The Kehrein Center for the Arts Foundation on Saturday will host “Building Black Wealth in Austin,” a free symposium that will reflect on the past, present and future of housing in Austin.
Austin native Reesheda Graham Washington, a nonprofit leader, author and educator, will moderate the symposium, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Kehrein Center for the Arts, 5628 W. Washington Blvd. It will also livestream on Facebook and YouTube.
The symposium, sponsored by Oak Park Bank, a Wintrust Community Bank, will examine the history of housing in Austin, including contract buying and redlining, the present situation and will look to the future, with action steps on building Black wealth back into the neighborhood.
Amber S. Hendley, co-author of The Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago: New Findings on the Lasting Toll of Predatory Housing Contracts, a 2019 study published by the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University, will present her research on how the equity extracted unjustly from the community during the Second Great Migration affects the current housing market on the West Side.
Tonika Johnson will also discuss her Folded Map™ Project, which visually connects residents who live at corresponding addresses on the North and South sides of Chicago. She will investigate what urban segregation looks like and how it impacts Chicago residents.
Darrel Washington will also facilitate two panel discussions with community leaders that will examine the current situation of the housing market and how to rebuild Black wealth.
Free tickets are available here. Registrants may attend in person at the Kehrein Center for the Arts or via livestream on YouTube or Facebook. During the event, participants will be able to submit questions and comments via livestream platforms.
This is the second symposium hosted by the newly-formed nonprofit Kehrein Center for the Arts Foundation at the new community center. It is dedicated to the memory of Jack Macnamara, lead organizer of the Contract Buyers League, a group of African-American home buyers who joined together in 1968 to fight exploitive real estate contract sales.
For more information, contact Vanessa Stokes at (773) 600-8046 or vscreativeconsulting@gmail.com.