Clinton School of Public Service 
Capstone Project:

  Demetrious Jordan, a recent graduate at the Clinton School of Public Service and 2021 Little Rock Nine scholarship recipient, officially completed a year-long Capstone project in partnership with Legal Aid of Arkansas this summer 2022. This project focused on analyzing the home mortgage data in Pulaski County, Arkansas to determine whether there were patterns of housing discrimination in lending primarily between Whites and African Americans in 2017; making it one of the very first projects to EVER exist in the history of Pulaski County, Arkansas. This project was personal and a full circle for Demetrious given his past struggles with housing himself as both a child and temporarily as a young adult.

 

     In 2018, KARK 4 News aired a Good News Matter story revealing the almost year and a half homeless journey of Demetrious prior to earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas. Following the viral news clip, he has since traveled across Arkansas and surrounding states sharing the story and educating other [minority] students about how to avoid the same path. This public speaking tour is then what led to him discovering the Clinton School. Jordan enrolled at the Clinton School in August 2020 and, during his first year, was part of a Practicum team that partnered with the Central Arkansas Library System to conduct a public opinion survey to measure local views and attitudes on homelessness, hunger, and poverty. Helping the youth and less fortunate with an emphasis on homelessness and housing has been a primary focus of Mr. Jordan since joining the program.

 

     Based on an analysis of the data conducted during the Capstone project, Demetrious will be working with the Fair Housing Test Coordinator, Kori Witt, to develop a strategy for testing lenders and financial institutions for Fair Housing Act violations. He may also help administer the tests as well. This work could potentially help many families and/or individuals (especially minorities) that face not only hardships due to COVID-19 and everyday life but additional challenges within the mortgage lending business as well! This Capstone project was conducted in cooperation with the office of Legal Aid located in Little Rock, Arkansas. The contact person is staff attorney, Natalie Ramm, and her email address is nramm@arlegalaid.org.

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"An impressive work to be sure!"

 - Lee Richardson

Executive Director of Legal Aid of Arkansas

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***Capstone is currently in the process of being professionally published***

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To still access the entire Capstone paper, please click the PDF attachment below.

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