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Sign says "Welcome to East Palo Alto"

Our new research ranks Bay Area cities by segregation


We recently published a list of 101 Bay Area cities ranked by their levels of segregation as part of our larger research project analyzing the dynamics of and remedies to segregation in the region. Topping the list as the most segregated city in the Bay Area was East Palo Alto, located on the peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, which is heavily Latinx. However, most of the top segregated cities on our list are smaller cities that are more than 85 percent white in Marin and San Mateo counties.

Read more about our findings here, and check out media coverage of our research in the Mercury News, and San Francisco's local CBS affiliate KPIX 5.

Open-source insulin? New brief shows how


Last month we published a research brief that examines the barriers in access to insulin, and profiles a community-based response to Big Pharma's oligopoly on insulin production. Coinciding with Diabetes Awareness Month, the brief demonstrates practices of democratizing science by an Oakland-based community lab that is seeking a novel model for the production and distribution of insulin, and to potentially pave a way for other medicines produced and owned at a local level. It argues for an open source framework to be extended beyond software and into medicine. Check out the brief here.
An image of the four speakers at the reparations panel
Last month we hosted an illuminating discussion on the issue of reparations featuring several notable scholars who made a social, moral and economic case to compensate Black people in the United States for the enslavement of Africans and the legacy of Jim Crow. The panelists used lessons from history and pointed to social conditions and economic realities facing Black people today to not only argue that slavery merits reparations, but to provide different frameworks for implementing them. Click for a video recording and writeup of the event.

Scammer’s Yard: The Crime of Black Repair in Jamaica

Cover of Scammer's YardOur faculty scholar Jovan Scott Lewis has just published a new book that tells the story of three young and poor men striving to make a living in Montego Bay, Jamaica where call centers and tourism are the two main industries in the struggling economy. Scammer’s Yard describes how these young men, seeking to overcome inequality and achieve autonomy, come to view crime as a form of liberation.

Click here for information about this book, and see the link on the reparations panel above where Lewis presents some of the stories and ideas in his book.

Map shows redlined east Bay cities in the 1930s

Babies from 'redlined' districts experience poorer health


A new study published by our faculty scholars Rachel Morello-Frosch, Mahasin Mujahid, and their co-authors, shows that babies born in California neighborhoods historically "redlined," or denied federal investments based on the discriminatory lending practices of the 1930s, are now more likely to have poorer health outcomes. Check out the study here.

#AskOBI: The undemocratic nature of the Electoral College


Our political participation analyst Josh Clark explains the undemocratic nature of the Electoral College in this new #AskOBI video. Despite Joe Biden getting almost 7 million more votes than Donald Trump, the election in theory could have been decided by only about 50,000 votes in key swing states. Click for the video and a transcript.

Dec. 9 Event: The Surveillance State, Social Safety, and Building Power


While technology has made it easier to connect with faraway family and friends and gain access to the world’s libraries of information, it has also led to a stark loss of privacy through widespread data collection and surveillance by both government agencies and private corporations. This livestream event will feature representatives of organizations using research, community organizing, and policy advocacy to expose and challenge the inner workings of the corporations and government agencies that are tracking us every day. Click here to RSVP.

Dec. 10 webinar: The Economics of Belonging


Join us next week for the third installment of our Toward Belonging digital dialogue series for a discussion about the possibilities and potential of an economics based on belonging. In this webinar, panelists will explore the potential of economics in creating belonging in and across national and local communities and groups. Click here to register.
Image says "call for papers"

Deadline extended for European papers!


We have extended the deadline to submit abstracts in our Call for Papers that examine belonging in the European region to Dec. 31. This work is part of our Toward Belonging initiative, a partnership effort with More in Common, Counterpoint UK, Queen Mary University in London, SciencesPo in Paris, along with an emergent network of social change actors in the European region. Learn more about this project here.
Image shows past AFRE fellows in South Africa

Apply to the 2021 AFRE fellowship


Are you a changemaker passionate about racial equity? Apply to join the 2021 Atlantic Fellowship for Racial Equity organized each year by our partners. Applications are open until January 20, 2021 at 11:59PM SAST / 4:59PM EST, but you are encouraged to apply early. Click for more information.

In the News


Assistant Director Stephen Menendian and program director Samir Gambhir were separately interviewed about their new research on the most segregated cities in the Bay Area. Read the story with Menendian's remarks in the Mercury News here, and watch the television interview with Gambhir on CBS local KPIX 5 here.
Faculty scholar Taeku Lee is cited in this New York Times article, titled, "A New Political Force Emerges in Georgia: Asian-American Voters."
Faculty scholar Cristina Mora published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, titled, "Op-Ed: Look to the local to understand the ‘complex’ Latino vote."
Faculty scholar Ian Haney-Lopez is interviewed in this Esquire article, titled, "How Ronald Reagan’s Racism Helped Pave the Way for Donald Trump’s."
The San Francisco Business Times published a Q&A with Senior Fellow Richard Rothstein about his famous book, The Color of Law.
Institute Director john a. powell was interviewed for this San Francisco Chronicle story, titled, "Policing Blackness: It happened again. This time it was in Discovery Bay."
Faculty scholar Osagie Obasogie was interviewed about the Institute's new book on Trumpism he edited. The interview, in Berkeley News, is titled "Trump lost, but his brand of politics may be here to stay."
Faculty scholar Irene Bloemraad is cited in this Wall Street Journal article, titled, "More Green Card Holders Are Becoming U.S. Citizens."
Faculty scholar Rucker Johnson is quoted in this NBC News story, titled, "'Chinese virus' sign at doctor's office draws rebuke."
Faculty scholar Jesse Rothstein is quoted in this New York Times article, titled, "Millions Face Loss of Jobless Aid: ‘Without It, I’m Dead in the Water’."

Job opening at OBI


We currently have one staff opening at our institute for a "Belonging Coordinator," a newly created position tasked with building out real-world applications related to our “othering and belonging” conceptual frame. Click here for more info.
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