New York City is considered by many to symbolize the gateway of opportunity in the United States. The history of immigrant families and communities in this metropolitan region is well documented and an important part of the American Dream. Yet the geography of opportunity has become a local, national, and global challenge. Cities and metropolitan regions are experiencing intensified city/suburban fiscal disparities. The trend toward increased class- and race-based geospatial polarization has implications for schools, neighborhoods, and related social institutions and groups. The resulting local, state, and federal government responses often create new problems. There has been an expansion of the policing functions of government, for example, while the demand for many key social services continues to grow (e.g., housing, schools, health, and transportation). Thus local, state, and federal funding remains an important policy consideration and research opportunity.

Funding is only one of the many challenges facing communities within and across social and spatial boundaries. Many scholars have found that metropolitan education does not share the level of civic capacity that is available for other local ventures (e.g., sport stadiums). The term “civic” refers to actions and strategic plans conceived to support the goal of advancing the well-being of the entire community. Some scholars have argued that “civic capacity” captures the extent to which multiple sectors of a region have constructed formal and informal structures to create common objectives and advance common goals (e.g., the Civic Capacity and Urban Education project). Civic capacity requires communities to move beyond immediate relationships and specific occupational roles toward the acceptance of their interdependence and civic responsibility. Civic responsibility in education requires that multiple sectors of the community—individuals, governments, and nongovernment organizations—accept the charge of creating high-quality educational opportunities irrespective of neighborhood or other geospatial considerations.

This year’s Annual Meeting theme provides an intellectual space for scholarship focused on schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Examples of relevant research topics include, but are not limited to (1) higher education and community development, (2) education and social service partnerships, (3) community-based teacher education, (4) project-based learning in metropolitan settings, (5) juvenile justice and opportunity to learn, (6) fiscal policy and planning, and (7) educational role of the professions (e.g., health, law, and engineering).

While in New York City, the AERA community will have an opportunity to explore research, historical writings, and moral arguments. An overarching purpose is to define, frame, contextualize, explain, and debate solutions to the ongoing challenge of linking research on schools, neighborhoods, and communities to matters of civic responsibility and capacity-building opportunities. Please consider participating in this important intellectual endeavor.