Five students will soon begin a two-year research project examining the potential social justice and public health impacts of living in neighborhoods that have experienced the historical discriminatory practice of redlining. That is a practice where, for decades, financial institutions designated certain neighborhoods—primarily Black ones—as poor credit risks, making it difficult for residents there to own homes or improve their properties.
The students, recently named 2024-26 Lender Center for Social Justice student fellows, will work with Miriam Mutambudzi, assistant professor of public health in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, who is the 2024-26 Lender Center faculty fellow.
They are:
- Tomiwa (“Tommy”) DaSilv ’26, dual major in public health in the Falk College and policy studies and citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
- Adara (“Darla”) Hobbs ’22 G ‘26, a graduate student in Pan African studies in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S)
- Jamea Johnson ’25, a psychology major in A&S
- Sabrina Lussier ’26, a triple major in geography, citizenship and civic engagement, and environmental sustainability and policy in the Maxwell School
- Shreya Potluri ’27, an architecture major in the School of Architecture
Hobbs, of Syracuse, earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and rhetorical studies from the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She has worked for more than a decade with the Syracuse City School District as a teaching assistant, art teacher and as a diversity, equity and belonging building lead. Hobbs is currently researching the historical and contemporary impacts of redlining on Syracuse’s Black and Latino communities.
Her project, “The Past, Present and Future: An Overview of Redlining in the City of Syracuse,” examines the legacy of residential redlining and resident displacement from the 15th Ward and the ongoing I-81 viaduct project. She also contributed to the development of themes and aesthetic elements for the Barner-McDuffie house, the University’s first Black student center.
Johnson, from Grand Prairie, Texas, has extensive experience in public service, entrepreneurship and community engagement. She is a Congressional intern for New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, working on legislative research, policy development and constituent service. She’s also founder and chief executive officer of Black Girls Garden, an organization that teaches young Black girls and women in low-income living situations to grow their own food to combat food insecurity and poor nutrition.
She took first place in the 2023 Blackstone LaunchPad Small Business Pitch Contest for that startup and also received the 2023 Black Honor Society’s Community Service Leadership Award. On campus, she is Residence Hall Association president and a member of the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble.
Lussier, from the Washington, D.C., area, is an honors student and Maxwell Leadership Scholar. She is a STOP Bias peer educator, a resident advisor for the MORE in Leadership Living Learning Community and has spent the past year working for the Syracuse Neighborhood and Business Development Office.
Her research and academic interests focus on how urban planning intersects with community engagement, social justice and sustainability. Her citizenship capstone and honors thesis looks at the effect of freeway demolition on marginalized communities, focusing on Syracuse’s East Adams neighborhood near I-81 in the historic 15th ward.
Potluri, of Frisco, Texas, is interested in research pertaining to social justice, urban planning and housing. She has researched student learning environments, minority students’ experiences and accessibility to community spaces and facilities in the Syracuse community, along with how architecture is connected to social justice.
Project examines how Black adults who reside in what have been historically redlined neighborhoods can experience a disadvantaged occupational life course and subsequent health consequences. She says that while redlining began in the 1930s, it has resulted in decades of urban decay and poverty for those neighborhoods that has left a legacy of social and economic disadvantage that continues today.
In addition to Mutambudzi’s role as an assistant professor of public health, she is also a faculty affiliate of the Center for Aging and Policy Studies, Aging Studies Institute and Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at the Maxwell School.
A Syracuse University News story by Diane Stirling originally published on Oct. 31, 2024.