Tune into WOL 1450 AM, 95.9 FM or the WOL Livestream on Thursday, May 29 at 10:30 a.m. EDT for Everything Co-op, hosted by Vernon Oakes.
This week’s episode features Dr. Andre M. Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of its Center for Community Uplift. The conversation will focus on his books and how community-driven strategies can help channel investment into underinvested communities.
Dr. Perry is a nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality and education. Perry is the author of the book “Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It,” published by Henry Holt. In 2020, Brookings Press published Perry’s previous book, “Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.”
Perry’s 2018 Brookings report on the devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods brought national attention to systemic undervaluation of homes and extended this research to other community assets like schools and businesses. Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by numerous national media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Bloomberg CityLab, and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on HBO, CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC, and ABC, and advises policymakers on economic equity.
In relation to cooperative development, Perry advocates for community-based solutions such as community land trusts and cooperative investment models. These approaches align with his broader goals of stabilizing neighborhoods, redirecting capital into underinvested communities, and promoting long-term economic empowerment for Black Americans.
A native of Pittsburgh, Perry earned his Ph.D. in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park.