Economic Development in American Cities: The Pursuit of an Equity Agenda

8. SOCIAL EQUITY AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CITIES

CHAPTER EIGHT SOCIAL EQUITY AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CITIES Michael I. J. Bennett and Robert P. Giloth The question guiding this book has been whether sustained economic growth and tight labor markets in the 1990s altered the economic and political constraints limiting local redistributive policies. Not only did sustained labor and skill shortages lead to increases in wages and benefits and lower unemployment in the 1990s, but they also created more favorable conditions for developing new institutional arrangements to expand the supply of ready and skilled workers. Workforce development became economic development, and mayors in partnership with their business partners brought together and focused the fragmented and frequently dysfunctional collection of workforce “nonsystems”— welfare-to-work, one-stop centers, vocational education, adult basic education, and community colleges. Documenting these mayoral and municipal policies and programs of the 1990s has importance beyond understanding the social policies of this decade; the United States and other advanced economies will face sustained tight labor markets in the decades ahead because of demographic changes. Our questions for future decades are twofold: Can municipalities and regions can take advantage of tight labor markets to create new opportunities for low-income communities. What do mayors, local governments , and the civic sector require to develop successful responses? Our initial conceptual framing for examining urban responses to full employment drew on theories of progressive cities and the notion that cities required regime change to pursue social equity in a comprehensive manner. That is, they required a redefinition of the formal and informal arrangements 213 214 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICAN CITIES of governance that incorporated new constituencies and new approaches. Progressive cities had to overcome the pressures of external economic forces, such as competition with one another, and the barriers to local collective action that favored business-led, growth coalitions. Progressive regime change of this kind required new forms of citizen empowerment, alternative economic ideas, and leadership and institutionalization to gain power, implement ambitious equity initiatives, and sustain social equity agendas over time. Unfortunately, progressive cities are rare, and rarer still are those cities that embody a populist commitment to redistributive policies. In this light, we have raised the question about whether wholesale regime change, rather than targeted policy and institutional change, is required to develop equitydriven workforce responses to tight labor markets. As Alexander points out in chapter 3, “Mayor [Harold] Washington believed politics and government could be a force for fairness, effective service delivery, and social programs directed toward the needs of neighborhoods.” Reflective of the conceptual framework provided by the Harold Washington administration in Chicago (see chapter 3), the five case cities presented in this book focused creative energy on the goal of balanced growth that leveraged their unique assets and confronted regional and local economic and political limitations. Mayor Washington and other city leaders questioned whether equity and growth must be opposing forces; they argued that equity goals should be embedded in a city’s growth strategies and standards for measuring the well-being of all residents. Presented here are some of the best municipal efforts for crafting and implementing equity agendas in the 1990s. The sobering reality, however, is that even these cities fall short of substantial progress toward closing the equity gaps. While no one city provides an “ideal type” or a model set of initiatives and outcomes, a comparative analysis of these cities offers clues and guideposts for other cities with the public will to invent and pursue an equity agenda in the twenty-first century. In this chapter we do four things. First, we review evidence related to our hypothesis about tight labor markets and municipal responses in our group of five cities. Second, we draw out key findings and lessons from the five case study cities, particularly in regard to targeted economic strategies and measuring social equity progress. Third, we identify challenges that were not sufficiently addressed by case chapters or that twenty-first century cities will inevitably confront. Finally, we offer governing, policy, and program recommendations for cities interested in social equity and effective municipal responses to tight labor markets. WHAT THE CASES TOLD US—WHAT WAS AFFIRMED Our five case study cities both affirmed our guiding hypothesis and raised challenging questions. The economic and policy world of the 1990s did 215 SOCIAL EQUITY produce and reframe the policy debate about poverty, work, jobs, and careers. Our chapters show this: our cities generated new resources for workforce development...