From Cities to Suburbs

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, two out of every five African-Americans now live in suburban communities. Changing residential patterns of Black families have had a profound impact on schools, neighborhoods, and educational outcomes for Black students over the last thirty years. From Cities to Suburbs is a national project that aims to interrogate the relationship between race and educational opportunity in suburbs. The project's goals are to document recent trends in the suburbanization of Black families, describe the effects of these trends on schools and school districts, and assess the extent to which suburbanization has has had an impact on educational opportunity for Black students.

The project to date has focused on the impact of Black suburbanization on the surrounding suburbs of Los Angeles and San Francisco, and will use similar frameworks to study the suburban areas around New York City and Chicago. Future research will also explore the impact of immigrant communities on these neighborhoods and schools.

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