with the East Suburban Council for Open Communities to organize
and fund a city-operated program to attract black homeowners using
prointegration services and financial incentives. Preliminary
organizational work has begun.
Meanwhile, a
fair housing group called Open Door West is seeking to lower racial
barriers in other western suburbs with the support of foundations
and such organizations as the League of Women Voters. So far Open
Door West, a biracial, nonprofit group, has no municipal support.
But the fact that it was formed has encouraged pro-integration
leaders in the eastern suburbs.
MARKET
RESPONSE
Back in
Shaker Heights the conventional real estate market is beginning to
respond positively to pro-integration incentives, Don DeMarco
observes. The results of a multiracial market, he contends, are
becoming apparent: "Shaker Heights is the only inner-ring suburb
where housing values have beaten inflation since 1967. Shaker's
appreciation is greater than twice the county suburban
average."
DeMarco
argues that it is essential that buyers understand racial trends in
neighborhoods when they are shopping for homes. They may buy in
what appears to be an integrated neighborhood only to discover that
they are contributing to the disappearance of the integration they
prize.
Information
dissemination is an important function of the Shaker Community
Services Department. Prospective buyers are told of the
availability of financial assistance from the Fund for the Future
of Shaker Heights and other sources. They are escorted to available
homes for sale or rent. Public officials—the chief of police,
the superintendent of schools, the mayor—have volunteered to
talk to prospective buyers. "We think we are most effective
person-to-person rather than through publications or other media,"
said Winston Richie. "We and our affiliate offices spend hours
talking to prospects."
THE ROLE
OF THE SCHOOLS
Shaker
Heights' civic and government leaders understood early that if they
were to achieve an integrated community that ideal must be pursued
in the schools as well as in the neighborhoods. In 1986, citing a
desire to balance schools racially as a primary goal, the school
board redistricted attendance areas. It closed four of nine
elementary schools and created district-wide schools above grade
five. The remaining five elementary schools are balanced racially.
The middle and high schools, organized with separate schools for
grades five and six, grades seven and eight, and grades nine
through twelve, reflect the racial make-up of the
district.