Urban Investment Strategies Center

Assessing demographic and economic trends in order to prescribe policy that leads to prosperity for the urban disadvantaged.
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Business Intelligence for Creating an Inclusive Model of Contracting and Procurement in the City of Durham

Gentrifying cities increasingly are adopting inclusive and equitable development policies, strategies, tools, and regulatory practices to minimize, if not altogether eliminate, the demographic and economic dislocations that often accompany their growing attractiveness as ideal places to live, work, and play for a creative class of young people and well-resourced retirees who are predominantly white. Creating greater opportunities for historically under-utilized businesses to grow and prosper through enhanced local government contracting and procurement is one mechanism through which gentrifying cities are trying to generate greater equity and shared prosperity.
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Race, Old Age Vulnerabilities

African American older adults face a major retirement crisis (Rhee, 2013; Vinik, 2015)). Owing to a legacy of racial discrimination in education, housing, employment, and wages or salaries, they are less likely than their white counterparts to have accumulated wealth over the course of their lives (Sykes, 2016). In 2013, the median net worth of African American older adult households ($56,700) was roughly one-fifth of the median net worth of white older adult households ($255,000) (Rosnick and Baker, 2014). Not surprising, given these disparities in net worth, African American older adult males (17%) and females (21%) were much more likely than their white male (5%) and female (10%) counterparts to live in poverty (Johnson and Parnell, 2016; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2013a). They also were more likely to experience disabilities earlier in life and to have shorter life expectancies (Freedman and Spillman, 2016).
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Do Business Ecosystems See Color?

This article describes an American community survey and a survey of business owners of which the data are merged to assess the experiences of minority- versus white-owned small businesses between 2007 and 2012. This is highlighted due to it being a period encompassing the worst economic downturn since The Great Depression. White firms declined while minority firms grew rapidly. Despite recent efforts to create inclusive entrepreneurial and business ecosystems, however, minority business owners made little progress toward achieving equity or parity with white business owners. Policy prescriptions and implications for future research are discussed.
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A Dream Deferred

Conquering these youth challenges will get us a little closer to realizing Dr. King’s dream.
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The Black Elderly: A Call to Action

In this paper, we develop a sociodemographic profile of the most vulnerable African American older adult households. To do so, we draw data from the 2011–15 American Community Survey, which contains linked housing and person records for a 5 percent sample of U.S. population. This dataset literally allows us to peer inside of African American older adult households and in the process identify the major barriers or obstacles to aging in place.
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Urban Investment Strategies Center Director Jim Johnson Receives Kenan-Flagler Leadership Award

UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School presented alumni merit, leadership and Hall of Fame Awards to business and academic leaders who exemplify the school’s core values and have contributed to its success. Urban Investments Strategies Center Director Jim Johnson was honored with the Leadership Award for his more than 30 years of service to Kenan-Flagler.
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News and Observer Spotlights Jim Johnson on the Importance of Immigrants in an Aging America

Professor Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, recently penned an op-ed for the Raleigh News and Observer on the importance of immigrants in an aging U.S. economy. Johnson co-authored the piece with Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities Vice President Allan M. Parnell.
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African American Older Adults Face a Retirement Crisis

In his most recent paper James H. Johnson, director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, addresses the challenges facing senior African Americans in accessing long-term care.
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Navigating an Era of ‘Certain Uncertainty’

Terrorist attacks. Oil spill disasters. Ebola outbreaks. Our world today is defined by what Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, terms an atmosphere of “certain uncertainty.” Johnson spoke on what individuals need to survive this new reality at the Feb. 12 Carolina Conversations event at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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Urban Investment Strategies Center’s Jim Johnson Warns of Declining Role of Men in Society

Dr. Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, was recently featured in a WRAL-TV report and website article on what he sees as a major problem facing society – the declining role of men. Johnson points to poor performance in grade school, high incarceration rates and discrimination as some of the factors leading to the change. Johnson says the effects will have wide implications, including a decrease in the eligibility pool of marriageable men.
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