Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

Urban Affairs Reporting Class Learns Firsthand about Segregation in Housing

Wednesday, May 6, 2015, By Cyndi Moritz
Share
Newhouse School of Public Communications
Rashida Mims, the subject of a story on My Housing Matters, stands on her porch on Kellogg Street. (Photo by Jessica Iannetta)

Rashida Mims, the subject of a story on My Housing Matters, stands on her porch on Kellogg Street. (Photo by Jessica Iannetta)

Graduate student Brooke Lewis, senior Michael Mahardy and their classmates were not brand new to reporting when they entered Steve Davis’ Urban Affairs Reporting class in the Newhouse School in January. They had done reporting and writing in many other classes. But they came away from this one having learned a whole new type of reporting.

The idea for My Housing Matters originated with a report on housing in Central New York, issued by the asdfasdfasdf.

The idea for My Housing Matters originated with a report on housing in Central New York, issued by local nonprofit CNY Fair Housing.

“I wanted to expose them to a lot of people they wouldn’t have met otherwise, to spend time talking to a type of person they hadn’t talked to before—in other words, not bureaucrats,” says Davis. What he wanted for his students was the chance to go in depth with actual members of the community.

The idea for the class project, My Housing Matters, grew out of a recent report by CNY Fair Housing, a local nonprofit, on the state of housing in Onondaga County. The picture it paints is not pretty. Syracuse, it says, is one of the most racially segregated cities in the nation. And this limits minorities’ access not only to decent housing, but to good jobs and schooling as well.

Davis decided that his class would put a human face on the housing situation in Syracuse. Students interviewed families—mostly African American—whose choices of places to live were limited, or who found their educational or employment choices were limited by where they lived. They interviewed advocates, such as the enforcement manager for CNY Fair Housing, a homeless advocate and the city’s new head of Parks and Recreation. They talked to landlords, lawyers and tenants. They talked to people who had the will to work, but no way to get there.

Brooke Lewis

Brooke Lewis

“I interviewed two single mothers who are dedicated to providing better lives for their children,” says Lewis. “I felt such a huge responsibility to communicate their stories accurately and intelligently because of how open they were during the interviewing process.”

Lewis says she is proud of the stories she did for this project because of the huge effort involved. “In past classes, we usually just spent one to two weeks on assignments, gathered our sources and then moved on. I spent two months researching and reporting on one story for this class, and I feel the most proud of that piece.”

Mahardy learned the value of spending extra time with interviewees in order to get a fuller picture of their lives. “This project taught me how to not only report, but also to really get to know someone through the course of a story,” he says. “So many of the people we wrote about had stories that go much deeper than we could have guessed, and spending an extended amount of time with them allowed us to do them justice.”

Davis is happy with the results of his students’ efforts. “I think the stories are well reported and fairly reported,” he says. “I think the site is good journalism.” In addition to written stories, the project includes a number of videos, as well as elaborate charts. Stories, photos, video and audio pieces, adding hyperlinks, writing headlines and captions, fact-checking and adding metadata so the entire project would be search-optimized were accomplished by the Advanced Editing class taught by Emilie Davis, Steve’s wife.

Mike Mahardy

Mike Mahardy

Emilie Davis’ class also executed a social media campaign to promote the project, because everyone who participated wanted their efforts to actually make a difference in housing policy, legislation or enforcement.

As Mahardy says, “A lot of our interview subjects are hardworking, talented, driven people who can’t surpass segregational systems that have been in place since the 1940s. They’re dealing with issues that should have been solved long ago, but haven’t.”

  • Author

Cyndi Moritz

  • Recent
  • Empowering Learners With Personalized Microcredentials, Stackable Badges
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Hope Alvarez
  • WISE Women’s Business Center Awarded Grant From Empire State Development, Celebrates Entrepreneur of the Year Award
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Dawn McWilliams
  • Rose Tardiff ’15: Sparking Innovation With Data, Mapping and More
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By News Staff
  • Paulo De Miranda G’00 Received ‘Much More Than a Formal Education’ From Maxwell
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Jessica Youngman
  • Law Professor Receives 2025 Onondaga County NAACP Freedom Fund Award
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Robert Conrad

More In Media, Law & Policy

Professor Nina Kohn Serves as Reporter for Two Uniform Acts

College of Law Distinguished Professor Nina Kohn is helping to create “gold standard” legislation on some of the most important issues facing older adults and individuals with cognitive disabilities. Based on her legal expertise, including in the area of elder…

250 Years Later, Declaration of Independence Still Challenges, Inspires a Nation: A Conversation With Professor Carol Faulkner

In June 1776, from a rented room in Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson penned the first draft of the document that would forge a nation. The stakes were high, amidst the ongoing war with the British, to find the right words to…

Philanthropy Driven by Passion, Potential and Purpose

Ken Pontarelli ’92 credits the University for changing his life, opening up opportunities to pursue his passions and achieve professional success that allows him to focus on the public good. In return, he and his wife, Tracey, are paying it…

First-Year Law Student to First-Year Dean: Lau Combines Law and Business to Continue College of Law’s Upward Trajectory

Three decades ago, Terence J. Lau L’98 walked the corridors as an eager student in the College of Law, then located in White Hall. He knew he had been given a rare chance—and a full scholarship—to be a part of…

Ian ’90 and Noah Eagle ’19 Share a Love of Sportscasting and Storytelling (Podcast)

There’s a new father-son sportscasting team on the national scene, one with a decidedly Orange background: Ian ’90 and Noah Eagle ’19. Ian finished his second year as the lead announcer for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and has crafted…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.