Narrowing school achievement gaps that separate racial groups is essential for the promotion of opportunity and equity in communities across the country. Many of the underlying problems that contribute to these gaps can be traced to the effects of residential segregation and the concentration of poverty that developed in part to decades of flawed housing policies.

But a variety of programs are now being implemented to tackle these problems, through both housing mobility programs and school-based family support initiatives.

Panelists will discuss academic achievement gaps and segregation, poverty and the accumulation of risk factors, and programs designed to alleviate these conditions.

Speakers:

• Cheryl Dunican, Program Director, School Based Family Support Program, a service of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Camden, N.J.
• Jennifer Lee O'Neil, Deputy Director, Chicago Housing Choice Voucher Program
• Lauren Rich, Senior Researcher, Chapin Hall Center for Children
• Margery Turner, Director, Urban Institute Center on Metropolitan Housing and Communities
• Moderator: Kevin Finneran, Editor-in-Chief, Issues in Science and Technology