Word of the month: Disadvantaged communities
“Disadvantaged communities”
This definition is chosen as it relates to public and private initiatives for funding programming that attempts to target communities that suffer disproportionate economic, health, and environmental burdens.
In order to grasp the tension between well-intentioned methodology and policy and its actual effectiveness, please read the following article written by Marisa Sotolongo: a PhD candidate in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. Her research focuses on environmental justice theory, informed by indigenous restorative and critical conceptions of justice, and environmental justice policy applications in the U.S. The article was written earlier this year for the Initiative of Energy Justice blog.
Excerpt:
There is an inherent tension between precision and urgency in public policy decisions that allocate resources to specific communities. On one hand, it is important that the resources being allocated are targeted to the right communities. If “disadvantaged communities” are defined vaguely or inaccurately, an unjust allocation of resources would result. The precision of these definitions is important, and gathering accurate data at a high partial resolution is a worthy endeavor. However, the data gathering and community definition process can overshadow the need to codify such definitions in regulation so that the resource reallocation can begin. For decades, the environmental justice movement has been siloed into commissions and advisory boards, asked for their recommendations for improving environmental justice, then ignored when it comes to material investments in disadvantaged communities. While the initial methodology for identifying disadvantaged communities is important, these definitions can be amended, especially when a government agency is given authority to update and amend definitions as needed. Read more