50 years after the Kerner Commission Report, the Passage of the Fair Housing Act and the death of Dr. King, we will examine the reality of racial segregation in New Jersey today and look at the problems and opportunities we face with national experts and local leaders.

Myron Orfield, author of Metropolitics and Douglas Massey, co-author of American Apartheid and a panel of local leaders will present on opportunities in New Jersey to advance a racial inclusion and economic opportunity agenda. Orfield will provide new demographic data on schools and  housing along with political data that will help frame this discussion. 

With a new Administration in Trenton, socially progressive courts and the rapidly changing demographics of the suburbs in many legislative districts, the panelists will discuss how now is the time to advance meaningful reform around racial segregation and concentrated poverty. The demographics of suburbs and the growth of diverse communities and school districts has changed the political landscape and the dynamics of what was once seen as a black versus white, city versus suburbs issue.

After 8 years of the Christie Administration, Democratic leaders are lining up to take on a myriad of pressing issues. Segregation is not likely to be high on their priority list. Despite this, the deep  levels of racial and economic segregation in New Jersey by neighborhood and schools will prevent New Jersey from fully recovering economically and advancing socially. It will hamper economic growth, drive up taxes, undermine local government and polarize the electorate. Moreover, it will continue to doom hundreds of thousands of families and children to poor schools, dangerous neighborhoods and jobless places with little opportunity.