A Geographic Account of Economic, Health, and Educational Disparities in Hartford’s Sheff Region

Abstract

In the current study, I use geographic techniques to examine the distribution of key housing, economic, health, and educational indicators in metropolitan Hartford. I focus in particular on factors that bear upon the lives of children in this area, also known as the Sheff region—a reference to the long-standing Sheff v. O’Neill school desegregation lawsuit. The results reveal substantial disparities in the geographic distribution of important resources and outcomes across the racially and economically stratified region. Despite earnest school desegregation efforts, the opportunities, access, and resources available to children in municipalities across the metro Hartford region remain starkly different. Children of color living in central Connecticut’s poor urban communities are disproportionately affected by a highly fragmented sociopolitical geography. Recommendations are made for more comprehensive, cross-sector policy interventions as well as regional collaboratives.