Before coming to CSU, I worked as an applied anthropologist as the Director of the Environmental Justice Policy Clinic at the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia (2021-2023).
The EJ Policy Clinic focused on climate change and social justice. The clinic's goal was to work with a Practitioner-in-Residence to develop a fact-based, historically-responsive, and community-engaged policy addressing an environmental justice issue.
"Wading Between Two Titans" Project
The EJ Policy Clinic's project during my time at UVA was located in Norfolk, Virginia.
The clinic's Practitioner-in-Residence, Kim Sudderth, and I co-developed a feasible policy to address flooding risks and housing vulnerability for Norfolk tenants and homeowners.
The project then received funding by the National Science Foundation as part of a five-year (2022-2027) Coastlines and People (CoPe) Hub grant with interdisciplinary collaborators from UVA and Norfolk State University.
The EJ Policy Clinic focused on climate change and social justice. The clinic's goal was to work with a Practitioner-in-Residence to develop a fact-based, historically-responsive, and community-engaged policy addressing an environmental justice issue.
"Wading Between Two Titans" Project
The EJ Policy Clinic's project during my time at UVA was located in Norfolk, Virginia.
The clinic's Practitioner-in-Residence, Kim Sudderth, and I co-developed a feasible policy to address flooding risks and housing vulnerability for Norfolk tenants and homeowners.
The project then received funding by the National Science Foundation as part of a five-year (2022-2027) Coastlines and People (CoPe) Hub grant with interdisciplinary collaborators from UVA and Norfolk State University.
This project was a collaboration between me and the clinic's practitioner, Kim Sudderth. I managed and coordinated UVA undergraduates, including six research assistants, two interns, and a history seminar of 12 students, with two broad goals:
(1) to assess changes in residential property values and practices due to sea-level rise and
(2) to propose a policy intervention that accounts for historical and environmental housing vulnerabilities.
We used contemporary permitting and property value datasets, elevation and sea-level rise data, maps (US Census, Sanford insurance maps, and HOLC "redlining" maps), and historical sources from archives across the Commonwealth of Virginia (UVA, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University, and the Library of Virginia). We held community engagement workshops (focus groups) in Norfolk to generate local input and listen to community feedback about our policy intervention ideas.
In July 2022, we published a story map, "Fighting Integration with Fire," to tell the story of housing integration, redevelopment, and violence in the Coronado neighborhood of Norfolk in 1954.
Our work shows that less wealthy Black Norfolk residents who live at higher elevations are susceptible to buyouts from developers and other wealthier populations who want to relocate - historical processes of gentrification exacerbated by the changing climate and threats posed by rising tides.
Our resulting policy intervention proposal pairs a renters' cooperative with a down payment assistance program and a network of proposed Community Land Trusts in Norfolk.
(1) to assess changes in residential property values and practices due to sea-level rise and
(2) to propose a policy intervention that accounts for historical and environmental housing vulnerabilities.
We used contemporary permitting and property value datasets, elevation and sea-level rise data, maps (US Census, Sanford insurance maps, and HOLC "redlining" maps), and historical sources from archives across the Commonwealth of Virginia (UVA, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University, and the Library of Virginia). We held community engagement workshops (focus groups) in Norfolk to generate local input and listen to community feedback about our policy intervention ideas.
In July 2022, we published a story map, "Fighting Integration with Fire," to tell the story of housing integration, redevelopment, and violence in the Coronado neighborhood of Norfolk in 1954.
Our work shows that less wealthy Black Norfolk residents who live at higher elevations are susceptible to buyouts from developers and other wealthier populations who want to relocate - historical processes of gentrification exacerbated by the changing climate and threats posed by rising tides.
Our resulting policy intervention proposal pairs a renters' cooperative with a down payment assistance program and a network of proposed Community Land Trusts in Norfolk.
Associated deliverables:
2022 Policy intervention proposal to be presented in two parts, at the Virginia General Assembly and at the Norfolk City Council
Related citations:
-- Articles in prep.
2024 "Gentrification as Coastal Planning in the Mermaid City." Theorizing the Contemporary, Fieldsights, January 25. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/gentrification-as-coastal-planning-in-the-mermaid-city
2023 "Environmental Justice Project Manual for Practitioners: From Idea to Intervention." Manual for the Environmental Justice Policy Clinic, Repair Lab, Karsh Institute of Democracy, University of Virginia.
2023 "Life Lessons: Teaching Water Safety to Address Environmental Injustice and Health Inequity in Norfolk, Virginia." Report for the Environmental Justice Policy Clinic, Repair Lab, Karsh Institute of Democracy, University of Virginia.
2023 "Land trusts may be solution to climate-driven housing squeeze." Guest Opinion, Virginian-Pilot, 19 Feb 2023 (print and online).
2023 "The Mermaid City: Discourses of Threat and Intervention on the Urban East Coast." Paper presented at Society for Applied Anthropology conference, Cincinnati.
2022 "Fighting Integration with Fire" StoryMap published by the EJPC
2022 Policy intervention proposal to be presented in two parts, at the Virginia General Assembly and at the Norfolk City Council
Related citations:
-- Articles in prep.
2024 "Gentrification as Coastal Planning in the Mermaid City." Theorizing the Contemporary, Fieldsights, January 25. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/gentrification-as-coastal-planning-in-the-mermaid-city
2023 "Environmental Justice Project Manual for Practitioners: From Idea to Intervention." Manual for the Environmental Justice Policy Clinic, Repair Lab, Karsh Institute of Democracy, University of Virginia.
2023 "Life Lessons: Teaching Water Safety to Address Environmental Injustice and Health Inequity in Norfolk, Virginia." Report for the Environmental Justice Policy Clinic, Repair Lab, Karsh Institute of Democracy, University of Virginia.
2023 "Land trusts may be solution to climate-driven housing squeeze." Guest Opinion, Virginian-Pilot, 19 Feb 2023 (print and online).
2023 "The Mermaid City: Discourses of Threat and Intervention on the Urban East Coast." Paper presented at Society for Applied Anthropology conference, Cincinnati.
2022 "Fighting Integration with Fire" StoryMap published by the EJPC