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To meet the expectations of the federal Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant, the <br />Council has been developing Choice, Place and Opportunity: An Equity Assessment of the <br />Twin Cities Region. The process of developing this assessment has to deeper understandings <br />of the historical and current geography of race, poverty, and opportunity in the region. The <br />Council is asking itself and its partners whether and how public investments can effectively <br />address a legacy of private disinvestment in select neighborhoods. <br />This process also introduced a focus on racially -concentrated areas of poverty, defined for our <br />region as census tracts where at least half of the residents are people of color and at least 40% <br />of the residents live below 185% of the federal poverty line.6 By 2010, nearly one in ten of our <br />region's residents lived in racially -concentrated areas of poverty. Because racially -concentrated <br />areas of poverty can both limit the economic mobility of their residents and discourage private <br />investment, our region simply cannot afford to allow racially -concentrated areas of poverty to <br />either persist or grow. The Council will: <br />• Work to mitigate concentrated and racially -concentrated areas of poverty by better <br />connecting their residents to opportunity and catalyzing neighborhood revitalization; <br />• Work with communities to create more income -diverse neighborhoods, including <br />strategically targeted subsidies to develop market -rate housing in select areas; <br />• Use Livable Communities Act resources to catalyze private investment in concentrated <br />and racially -concentrated areas of poverty; <br />• Actively partner in neighborhood revitalization efforts such as Penn Avenue Community <br />Works; <br />• Conduct a regional inventory of industrial land that considers the location of industrial <br />land relative to the potential workforce eager to access nearby higher -wage job <br />opportunities; <br />• Ask grant applicants to explain how their projects would advance equity, including <br />helping residents of concentrated and racially -concentrated areas of poverty and/or <br />lower -income households. <br />By using public resources to catalyze investment in areas that have seen chronic private <br />disinvestment —specifically including the concentrated and racially -concentrated areas of <br />poverty identified through Choice, Place and Opportunity: An Equity Assessment of the Twin <br />Cities Region —the Council will seek to help the region grow and prosper more equitably. <br />Because the challenges of racial and economic equity require aligning efforts across multiple <br />entities, the Council will convene multiple partners, including cities, counties, school districts, <br />non -profits and philanthropy, to develop shared plans and investment strategies to address the <br />issues of concentrated and racially -concentrated areas of poverty. The Council will play a <br />leadership role in this strategy, bringing data to the table and co -convening discussions with <br />partner institutions to address both effects and underlying causes. Based on these <br />conversations, the Council may explore funding set -asides or special investment resources to <br />help create opportunities in concentrated and racially -concentrated areas of poverty. <br />6 $42,589 in annual income for a four -person household in 2011 <br />DRAFT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT <br />Last revised: February 21, 2014 21 <br />