The Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) is honored to host a lecture by The New School’s Rick McGahey on Tuesday, April 9 at 2 p.m. in Gordon Hall 302-304.
In a talk titled “Economic Development Strategy in Declining Regions: Philanthropy, Racial Exclusion, and Economic Equity,” McGahey will explore the case of metropolitan Detroit as he compares different theories of regional development in declining industrial regions. His perspective is especially relevant as CPPA continues its work with the Wellspring Collaborative, an economic development project based in Springfield, Mass., that aims to strengthen the local economy by channeling the purchasing power of the region’s largest employers through new worker-owned businesses in Springfield neighborhoods.
Declining industrial regions face a host of problems, including sprawl, economic loss, fragmented governance, and, in the United States, racial segregation and hostility. As McGahey compares different regional development theories, he will also assess Southeast Michigan’s New Economy Initiative (NEI), a $100 million investment by private philanthropic institutions. NEI was supported by foundations interested in addressing economic inequality and racial segregation, but the resulting grants focus more on generic entrepreneurial development. The analysis suggests that philanthropy is challenged in addressing economic decline and racial divisions, in part because it does not use a specific framework making equity a central aspect of development.
McGahey teaches at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School. He has a Ph.D. in economics from The New School, and has worked extensively in public policy and philanthropy. His public service work includes serving as economic policy advisor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, as executive director of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and as assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor. At the Ford Foundation, he was director of impact assessment, and he consults with several foundations on strategy assessment.
CPPA is the hub for interdisciplinary public policy research, teaching and engagement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Its program is the 2011 recipient of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration’s Social Equity Award, created to honor a public administration, affairs or policy program with a comprehensive approach to integrating social equity into its academic and practical work.