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(THREAD) In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth 
, each Thursday this month we will be bringing you stories about the issues, places, and people who shaped Black history throughout our community and how those stories are connected to our ongoing equity work. #LiveUnited
, each Thursday this month we will be bringing you stories about the issues, places, and people who shaped Black history throughout our community and how those stories are connected to our ongoing equity work. #LiveUnited
We start today with an important topic: redlining. Redlining "refers to a discriminatory pattern of disinvestment and obstructive lending practices that act as an impediment to home ownership among African Americans and other people of color" ( https://bit.ly/3cKV1At ) #LiveUnited
Following passage of the New Deal, the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) was created with the express purpose of preventing foreclosures and facilitating home ownership. #LiveUnited
To do this, HOLC and other agencies reviewed city maps and designated certain areas as good for investment (shaded in green, yellow and blue). These neighborhoods would receive preferential treatment when it came to home loans. #LiveUnited
Meanwhile, those areas shaded in red were considered unfit for investment. More often than not, the sole criteria used to distinguish neighborhoods as "unfit" for investment was race. #LiveUnited
Unfortunately, Topeka was not immune to this practice. This is a Redlined map of the city of Topeka from 1927. In areas shaded in green (i.e. good for investment) there are notations such as "restricted against the encroachment of Negroes." #LiveUnited
In one yellow shaded area near downtown, you find the annotation "This small area among the best sections of the city is blighted because of the presence of negroes. Most of it is undeveloped." #LiveUnited
Meanwhile, in one of the largest tracts outlined in red on the east side of town, the annotation reads "The western portion of this large area consists of a variety of foreigners and negroes." #LiveUnited
In this illustration, watch as the map moves from 1927 to a present day version of the City of Topeka Neighborhood health map. Keep your eye on the red neighborhoods from 1927. Notice anything? Many of those same neighborhoods are today classified as unhealthy. #LiveUnited
This is why our work focuses on "systems change." Redlining is now illegal, but we can't begin to address issues of poverty, healthcare, or school readiness until we address the decades of discrimination and uneven investment that have shaped many neighborhoods. #LiveUnited
A band-aid approach cannot fix 80+ years of systemic inequity. This is why we partner with agencies, individuals, and businesses to develop strategic and long-term solutions to these challenges. #LiveUnited
Source Info: Redlined map of Topeka is courtesy of "Mapping Inequality", a project of the University of Richmond's Digital Services Lab. You can learn more about their research, and look up other city redline maps, here: https://bit.ly/3trIEio #LiveUnited
