DCentric

Renters, unlike homeowners, are quite vulnerable to being priced out when neighborhoods undergo revitalization. That’s why D.C. nonprofit Manna has launched a campaign to increase affordable homes for low-income residents to buy. The group is focusing its efforts east of the Anacostia River, which has some of the most affordable neighborhoods to buy a home. But that may not last, given all of the development slated for the area.

Washington Post’s Courtland Milloy profiles Manna founder Jim Dickerson, who talks about how to close the gap between the rich and the poor in D.C. Dickerson says, “Instead of spending money trying to make poor people comfortable in poverty, we could be using homeownership to help liberate them.”

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• Source: The Washington Post

Update (12:53 p.m., Wednesday): D.C.’s Caribbean Carnival organizers tell NBC4 that this year’s parade isn’t canceled yet. The annual event may be held in a different location, and organizers are still encouraging people to register for the event.

Original post: Washington City Paper reports that D.C.’s Caribbean Carnival is no more, at least this year; a shortage of cash has pushed organizers to cancel the parade that runs along Georgia Avenue NW. The parade normally takes place in June, and it’s been a D.C. staple since 1993, drawing together people from diverse Caribbean nations.

Last year’s parade route was cut short because of a lack of funding, and the event was marred by violence that left one man dead.

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• Source: Washingtoncitypaper

The historic Howard Theatre reopens today. The theater, located at 6th and T streets NW, predates the Apollo and hosted nearly every prominent black performing artist during the early- to mid-20th century, including Duke Ellington, James Brown, The Supremes and Miles Davis. It’s remain shuttered for the past 30 years, but a public-private partnership and a $29 million renovation has breathed new life into the storied building. 

Check out these photos from Brightest Young Things, showing the transformation of the theater into a modern-day performance space.

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• Source: Brightestyoungthings

DC’s most talked about new venue is also one of DC’s most talked about OLD venues. If, over the last few years/decades, you’ve spent any time in the general Shaw/U Street area (and lets face it, you’re reading BYT right now so chances are you’ve spent PLENTY of time in the general Shaw/U Street area) you’ve at least once walked/biked/driven past the space on 7th Street NW and lamented how it is a shame that this theatre is resting there unused.

Read more at: www.brightestyoungthings.com

When President Barack Obama was first elected in 2008, most Americans said that race relations would improve, according to the Pew Research Center. But a new Newsweek poll shows that only 32 percent of Americans say that race relations have actually gotten better since President Obama’s election; nearly 60 percent say race relations have remained the same or gotten worse.

One of the biggest sources of disagreement: whether African Americans are discriminated against. Both blacks and whites by-and-large agree that racial stereotyping is still a problem in the U.S. But African Americans are much more likely to say that they don’t have equal opportunities when it comes to jobs, affordable housing and treatment by the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, most whites — about 70 to 80 percent — say that African Americans receive equal treatment and have equal access.

Since President Obama’s election, there has been a decline in explicit racial attitudes, such as overt racism. At the same time, there has been a substantial uptick in racial anxiety among white Americans. That’s according to John a. powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, who studies racial attitudes. Powell cited the birthers movement as one example of racial anxiety.

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• Source: Thedailybeast

It is no surprise that race still divides America; it has divided us since the first settlers landed on our shores. (Even in 1969, in the wake of landmark civil-rights legislation, 59 percent of blacks told Newsweek that the pace of change was too slow.) And it is no surprise that African-Americans are feeling particularly pessimistic after a recession that drove black unemployment as high as 16.7 percent. The surprise is that one of the most encouraging signs of racial progress in our nation’s history, the election of an African-American president, now seems to be deepening our divisions rather than diminishing them. But perhaps that shouldn’t be so shocking either. What the Newsweek poll reveals—and what a review of recent history reiterates—is that Obama didn’t create the misunderstandings and resentments that complicate a controversy like Trayvon Martin’s death. He’s just the spark that sets them off.

In other words, it’s not him. It’s us. Despite the powerful symbolism of Obama’s election, blacks and whites are still living in two different worlds.

Read more at: www.thedailybeast.com

Black and Hispanic patients with major depressive disorder are less likely to get antidepressants from their doctors than white patients. That’s according to a new study by University of Michigan School of Public Health researchers, who examined patient and doctor data from 1993 to 2007.

The researchers also found that doctors are less likely to prescribe the newest antidepressants to patients on Medicare and Medicaid than to patients with private insurance.

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• Source: Umich

The study found that Caucasians were 1.52 times more likely to be prescribed antidepressants than Hispanic and African-American patients being treated for major depressive disorders. However, patient race was not a factor in the physician’s choice of a specific type of antidepressant medication.

“This study confirmed previous findings that sociological factors, such as race and ethnicity, and patient health insurance status, influence physician prescribing behaviors,” said Rajesh Balkrishnan, associate professor in U-M SPH and principal investigator. “This is true in particular for major depressive disorder treatment.”

Read more at: www.ns.umich.edu

Forget coffee shops and yoga studios — the concentration of hardware stores in D.C. is the best way to tell just how gentrified the city is. Washington City Paper’s Lydia DePillis looks into how Annie’s Ace Hardware, a new hardware store in Petworth, is a natural outgrowth of the neighborhood’s changing demographics: wealthier people who are rehabbing old homes.

Gentrification can be a double-edged sword for hardware stores, though. Some, such Adams Morgan Hardware, have been in neighborhoods for decades. But rising rents can price them out before they can potentially benefit from their new neighbors’ needs.

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• Source: Washingtoncitypaper

The stores that do best—like Annie’s and the other new hipster hardware havens—are the ones that heed the new doctrine of retail in the age of the internet: Don’t just sell products. Sell an experience.

Nobody really wants to go to Home Depot, after all. It’s overwhelming, far from most homes, and not tailored to the quirks of old buildings (Schaefer stocks the pipe fittings you’ll need to fix the plumbing in a Wardman rowhouse).

Read more at: www.washingtoncitypaper.com