Henry Louis Taylor, Jr.

Dr.  Henry Louis Taylor, Jr. research focuses on a historical and contemporary analysis of distressed urban neighborhoods, social isolation and race and class issues among people of color, especially African Americans and Latinos. 

Within this framework, Taylor’s research also focuses on these issues in Cuba, the Caribbean Islands and Latin America.  Lastly, Taylor is concerned with the redevelopment of shrinking cities and metropolitan cities, with a focus on social, economic and racial justice.

B.S. (Speech Pathology) Tennessee A&I State University
M.S. (Audiology) University of Tennessee
M.A. (Urban History) University at Buffalo
Ph.D. (Urban History) University at Buffalo

Dr. Taylor coordinates the Neighborhood Planning and Community Development Specialization and teaches courses in central city revitalization, urban management, and race, class and gender and the city.  Taylor also coordinates the Center for Urban Studies’Urban Internship Program, which creates opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to become involved in neighborhood redevelopment initiatives and in research projects.

Dr. Taylor is a member of the Steering Committee of the Anchor Institutions Task Force, a national organization that develops and disseminates knowledge to help create and advance democratic, mutually beneficial anchor institution-community partnerships.  Also, he is a member of the Board of Overseers of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York.  Taylor has serviced on the governing boards of the Urban Affairs Association and the Urban History Association.  He is on the Board of the Editors of Universities and Community Schools, published by Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, and is the planning coordination for the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s Perry Choice Neighborhood Initiative and the founder of the Perry Choice Neighborhood History Project.  He created the Cyberhood (thecyberhood.net) on behalf of the Urban Affairs Association.

• “Neighborhoods Matter:  The Role of Universities in the School Reform Neighborhood Development Movement, Peabody Journal of Education, 88(5), 541-563, 2013. (With Linda McGlynn and Gavin Luter).
•  “Beyond the Poverty Paradigm: The Neoliberal City and the Low-income Worker. The Buffalo, New York experience,” with Linda McGlynn and Gavin Luter. In Barbara Wejnert (ed.) Voices of Globalization (Research in Political Sociology, 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.161-180. 2013.
•   “Back to the Future: Public Schools as Neighborhood Anchors Institutions—The Choice Neighborhood Initiative in Buffalo, New York,” with Linda McGlynn and Gavin Luter.  In Kelly L. Patterson, Robert Mark Silverman (eds.), Schools and Urban Revitalization: Rethinking Institutions and Community Development, New York and London, Routledge, pp. 109-135. 2013.
• Editor, Special Edition, Eugenie Birch and David C. Perry. Journal of Higher Education Outreach & Engagement, 17, (3). (2013); “Universities as Anchor Institutions,” Journal of Higher Education Outreach & Engagement 17 (3), pp. 7 -15. 2013. (with Eugenie Birch and David C. Perry).
• “Participatory democracy, neighbourhood revitalization and the promise of the University at Buffalo.” In Sjur Bergan, Ira Harkavy, Hilligje Van’t Land (eds) Reimagining democratic societies: A new era of personal and social responsibility, Strasburg, France: Council of Europe Publishing. 2013.
• Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., The Historic Roots of the Crisis in Housing Affordability: The Case of Buffalo, New York, 1920-1950 (2011), in Robert Mark Silverman, Kelly L. Patterson (eds.), Fair and Affordable Housing in the U.S.: Trends, Outcomes and Future Directions. Boston: Brill, 2011 and Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2012.
•  “Including Voices of the Excluded: Lessons from Buffalo, NY” with Kelly Patterson and Robert Silverman. In J. Peter Rothe, Linda J. Carroll, Dejan Ozegovic (eds.) Deliberations in Community Development: Balancing on the Edge, Hauppauge, NY:  Nova Publishers, 2011.
• “Cincinnati in the Gilded Age, 1877-1896,” in Cities in American Political History, ed. Richardson Dilworth, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage: CQ Press. pp. 331-336. 2011.
•  “The Community as Classroom Initiative: The Case of Futures Academy in Buffalo, New York,” Universities and Community Schools 8(1-2), 2010, pp. 31- 43. (with Linda McGlynn).
•  Inside El Barrio: A Bottom-Up View of Neighborhood Life in Castro’s Cub. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2009 and Korean edition, Seoul: Samcheolli Publishing Company, 2010.
•  “The connection: Schooling, youth development, and community building---The Futures Academy case,” New Directions for Youth Development No. 122. Summer 2009, pp. 19-41. (with Linda McGlynn).
• “Solving the Dewey Problem: Where Do We Go From Here?” The Good Society, 17(2), 52-56. 2009. With Linda McGlynn.
•  “Using Capitalism to Save Socialism: International Tourism in Havana, Cuba,” doi:10.1016/J.Futures.11.012, 2008. With Linda McGlynn.
•  “The Role of Citizen Participation and Action Research Principles in Main Street Revitalization: An Analysis of a Local Planning Project,” Action Research, 6 (1): 69-93. 2008. With Robert Mark Silverman and Christopher G. Crawford.
• “Connecting Community Development and Urban School Reform. In Urban Education with an Attitude: Linking Theory, Practice, and Community, ed. Lauri Johnson, Mary E. Finn, and Rebecca Lewis. Albany: SUNY Press, pp. 41-57. 2005.
• Historical Roots of the Urban Crisis:  African Americans in the Industrial City, 1900-1950. New York: Garland Publishers, 2000.  With Walter Hill, eds..

2012 Lee Benson Activist Scholar Award, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania, November 12, 2012;  2009 U.S. Small Business Administration—Buffalo District Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year.  The award is based on Taylor’s role in founding and developing the Allstate Minority & Women Emerging Entrepreneurs Program, one of the top minority & women business support programs in the United States;  2008.   Outstanding Program Award—East Side Neighborhood Transformation Partnership (ESNTP).  The Community Development Society;  2008 Time Magazine Quote of the Week on how Americans have lost sight of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s message, January 21;   2005 Distinguished Leadership, Michael J. Krasner Professional Planner Award,   American Planning Association, New York Upstate Chapter and Western New York Section;  2005 Outstanding Planning Award, Planning Implementation, Conceptual Transit-Orientated Development Plan for the Allen-Medical Campus and Summer-Best Stations, Buffalo New York (David Gamble, Chan Krieger & Associates, Michael Pratt, Watts Engineers, Henry L. Taylor, Daniel Hess, Peter Lombardi, and Jane Humphreys, Center for Urban Studies, UB);  2001  The Fannie Mae Foundation Award for the Best Action Research  Paper in Housing and Community Development at the 2001 Associate of Collegiate Schools of Planning National Conference;  2000 YMCA Toast to Buffalo Award for Distinguished Leadership.