood of Inequality
Detroit Free Press: Detroit water shutoffs are a public health emergency
The Detroit Free Press published an open letter co-authored by Detroit-Wayne County Health Officer Mouhanad Hammami and Haas Institute Director john powell recommending Michigan work with the city of Detroit to develop a stream of sustainable funding to ensure low-income residents have access to water. After hearing testimony from low-income Detroit residents who are suing the city for hardships suffered when their water supply was shut off earlier this year, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled poor residents have no right to water.
Huffington Post: Five Signs We’re Not a ‘Post-Racial’ Society 
A recent Huffington Post piece focused on perceptions of the role of race in the Ferguson shooting on Michael Brown focused on the major structures influencing the outcomes for racialized groups. Emphasizing the role of segregation and income inequality, the writer cites research from UC Berkeley economics professors Patrick Kline and Emmanuel Saez, both members of the Haas Institute Economic Disparities Faculty Cluster.
San Francisco Chronicle: Gentrification displacing long-time residents near Oakland’s Lake Merritt
UC Berkeley Professor Malo Hutson, a member of the Haas Institute Diversity and Health Disparities Faculty Cluster, was quoted in a recent article examining the influx of former San Francisco residents to Oakland, a trend driving rents up and current residents out. According to the Chronicle article, long-time residents in rent-controlled units feel they are being displaced in favor of higher paying tenants.
THE HAAS INSTITUTE TEAM! (Photo from all-staff meeting in September 2014) Standing, from left: Rasheed Shabazz, Elsadig Elsheikh, Michael Omi, Darren Arquero, Stephanie Llanes, Stephen Menendian, Veronica Hash, Olivia Araiza, john powell, Rachelle Galloway-Popotas, Julie Nelson, Wendy Ake, Syreeta Tyrell, Eli Moore. Front row, kneeling, from left, Alyson Reimer, Rachel Parsons, Nadia Barhoum, and Connie Cagampang Heller.
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