Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Rapidly growing urban communities have created new challenges for policymakers.  While the redevelopment and reinvestment of urban areas have produced many positive outcomes, there are legitimate concerns that these changes will lead to displacement of long-term residents who can longer afford to remain in their communities.  The tension between newcomers and long-time residents has led to a new set of challenges for policy makers and community developers.  Yet these changes also represent opportunities to deconcentrate poverty and build strong and sustainable communities that improve the outcomes for all residents.  Recent research shows that families who reside in areas of high opportunity realize better outcomes in terms of health, education, and income.  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) aims to improve the outcomes of low-income families through a variety of housing and community development programs.  The Choice Neighborhood Initiative is a large-scale long-term community development project which takes a comprehensive approach to community development.  Creating diverse and mixed-income communities while preserving affordable housing units is at the center of this effort.  However, most importantly, this initiative incorporates a diverse set of actors including policymakers, community-based organizations, and residents into the process.  This collective effort is important to developing appropriate policies that increase sustainability and resilience in the long term.

Fortunately, policymakers are equipped with more information about their communities than ever before.  In recent years, there have been considerable efforts by community development professionals to develop and share data about their communities.  Additionally, the federal government has invested in projects such as Open Data and the Opportunity Project, which provide government data to researchers.  By pairing information provided by local partners with government data, community-based organizations and policymakers are able to make more effective decisions.  Furthermore, recent studies conducted by academics have provided policymakers with critical assessments of the effectiveness of federal policies aimed at strengthening urban communities.  This improved access to data along with high-quality research on existing conditions enables policymakers to develop effective policies that have an improved likelihood of success. 

This paper examines the design and implementation of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative by assessing the interactions of a diverse set of actors within this policy space to better understand how communities change. This paper utilizes the DIAD framework developed by Judith Innes and David Booher, which examines diversity, interdependence, and authentic dialogue as conditions necessary for collaborative reality (Innes and Booher, 2010).  These conditions are met by the Choice Neighborhood initiative which operates as a complex system of interdependent actors who must engage with one another in order to realize the shared goal. This initiative represents an important opportunity to overcome challenges related to inequality to create strong and cohesive communities that are responsive to the needs and resources of the residents.  These efforts are improved dramatically by the contributions of improved access to information.  By sharing information about urban communities, government officials, community partners, and residents can make improved decisions to ensure that opportunities are utilized to help all parties achieve optimal outcomes.