The Community Equity Initiative

The Community Equity Initiative at New York University School of Law pursues advocacy, advises leaders, advances policies, builds tools, and convenes thinkers to work with marginalized communities to build and expand the conditions for equal opportunity. At the center of community equity is access to critical infrastructure that connects community members to those opportunities. Do members of a community have access to excellent schools, quality jobs, powerful social networks, and other drivers of social mobility? Do they have access to human and economic capital? Do they possess the meaningful and equitable ability to build wealth? And do communities have the resources, institutions, infrastructure, and power they need to be strong, stable, and self-determining places where people can build lives, raise families, and shape their collective future? Our aim is to help create vital and dynamic communities of opportunity where all people have what they need to thrive.

At the core of our work is a philosophy of justice as construction: the belief that justice requires more than identifying and responding to inequality after it occurs. Inequality is built through laws, policies, institutions, infrastructure, and systems that shape access to opportunity and power. Achieving justice therefore requires us to be builders as well—working with communities to design the institutions, policies, infrastructure, and systems that make equity possible. Our work asks not only how we dismantle barriers to opportunity, but what we must build in their place.

The Community Equity Initiative put this philosophy into practice in five interconnected ways:

Pursuing Advocacy: We promote models of community equity through policy advocacy, public education, and strategic litigation.

Advising Leaders: We host convenings, provide strategic counsel, and contribute to building a multidisciplinary ecosystem of community, government, business, advocacy, and philanthropic leaders committed to building community equity.

Advancing Policies: We develop public policies and craft legislation in collaboration with community leaders.

Building Tools: We develop tools and models of community engagement and community empowerment, helping to increase opportunities for communities to influence government decision-making and amplify their collective voice and power.

Convening Thinkers: We bring together scholars, researchers, and advocates focused on building community equity, and support collaborations among these interdisciplinary groups.