2015 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture: Anonymity No More: Seeing Our Neighbors in Ferguson and the Implications for Social Policy

Abstract

Ferguson, Missouri, has been characterized as an archetype of structural inequality and segregation. Several questions guide this investigation of Ferguson and its surrounding region. How did policies, practices, and folkways help to create the conditions in Ferguson and the broader metropolitan region? The regional segregation regime’s history provides a background to better understand current conditions. What is the existing state of affairs for young persons and their families in the region? To address this question, social epidemiological methods and geospatial analysis inform the development of a set of visuals to determine if racial segregation, economic opportunity, health and developmental outcomes, and education-related outcomes are spatially arranged. The authors found that these indicators of well-being are spatially arranged and concentrated; thus, they raise another question: How does a politically fragmented region intervene to disrupt concentrated disadvantage? As Ferguson and the region seek social and education reform, the final section offers several recommendations to improve education outcomes through broader economic strategy and social policy.

Keywords

child development demography descriptive analysis desegregation disparities geography of opportunity health policy analysis secondary data analysis social stratification urban education

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