Civil Rights
USDOT will stop enforcing a key civil rights law
The agency will no longer enforce Title VI, eliminating disparate impact protections for federally protected groups.
HUD Investigating Boston for “Redlining Against White People”
The agency says the city is breaking the law by prioritizing people of color in its affordable housing strategy.
Artists Blanket Houston in Rainbow Murals After City Removes Rainbow Crosswalks
Houstonians are responding to the removal of rainbow crosswalks with new murals celebrating diversity.
HUD Whistleblowers: Agency is ‘Systematically Undermining’ Fair Housing Laws
HUD employees say the agency has decimated the Office of Fair Housing, reducing staff by 70 percent, and forced a gag order that prevents them from effectively enforcing fair housing and civil rights laws.
DOJ: ‘Nuisance’ Evictions Could Break Federal Law
Ordinances that allow landlords to evict tenants for nuisance complaints or alleged criminal activity may run afoul of federal protections, the DOJ warns.
‘Ground-Breaking’ Settlement Reached in Detroit Environmental Justice Case
Civil rights activists celebrate a legal settlement that will require the state of Michigan to prevent hazardous waste and other industrial facilities from disproportionately polluting lower income and predominantly Black and brown communities.
Climate Justice Advocate Named One of TIME's Women of the Year
Jacqueline Patterson has dedicated her career to intersectional approaches to systems change and social and environmental justice.
Philadelphia Transit Officials Honor Civil Rights Activists
A ceremony held Monday celebrated people who contributed to the desegregation of public transit.
EPA Drops More Civil Rights Investigations
A lawsuit that halted an investigation in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ is having a chilling impact on other environmental justice cases.
Mississippi Investigated for Civil Rights Violations in Jackson Water Crisis
The NAACP has accused a pair of Mississippi departments of discrimination against Black Mississippians, leading to the loss of drinking water in the state's capital city at the end of the summer.
Biden Administration Targets Five States that Ban School Mask Mandates
President Biden asked his education secretary to see what could be done about states that prohibit school districts from enacting CDC public health recommendations. Miguel Cardona responded by empowering his Office of Civil Rights to investigate.
Trump Takes a Final Swipe at the Civil Rights Act
The Department of Justice has proposed a change to the interpretation of disparate impact in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and many anti-discrimination laws that followed.
Civil Rights and Historic Preservation: A Case Study from Northern Virginia
The civil rights debates of the 1960s and 1970s influence city planning in Alexandria, Virginia to this day.
John Lewis: Leading by Example
When a great political leader dies, the usual stories told about him or her focus on accomplishments that moved the nation. I’ve been touched by the extent of memories about John Lewis that are coming from constituents, neighbors, and strangers.
COVID-19: What About Those Protests?
While not conclusive, evidence suggests that relatively few transmissions of the coronavirus occurred during the widespread protests that followed the death of George Floyd due to the outdoor settings, being in motion and wearing of masks.
Once a Surveillance Secret, Palantir Manual Becomes Public
The secret manual for the use of facial recognition and data collection software company Palantir was made public thanks to a FOIA request. It includes instructions on how to find a complete account of a person's movements.
Eastern State Penitentiary: A Class about the Past Speaks to the Present and the Future
Built as an embodiment of the ideals of prison reformers, the Eastern State Penitentiary had running water and central heating before the White House, and housed the first synagogue built in an American prison.
Seattle Exhibit Grapples With Redlining Past and Present
A creative exhibit highlights how redlining and racist exclusion persist today.
Sources: Trump Administration Considering an Attack on Disparate Impact
The Supreme Court upheld the disparate impact doctrine at the heart of fair housing rules, along with many other anti-discrimination policies, in 2015. Still, the Trump administration is looking for ways to undermine disparate impact.
Under Ben Carson, HUD Abdicates Fair Housing Responsibilities
Civil rights advocates are claiming that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is no longer in the business of enforcing fair housing laws.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
