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� �.. Two black neighbourhoods on Chicago's south side - Douglas and Grand Boulevard were examined by Boyd (2Q00). The borders of the neighbourhoods were originally deternuned by white resistance to black migration. Later, white neighbourhood institutions used urban renewal projects to expand their campuses and construct middle- income housing developments as a buffer against the surrounding neighbourhood. The racial segregation policies, federal mortgage financing and highway construction concentrated blacks into Douglas and Grand Boulevard. The loss of manufacturing employment in the late 1960s and 1970s further impoverished the low-skilled black population. By the late 1970s, the neighbourhoods contained the largest concentration of public housing in the country; their populations had dropped to half their previous amount, and they were populated with mainly low-income renters, more than half of whom survived on incomes below the poverty line. The segregation processes also influenced the class distribution within Douglas and Grand Boulevard: the poorest were isolated into distinct parts of the neighbourhoods, while at the same time helping to create pockets of affluence, concentrated primarily at the northern end (ibid.). 2.2.2. Washington: Distressed Neighbourhoods Illustrate Differences Turner and Hayes (1997) analyse demographic and socio-economic conditions in Washington's distressed neighbourhoods and the metropolitan area. The scholars identify several severe challenges threatening the neighbourhoods: • Almost half (47.9 per cent) of adults over 24 lacked a high school diploma, compared to only 14.8 per cent for the metropolitan area as a whole. One in four (25.6 per cent) 16 to 19 year-olds were high-school dropouts; almost three times the rate (8.9 per cent) for the metropolitan area. • The unemployment rate was nearly four times higher (15.1 per cent) than in the metropolitan area (3.7 per cent), and half (49.9 per cent) of all adult men were not in the labour force, compared to only 23.8 per cent for the region as a whole. Single women headed most families with children (72.5 per cent compared to only 23.1 per cent of households throughout the region). Almost one fourth of households received public assistance, more than five times the rate for the metropolitan area. The study shows that though many problems were common throughout the distressed communities, there were important differences among these neighbourhoods and essential assets within them. For example, high-school drop-out rates varied significantly, suggesting that some schools were more successful, despite the high poverty rates of the neighbourhoods in which they were located. Unemployment rates also varied significantly, with unemployment under 10 per cent in almost one in five high-poverty tracts (ibid.). 2.2.3. New Orleans: Business Disinvestment Basolo and Strong (2002) report on a collaborative neighbourhood study conducted in the Uptown area of New Orleans. After significant growth during the first 4