Hooks Institute Publications

2023

The Promise and Peril: Unpacking the Impact of AI and Automation on Marginalized Communities

The 2023 Policy Papers analyze the impact of AI and automation on marginalized communities in three crucial areas.

Khortlan Becton, JD, MTS, explores the urgent need to regulate AI to eradicate existing and potential policies and practices that dispro-portionately discriminate against African Americans and minorities. Becton proposes the creation of a new federal agency to regulate AI.
Susan Elswick, EdD, LCSW, a faculty member in the University of Memphis School of Social Work, seeks a path to us-ing AI and Automation to provide social work counseling to those in need. Elswick not only explores how effective cli-ent counseling is dependent upon access and ability to use technology by clients but also argues that social workers require formal training from institutions of higher learning on how to use AI and automation to benefit their clients.
Meka Egwuekwe, MS, founder and executive director of Code Crew, approaches AI and automation from the per-spective of a practitioner who teaches others to write computer code. Recognizing that the world is experiencing a revolution in how work is performed, Egwuekwe proposes recommendations that reskill or upskill the workforce, increased support for startups and small businesses, and a societal framework that will embrace universal basic income as a resource to aid those displaced by AI and Automation.

2021

2021 Poverty Factsheet

Elena Delavega, Ph.D.
Programs Research Advisor, Hooks Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, the University of Memphis

Race in the Time of COVID-19

Read the 2021 Policy Papers "Race in the Time of COVID-19"

"Race in the time of COVID-19" assesses the impact of the pandemic on exacerbating educational, health, and employment inequalities and the loss of intergenerational wealth among African Americans who have disproportionately died because of COVID-19.

For information on obtaining physical copies of the Policy Papers, contact the Hooks Institute at bhi@memphis.edu or 901.678.3974. Digital copies are available through the button below.

Read the 2021 Policy Papers >

2020

FY 19-20 Hooks Institute Annual Report

Let Every Voice Be Heard: Protecting the Right to Vote and American Democracy | 2020 Hooks Institute Policy Papers

Shanna Singh Hughey and Dawn Schluckebier "Voting with Conviction: Voting Rights and Voting Restoration in Tennessee"
Mitchell Brown "The Criminalization of the Ballot Box: Navigating the Rise of Voter Prosecutions, Charting a Path of Resistance"
Rev. Earle Fisher and Sijuwola Crawford "#UPTheVote901 and the Fight for Democracy in Memphis/Shelby County"

2018-19 Hooks Annual Report

2020 Poverty Fact Sheet

Elena Delavega, Ph.D.
Programs Research Advisor, Hooks Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, the University of Memphis

2019

Land, Economic Mobility and Race: The Tale of Two Nations, One Rich, One Poor | 2019 Hooks Institute Policy Papers

William R. Emmons, Ana H. Kent, and Lowell R. Ricketts. "Economic Challenges Facing Black Men and Boys"
Wade Rathke, Diné Butler. "A Memphis Mirage: How Home Mortgage Alternatives and Increased Equity Firm Ownership Diminish Wealth in Low-Income Communities"
Shelly White-Means. "Workplace Settings and Job Types as Determinants of Health Disparities"

2019 Poverty Fact Sheet

Elena Delavega, Ph.D.
Programs Research Advisor, Hooks Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, the University of Memphis

2018

Climbing Out from Under the Rock: Restoring Civil Rights, Economics, and Social Justice in Memphis and the Nation | 2018 Hooks Institute Policy Papers

Daniel Kiel, JD. The Dangers of a Fragmented Educational Landscape in Shelby County
Demetria D. Frank, JD. Implicit Bias and Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Shelby County Juvenile Court System
Daphene R. McFerren, JD; Elena Delavega, PhD. The Robots Are Ready! Are We? Automation, Race, and the Workforce
Ana L. Leech, MD. Race and Poverty: Disparities in Healthcare at the End of Life

2017-18 Hooks Institute Annual Report

2018 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet

Elena Delavega, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Hooks Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, the University of Memphis

The Poverty Report: Memphis Since MLK

Published by the National Civil Rights Museum

Terri Lee Freeman
President, National Civil Rights Museum

Elena Delavega, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Hooks Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, the University of Memphis

2017

2017 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet

Elena Delavega, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Hooks Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, the University of Memphis

Bending the Arc Towards Justice: Including the Excluded 2017 Hooks Institute Policy Papers

Michael R. Duke, Ph.D., Immigrants in Small Cities: Opportunities and Challenges
Peter A. Kindle, Ph.D., CPA, LMSW. Welfare Dependency and Extractive Economies: Lessons Learned from Pine Ridge
Idia B. Thurston, Ph.D., Prioritizing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Lives in the Era of Resistance and Prejudicial Rhetoric
Nabil A. Bayakly, Ph.D., Memphis and Islam: Integrating Muslims and Islam into the Community Fabric

2016

Race, Class, and Social Justice in Memphis: A Call to Bridge the Great Divide 2016 Hooks Institute Policy Papers

Charles A. Santo, Ph.D., "Transportation, Urban Form, and Social Justice in Memphis"
Simone Tulumello, Ph.D., "The Long Way to a Safer Memphis: Local Policies for Crime Prevention Needs Structural Change"
Eric Groenendyk, Ph.D.. "Ideology and Division: How We Got Here, How Do We Get Back? The Search for Unity"
Daphene R. McFerren, JD; Elena Delavega, Ph.D., MSW. Executive Summary