Featured Articles

Structural discrimination has led to an unconscious association between blackness and poverty and neighborhood disinvestment. Here’s what we can do to change the status quo. By Jillian Olinger and Kelly Capatosto, published on Shelterforce

June 6 | 3–4 PM (EST) In a new white paper, Kirwan Institute Research Associate Kelly Capatosto turns the lens toward predictive analytics in child welfare, the potential hazards of applying these models without accounting for implicit racial bias and other cognitive and structural barriers that face communities of color, and how those hazards can be navigated.

By Jillian Olinger and Christy Rogers

By Sharon Davies, Published in Liberal Education, There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.—Ernest Hemingway

The Kirwan Institute is committed to promoting human dignity and justice.

By Philip J. Mazzocco, Kirwan Institute Faculty FellowAssociate Professor of Psychology, Ohio State University Mansfield

By Philip J. Mazzocco, Kirwan Institute Faculty FellowAssociate Professor of Psychology, Ohio State University Mansfield

Champion of Children Report

LISTEN TO SHARON DAVIES COMMENTARY ON WOSU’S ALL SIDES “. . . the hands of none of us are clean if we bend not our energies to righting these great wrongs.”  –W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk  

The Kirwan Institute has been actively involved in the Fisher v. University of Texas litigation. We have been involved nationally in strategizing efforts aiming to secure pathways into college for youth of color.

Since 2010, the Kirwan Institute has provided technical assistance to HUD in building capacity for equity in sustainable communities planning activities. In partnership with PolicyLink, and PERE at USC and with HUD’s support, the Kirwan Institute has acted as a technical assistance (TA) provider to assist in building capacity for equity for SCI grantees across the country. We’ve provided guidance to communities on opportunity mapping, civic engagement, and interpreting Fair Housing and Equity Assessments.

The Institute has become increasing mindful of how implicit racial biases shape not only individuals’ cognition and attitudes, but also behaviors. Examining implicit bias research is important for all who work for racial justice. The Institute’s most visible, impactful and influencial contribution to the field of implicit bias in 2013 was the publication of its State of the Science:  Implicit Bias Review.

In March of 2013, Jim Baggett, the head archivist of the Birmingham Public Library, contacted Sharon Davies, Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute, about the idea to have an international day of remembrance of MLK’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,”  50 years after its drafting. Its April 16 anniversary was approaching fast.  The idea was to have the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” read by community leaders in cities around the globe on the anniversary.  She agreed to organize an effort here in Columbus.

Download the full report (PDF) Infant mortality rates are a globally accepted measure of a community’s well-being. And, while Columbus is widely considered to be one of our nation’s more prosperous, well-educated and progressive communities, we have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. Consider: