Hamilton College and the Utica Municipal Housing Authority (MHA) are sponsoring a lecture by awarding winning author and journalist Alex Kotlowitz who will address transforming public housing. The talk will be held on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004 at 9 a.m. at the Utica Public Library, 303 Genesee Street, 2nd Floor, Music Room. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Kotlowitz will review the experience of the Chicago Housing Authority in redeveloping public housing, discuss the lessons learned in the HOPE VI program, and speak about positive solutions and future outlook for creating healthy and sustainable public housing communities.
Hamilton College's Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center is serving as the program evaluator for the Utica housing project HOPE VI. This is a major community revitalization project involving the demolition of the Washington Courts complex and the development of 194 replacement housing units in the Cornhill neighborhood. Housing will consist of a mixture of homeownership and rental units. Funded by an $11.5 million HUD grant, the project totals approximately $71 million.
Steven Kambic, MHA executive director, said: "We are delighted to have Mr. Kotlowitz speak on past pubic housing policy and possibilities for creating vibrant public housing communities that embrace economic integration and economic self-sufficiency and promote access to educational, economic, and financial opportunities. Mr. Kotlowitz's speech will help our community learn from the experience of other housing authorities and implement a HOPE VI project based upon best practices."
A journalist and visiting professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, Kotlowitz lectures extensively on race and poverty in America. His two award-winning books have become public commentaries on community environments as factors in race relations and developmental outcomes for children and families. There Are No Children Here and The Other Side of the River were both published in the 1990s. Kotlowitz contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the New Yorker.
There Are No Children Here is a nonfiction account of two African American youth struggling to grow up in a Chicago public housing complex. It spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and it was made into television movie starring and produced by Oprah Winfrey. It won many distinguished awards, and sparked a continuing national debate on the lives of inner-city children.
For further information on Hope VI, call Constance Adams at 315-733-8577. Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research for the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center, is available to discuss the program evaluation. 315-859-4486
