Podcast: City of Austin Economic Development Initiatives

Margaret Shaw

Margaret Shaw recently discussed some of the initiatives of the City of Austin to foster job growth and redevelopment on Economic Perspectives.  To listen to the podcast of this interview click here: Margaret Shaw Interview.

As an Economic Redevelopment Program Manager for the City of Austin, Margaret Shaw helps attract businesses that enhance Austin’s livability and economic viability in a manner that preserves the community’s character and its environment.  She promotes commercial investment by industrial, manufacturing and export/import firms, primarily at/near the Austin airport.  Expanding these industries in Austin helps to meet the demands of an ever increasing population and provide job opportunities for residents without a four-year college degree.  She also helps to coordinate mixed-use redevelopment efforts in the central business district.

Listen to Interview on Predatory Lending with NAACP VP of Economic Programs From July 5 Economic Perspectives

The interview with Monique Morris, the Vice President for Economic Programs for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from the July 5 edition of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM is now available.  To listen click here: Monique Morris Interview.

Monique Morris

Morris discussed the NAACP’s strategy to combat predatory lending.  Since 2007, the NAACP has filed lawsuits against more than a dozen of the largest financial institutions alleging violations of the Fair Housing and Equal Credit Opportunity Acts and racial discrimination. She also provided an overview of the NAACP’s 101st National Convention being held in Kansas City, Missouri, July 11 – 15.

Morris has nearly 20 years of professional and volunteer experience as a scholar advocate in the areas of civil rights and social justice. Prior to joining the NAACP, Morris was the Director of Research and Senior Research Fellow at the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Morris is the author of the paper, Countering Discrimination in Mortgage Lending: An NAACP Guide to Fair Lending, and the principal author of the NAACP’s 2009 white paper, Year One: Toward Safe Communities, Good Schools, and a Fair Chance for All Americans, which was featured in the New York Times. Her paper, Discrimination and Lending in America: A Summary of the Disparate Impact of Subprime Lending on African Americans (NAACP), was featured for Congressman Al Green’s (D-TX) brain trust at the 2009 Congressional Black Caucus and was the focus of her presentation to the National Conference of Black Mayor’s 35th Annual Convention.