Reviewing Concentrated Poverty Literature Through an Antiblackness Lens to Reveal a Concentrated Debt

Abstract

The relationship between concentrated poverty and educational outcomes has received substantial attention in academic research over the last 3 decades. Researchers have argued that neighborhood characteristics are associated with academic achievement, educational attainment, dropout rates, college entry, cognitive abilities, attendance, and grade repetition. Given that Black students constitute a large proportion of those living in concentrated poverty, coupled with the urgency of contemporary times where state-sanctioned violence is on full display in the United States, assessing how education scholars are conceptualizing concentrated poverty is vital. Utilizing an antiblackness lens to critically review 64 recent articles addressing concentrated poverty and educational outcomes, we explicitly drew on anti-Black scholarship to expand the discourse from “concentrated poverty” to a “concentrated debt.” A concentrated debt constitutes education, racial capital, placemaking, and humanity debts. We argue that to address these debts, we must move beyond deficits, lacks, and disorganization of Black neighborhoods and toward humanizing Black students and their families by investing in their homes, schools, and communities.