Considering Racism and How It Shaped Central Ohio Neighborhoods

Monday October 17

7 pm

First Community North, Grace Hall

Presenter: Michael Wilkos, Sr VP of Community Impact at the United Way

Although Columbus and the central Ohio region are outperforming every other Midwestern metropolis in terms of population growth and economic expansion, some parts of the region are thriving while other areas struggle.  Michael Wilkos will focus on the social, racial, and economic landscape of Columbus and how past policies contribute to current conditions.
Michael brings to the topic his long experience as a grant-maker focused on investments in vulnerable families and challenged neighborhoods. He also studies closely the changing demographic trends in central Ohio.

“Like hundreds of other cities in America, Columbus was redlined,” Michael reports. “This practice of denying access to financial tools and loans was determined by completing surveys of both physical and social characteristics of neighborhoods. Redlining set in motion a pattern of investment in some areas at the expense of those that scored low. Subsequent policies like highway construction, slum clearance and construction of public housing were then deployed in these neighborhoods with low scores. The policy of redlining ended with the 1968 Fair Housing Act, and yet 54 years later the impacts of this policy and others like it continue to shape where and how we live.”

Wilkos will examine how past policies have shaped urban geographies.

“By more fully understanding what is driving rapidly increasing housing costs, gentrification, displacement, and access to social services helps us to build a more equitable future,” he says.

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