DCentric

Young black children have more positive attitudes toward interracial interactions than white children. That’s according to a new study [PDF] commissioned by CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and conducted by psychologists.

Researchers used ambiguous illustrations of black and white children interacting on a playground. About 38 percent of black 6-year-olds viewing the illustrations created negative story lines about what was happening, compared to 70 percent of white 6-year-olds viewing the same images.

But the optimism in young black children doesn’t hold through the years, researchers found. A similar exercise was conducted among 13-year-old students, and by then, the black children were just as pessimistic as the white children. Psychologist Melanie Killen told CNN that black children’s experiences with racism through the years likely explains the dampened positivity.

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• Source: Cnn

“African American parents … are very early on preparing their children for the world of diversity and also for the world of potential discrimination,” said Killen, adding, “they’re certainly talking about issues of race and what it means to be a different race and when it matters and when it doesn’t matter.”

In contrast, the negativity for white children could be more of a result of what parents are not saying to their children than what they are saying. Dr. Killen contends that white parents often believe their children are socially colorblind and race is not an issue necessary to address. “They sort of have this view that if you talk about race, you are creating a problem and what we’re finding is that children are aware of race very early,” said Killen.

Read more at: www.cnn.com

D.C. is an expensive city for renters, but some relief could be in sight. Average rents are expected to drop by the end of 2012, thanks to an increase in the number of new apartments. About 8,000 new units will come on the market this year, which means supply might outpace demand. Low rents won’t last forever, though; rents will eventually increase once all those construction projects are finished and people start living in the new apartments, UrbanTurf reports.

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• Source: Urbanturf
• Via: @housingcomplex

As we reported in January, the rent increases that have made DC-area residents shudder in recent years began to slow down in late 2011 and that trend continued in the first quarter of 2012. Rents for Class A and B apartments rose 2.1 percent for the 12-month period ending in March, and Class A rents rose by just 2.3 percent, compared to an increase of 6.9 percent during the preceding 12 months.

The vacancy rate (3.8 percent) is unchanged from what was reported for the 4th quarter of 2011. This rate is the second lowest for any metro area in the country (behind only the Big Apple), and is “powered by the extremely tight Class B market at 2.2% vacant, made up of older more modestly priced units” according to the report. But that will change in the coming year.

Read more at: dc.urbanturf.com

The redevelopment of St. Elizabeths into the new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will transform the economy east of the Anacostia River — that is, if the project actually happens. The Washington Post reported this weekend on the particulars of how the massive project could get derailed.

Neighborhoods near the St. Elizabeths campus haven’t experienced the same kind of economic revitalization seen by the rest of the city. Unemployment has reached Depression-era levels in Ward 8, where St. Elizabeths is located. But the prospect of thousands of new daytime workers coming to St. Elizabeths has led some to invest in the area. 

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• Source: Washingtonpost

Federal and District officials have promoted the project as a savior that would finally bring jobs and prosperity to surrounding Southeast neighborhoods — Anacostia, Buena Vista, Barry Farm, Congress Heights. The work-a-day crowd with cash to spend also has signalled opportunity to commercial real estate developers whose business was kicked sideways in the recession.

Yet after 10 years of planning and two years of construction, progress is dragging to a halt as lawmakers feud over matters big (how to secure the nation) and small (what offices to lease). A tug-of-war over funding has left the project with barely enough money even to finish its first building, the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters.

Read more at: www.washingtonpost.com

Unemployment has slowly dropped since the recession’s end in 2009, but not all groups are recovering at the same pace. Hispanics and Asians have had bigger job gains than whites and blacks. In fact, Hispanic and Asian employment rates are higher now than just before the recession began in 2007.

But such job gains mostly reflect rapidly growing Hispanic and Asian working-age populations; job growth has kept pace with the rise in adults. Whites and African Americans haven’t seen their working-age populations — defined as 16 or older — grow quite as quickly.

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• Source: Pewresearch

The story is the same when one looks at the jobs recovery for immigrants and native-born workers. Immigrants, the vast majority of whom are Hispanic or Asian, are experiencing a faster rate of growth in employment than are native-born workers. This difference is also roughly in line with the difference in the growth in their working-age populations during the recovery.

Read more at: pewresearch.org

Gentrification is an emotionally-charged subject — so much so that an entire television series will be devoted to documenting a neighborhood in transition.

Premium cable network HBO is developing a new drama series following longtime Latino residents as they face gentrification and an influx of white professionals into their Los Angeles neighborhood. The show will be based on the book “The Madonnas of Echo Park” by Brando Skyhorse.

If D.C.’s gentrification were to get the HBO-treatment, which neighborhood’s story should be told?

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• Source: Cinemablend

The Madonnas of Echo Park will examine the lives of the Latinos who built their Los Angeles neighborhood from their personal relationships to their careers as they struggle to make peace with the changes to their home from an influx of hipsters who are rapidly changing the face of the area. The novel looks at the complexities of two different groups sharing a home and attempting to live with each other’s differences. The plotline seems to echo the sentiments of many such neighborhoods facing gentrification and fighting to keep their cultural identity, and may well resonate with those audiences.

Read more at: www.cinemablend.com