New Paper by Alan Mallach – Making the Comeback: Reversing the Downward Trajectory of Black Middle Neighborhoods in Legacy Cities

In city after city, the Black middle neighborhoods face the most significant challenges and have seen the sharpest declines across the country when compared to other middle neighborhoods. Black middle neighborhoods lead in the struggle to receive public help, programs, amenities, and more.

In a new paper, Making the Comeback: Reversing The Downward Trajectory of Black Middle Neighborhoods in Legacy Cities, Alan Mallach, Senior Fellow and author of Neighborhoods by Numbers: An Introduction to Finding and Using Small Area Data shares new data and insights on how shared stakeholders can help create a new trajectory for these places across the United States.

Highlights from the research, based on 2000 to 2018 data from predominately Black neighborhoods in six legacy cities, showed that among the 342 census tracts analyzed:

• 70 percent (240) of these Black middle neighborhoods had moved down economically
• 29 percent (100) of these Black middle neighborhoods were still middle income
• Black middle neighborhoods as a whole are losing population, homeownership, and married couples raising families
• Black middle neighborhoods are seeing an increase in vacant houses

“The fact that this is happening should be a matter of concern to anyone who cares about America’s neighborhoods, America’s cities, or the people who live there,” said Alan Mallach. “These neighborhoods have not only a physical fabric that is itself an asset but an economic and social fabric worth saving, that is distinctly part of the African American experience in the United States.”

Get answers on what’s driving decline, revival strategies that work, and how to create strong neighborhood cohesion through informal and organizational networks. Download Making the Comeback: Reversing the Downward Trajectory of Black Middle Neighborhoods in Legacy Cities today.

About the Paper
This report is a summary of a longer working paper developed jointly by Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Center for Community Progress. You can download Alan Mallach’s full Lincoln Institute/Community Progress working paper by clicking this link.