WSU Urban Studies Blog

  Pascual Vasquez, Ricaury January 25, 2024 The WSU Teaching Garden Highlights I interviewed Isabel and Dylan last semester, to learn more about the highlights of the WSU Teaching  Garden and how the growing & harvesting seasons went this past year. Isabel is the Manager of the Worcester State Garden. Isabel shared her difficulties with the Garden and her proudest moments this year. Isabel stated that her most challenging moments were frosts that happened in the middle of May which affected the growth of the plants, making it difficult for her and the community to harvest/produce. Additionally, she explained the water was shut off for a whole month which made it quite difficult to get water for the plants, having to travel to different places and making sure they were getting enough to keep the plants alive. Another thing Isabel would have preferred is less rain, as it was very rainy this year. Isabel's highlight when working in the garden this year was helping the children a

The Urban Action Institute is taking proactive steps to address the pressing issue of housing insecurity in Massachusetts by organizing its first Housing Justice Summit on March 12. This half-day event, open to the public, aims to bring together various community organizations, housing experts, and city officials to shed light on the housing crisis in Worcester and beyond. Through panel discussions, presentations, and networking opportunities, the summit seeks to foster collaboration and action to tackle issues such as high housing costs, a severe shortage of affordable housing, and increasing demand for emergency shelter. With support from key sponsors like the Urban Studies Department,Th e Binienda Center for Civic Engagement,  Quinsigamond Community College, UniBank and many others. You can read more about the event on the article written by Deborah  Alvarez O'Neil at:  https://news.worcester.edu/worcester-state-university-announces-housing-justice-summit-open-to-the-community/

  The latest CityLab Infographic, entitled WPS Discipline Data Update --2024 , was released in January 2024.  CityLab researchers have been following discipline statistics in WPS since 2013 when Worcester was identified as one of the nation's highest suspension schools for Latino students. At the time, CityLab researchers found a disconcerting disparity in the frequency at which Latino students were disciplined relative to their share of WPS enrollment and a corollary disparity among White students who were disciplined far below their percentage of the student body.   The Latino student disparity has decreased over time, but this is due less to a decrease in the rate at which Latino students are disciplined -- it was 53.8% in AY 2013 and 56.7% in AY 2023 -- than it has to do with Latinos comprising more of the school population. In other words, as the Latino population grows, it is catching up to that group's historically high percentage of disciplinary actions. Further, the di