HUD ANNOUNCES URBAN SCHOLARS FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS
University of Florida's Kristin Larsen is one of ten national recipients

JACKSONVILLE - The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced the ten recipients of its 2003 Urban Scholars Fellowships, which includes University of Florida's Dr. Kristin E. Larsen.

The Urban Scholars Program encourages new scholars to undertake research now, and throughout their careers,
on topics of interest to HUD. Dr. Larsen is in the University of Florida's Department of Urban and Regional Planning;
her grant amount is $52,862, and the specific title of her research is Defining Characteristics and Implementation: Analysis of Housing Trust Funds With a Focus on Florida's SHIP Program.

Florida's SHIP Program serves very low, low and moderate-income families and is administered by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC). Specifically, it provides funds, through 115 city and county governments across the state, as an incentive to create partnerships that produce and preserve affordable homeownership and multifamily housing. SHIP funds may also be used to fund emergency repairs, new construction, rehabilitation, down payment
and closing cost assistance, impact fees, construction and gap financing, mortgage buy-downs, acquisition of property for affordable housing, match dollars for federal housing grants and programs and homeownership
counseling.

To be eligible to apply for the Urban Scholars Program, individuals must have received their Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 1998, and hold an academic appointment at a higher education institution. The grants may total up to $55,000 for expenses such as salary for two summers, graduate assistants to work on research projects, partial
cost of paying for replacements to cover a reduced course load, computer software, the purchase of data, and
travel expenses to collect data and make presentations at meetings.

HUD received some 37 applications for the grants, which were reviewed, evaluated and scored based on the criteria
in HUD's Notice of Funding Availability, published in October 2003. HUD's Office of University Partnerships administers the program.

The 2003 recipients are:

Dr. Kristin E. Larsen, PhD
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Title of Project: Defining Characteristics and Implementation: Analysis of Housing Trust Funds With a Focus on Florida's SHIP Program
Grant Amount: $52,862.

Scott W. Allard
Department of Political Science, Brown University, Providence, RI.
Title of Project: Access to Social Services in Urban America
Grant Amount: $54,590.

Pascale Joassart-Marcelli
Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA
Title of Project: Closing the Gap between Housing and Job Locations: The Role of Rental Assistance Programs
Grant Amount: $54,975.

Niki T. Dickerson
Department of Labor Studies and Employment, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Title of Project: Residential Segregation and Access to Economic Opportunity for Blacks and Latinos
Grant Amount: $52,920.

Tama Leventhal
Institute for Policy Studies, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Title of Project: The Influence of Neighborhood Transformation on Child and Adolescent Well-Being
Grant Amount: $55,000.

Cristopher DeSousa
Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Title of Project: Increasing residential development activity on urban brownfields: An examination of redevelopment trends, developer perceptions, and future prospects
Grant Amount: $51,084.

Nancy Theresa Kinney
Department of Political Science, University of Missouri at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Title of Project: Strengthening the Participation of Faith-Based Organizations in Community Development: The
Promise and Peril of the Congregational Spin-off Process
Grant Amount: $55,000.

Casey J. Dawkins
Urban Affairs and Planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA
Title of Project: Racial Gaps in the Transition to First-Time Homeownership: The Role of Residential Segregation
Grant Amount: $53,164.

Thomas Davidoff
Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Title of Project: Prospects for Expansion of the U.S. Reverse Mortgage Industry
Grant Amount: $50,492.

Stephanie Dyer
Sonoma State University, Davis, CA
Title of Project: Markets in the Meadows: How Suburban Shopping Centers Changed the American City, 1920-1980
Grant Amount: $53,276.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development as
well as enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov.

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