NEWS RELEASE

Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2004

Contact: Leticia Konigsberg
713/743-8152 (office)
713/617-7143 (pager)
lkonigsberg@uh.edu
DEVELOPMENT OF HOUSTON’S BARRIOS, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE,
FOCUS OF TWO-DAY ANNUAL CONFERENCE AT UH

Noted scholar, social critic and civil rights activist Rudy Acuña will be the keynote speaker at the University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) annual conference scheduled Thursday, April 1 and Friday, April 2.

This year’s topic, “Latino Neighborhoods in Transition,” will provide a forum for other academicians, civic leaders, educators and government professionals to explore the negative and positive aspects of gentrification and the successes and challenges of other urban, social and educational development in Latino neighborhoods in and around Houston. The two-day event is free and open to the public.

Gentrification -- the restoration of deteriorated urban property by the middle and upper classes -- often results in the displacement of lower-income people. According to Lorenzo Cano, assistant director of CMAS, gentrification occurs due to three major factors: lost property value resulting from neglect; individuals living in the area unable to purchase the property due to their low incomes, credit rating, or discrimination by lending institutions; and new interest in the property by higher income groups either for redevelopment for profit, or as personal residences.

“As gentrification gains strength many long time residents are dislocated to properties that are too expensive,” said Cano. “Often, local government officials spend millions of dollars of public funds to improve the previously neglected property to the direct benefit of the new owners. The government officials’ enthusiasm to spend this much money on improvements (roads, sidewalks, lighting,) usually never existed before.”

Acuña has written extensively about the urbanization of people of Mexican descent in the Los Angeles area. His book “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos” is one of the most popular textbooks in Mexican-American history courses. Acuña has been involved in several civil and academic organizations such as the Southwest Voter and Educational Project, the ACLU, and the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies. He has served as an expert witness in school desegregation cases, and in challenging the constitutional nature of California Proposition 209. He continues to teach history at the University of California at Northridge.

The CMAS event is co-sponsored by the North Side Community Development Center; Hispanic Housing and Education Corporation; Association for the Advancement of Mexican American Studies (AMMA); Multicultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts; Tejano Center for Community Concerns; and the Greater East End Management District.

For more information call 713-743-3136, 713-743-3133 or e-mail Lceja@mail.uh.edu or Lcano@mail.uh.edu.

WHAT: “Latino Neighborhoods in Transition,” the UH Center for Mexican American Studies 7th Annual Conference. The two-day agenda can be found on line at http://www.class.uh.edu/cmas/.
WHEN: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thursday, April 1; reception 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Friday, April 2
WHERE: Hilton UH Hotel, Shamrock and Plaza rooms; 4800 Calhoun Road, Entrance 1
WHO: Keynote Speaker Rudy Acuña

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.