Invited lecturer to speak on brain drain in low-status communities, offer strategies to retain talent

Majora Carter, MacArthur fellow, Peabody award-winner, and a social enterprise pioneer, will speak about brain drain and the development strategies that encourage talented people to stay in an upcoming virtual lecture. 

The lecture, titled “Community as Corporation: Talent-Retention in Low Status America,” will take place on November 9th at 3 p.m. It is the third lecture in the UGA Center for Housing and Community Research’s series on racial equity, housing, and community development.

Carter says solving the brain drain issue is an integral part of addressing the problem of persistent poverty in low-status communities

Just like companies have talent-retention strategies, Carter argues these communities need them too.

“Communities cannot succeed if their most gifted residents measure their success by how far away they get," she said.

She has personal experience with the challenges of brain drain. Carter notes she could have left her community in the South Bronx but chose to stay and develop a new way to revitalize and preserve it. She advocates measures like building mixed-income housing, creating vibrant "third spaces," and showing homeowners how to build generational wealth.

Carter’s forthcoming book, “Reclaiming Your Community: You Don't Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One,” draws upon her years of experience. It includes her successes, setbacks and struggles as a woman of color confronting the mostly "male and pale" real estate and nonprofit and philanthropic establishments.  Carter’s lecture is free and open to the public. To register, go to https://bit.ly/2YPuHzT

For more information, contact Dr. Kim Skobba, Director of the Center for Housing and Community Research, at kskobba@uga.edu.