Stephen Menendian is the Assistant Director and Director of Research at the Othering & Belonging Institute, where he supervises many of the Institute’s research projects and ongoing initiatives. Most notably, Stephen spearheaded the “Roots of Structural Racism Project,” a multi-faceted study revealing the persistence of racial residential segregation and its harmful consequences, the "Racial Disparities Dashboard," an analysis of racial disparities in American society, and the “Structural Racism Remedies Project,” an exhaustive repository and analysis of policy recommendations aimed at addressing racial inequality. Stephen is also the lead author of the Inclusiveness Index, an annual ranking of global and US state inclusivity.
Stephen’s primary areas of expertise are structural racism, civil rights, fair housing, spatial inequality, affirmative action and educational equity, but his research focuses on the mechanisms of inter-group inequality and the optimal design of effective equity policy interventions permitted under prevailing interpretations of law, including the equal protection clause of the federal constitution and California’s anti-affirmative action ballot initiative, Proposition 209.
Stephen is the author of many scholarly publications, book chapters, journal and law review articles and is a contributor to the Berkeley Blog. He has been interviewed and his work has been covered by CNN, Time, Newsweek, the Atlantic, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Five Thirty Eight, The Root, Axios, Bloomberg News, the New York Post, and the East Bay Times, among other print media, and many local radio and television stations across the country (see media mentions below).
Stephen’s most important scholarly publications are: "The Problem of Othering: Toward Inclusiveness and Belonging," a heavily cited journal article defining "othering" and the mechanisms of othering, co-authored with john a. powell for the Othering & Belonging Journal; "What Constitutes a 'Racial Classification'?: Equal Protection Doctrine Scrutinized," a law review article investigating the parameters of federal jurisprudence restricting the use of race in public policymaking, for the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review; and “The Road Not Taken: Housing and Criminal Justice 50 Years after the Kerner Commission Report,” a retrospective report analyzing the failure to heed the warnings and adopt the policy recommendations advanced by the Kerner Commission in the realms of housing and policing, co-authored with Richard Rothstein.
Other notable scholarship includes: “Race and Politics: The Problem of Entanglement in Gerrymandering Cases,” a law review article explaining why the exceptionally divergent constitutional standards governing judicial review of partisan gerrymandering versus racial gerrymandering claims are untenable in practice for the Southern California Law Review; “On Belonging: An Introduction to Othering & Belonging in Europe”, an essay presenting our most recent and fulsome definition of “belonging” and the elements of belonging as contrasted with “diversity, equity or inclusion,” co-authored with john a. powell; and his series “Racial Segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area,” a 5-part examination of the extent, effects and remedies to racial residential segregation in the Bay Area, as well as the heavily covered follow-up reports examining the extent and consequences of exclusionary, single-family-only zoning in the San Francisco Bay Area and the greater Los Angeles region. Stephen also authored a seminal paper entitled "Systems Thinking and Race," which explored how complex systems theory helps make sense of the production of racial inequality.
Stephen’s research tends to have a policy focus or policy implications. His most notable publications in that regard are: “Targeted Universalism: Policy and Practice,” a landmark primer contrasting targeted versus universalistic policy frameworks and defining the elements of the targeted universalism policy development process, co-authored with john a. powell and Wendy Ake; “We Too Belong: A Resource Guide of Inclusive Practices in Immigration & Incarceration Law and Policy,” a systematic review of best or promising practices and policies that promote inclusion for immigrants and currently and formerly incarcerated people, including the possibilities for extending voting rights to both groups; and “Responding to Rising Inequality: Policy Interventions to Ensure Opportunity for All,” a policy brief examining trends in economic inequality and advancing six promising policy interventions to disrupt that trend, co-authored with Justin Steil.
Relatedly, Stephen co-chaired “Race & Inequality in America: The Kerner Commission at 50 conference,” a conference held in the spring of 2018 that brought together the nation’s leading experts on race and housing, the criminal justice system, employment, transportation and health care in order to envision a contemporary racial justice agenda. The proceedings are archived on our Kerner@50 conference page.
Stephen is also an expert on housing law and policy, especially fair housing, disparate impact liability, the use of opportunity mapping methodologies to guide affordable housing siting and development, as reflected in the following additional publications: "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: A Reckoning with Government-Sponsored Segregation in the 21st Century" for the National Civic Review, "Opportunity Communities: Overcoming the Debate over Mobility Versus place-based Strategies" in The Fight for Fair Housing, “Putting Integration on the Agenda,” co-authored with Richard Rothstein for the American Bar Association’s Journal of Affordable Housing, and “Opportunity, Race, and Low Income Housing Tax Credit Projects: An Analysis of LIHTC Developments in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Stephen is also a member of the Task Force that updates the opportunity mapping methodology guiding the siting of Low Income Housing Tax Credits in California.
Stephen developed and co-authored the Institute's Amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. the Inclusive Communities Project, cited by the Supreme Court in its landmark decision recognizing disparate impact claims under the federal Fair Housing Act. He also co-authored the Institute’s Amicus brief in Fisher v. Texas asking the Court to uphold the University of Texas’ race-conscious admissions policy in 2016.
Stephen presents regularly on the subjects of fair housing, affordable housing, racial segregation, zoning and land use policies, structural racism, poverty, the racial wealth gap and racial demographics, Proposition 209 and race-conscious policymaking, voting rights, ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging’ (DEIB), and targeted universalism. In 2022, for example, Stephen was a featured speaker at the UC Center Sacramento, where he unpacked the “housing crises,” and on a panel for the San Francisco Ed Fund on how to promote educational equity.
Stephen also regularly advises and provides technical assistance to policymakers, foundations, non-profits and other institutions on creative ways to promote diversity, equity and inclusion within the bounds of law and on equity metrics, such as measures of segregation, opportunity and belonging. For example, Stephen testified before the California Reparations Task Force on housing segregation and the racial wealth gap, before a joint hearing of two California General Assembly committees on the subject of racial disparities in homeownership and policies to reduce them, and before the Richmond, CA city council on the legality of noncitizen voting in municipal elections. Stephen was also an expert reviewer for the “Stronger Democracy Award,” and has served as an expert witness in multiple disparate impact housing lawsuits. Stephen is a licensed attorney.
- Stephen Menendian featured in 2023 documentary "A Rising Tide" about homelessness in Alameda County
- Interview with Stephen Menendian about soaring housing prices in Los Angeles (LA Times Today) | Sept. 14, 2023
- Opinion: The $1-million home is becoming the norm in L.A. This is an outrage we could have prevented (LA Times) | August 14, 2023
- A Split-Screen Moment for Racial Politics (KQED) | June 29, 2023
- ‘Progress and regress’: Othering and Belonging Institute creates racial disparities dashboard (DailyCal) | June 19, 2023
- A Housing Crisis in Paradise (New York Review of Books) | April 26, 2023
- What makes a city integrated? (ABC5 Cleveland) | Nov. 1, 2022
- Racist deeds in Sonoma County and elsewhere are still on the books. A new state law seeks to get rid of them (The Press Democrat) | Aug. 19, 2022
- Report: Denser housing only zoned on less than a quarter of local land (Sacramento Business Journal) | July 24, 2022
- State bill requires removal of ‘racial covenants’ from California property records (East Bay Times) | July 5, 2022
- Hawaii Is Most Inclusive State as Louisiana Ranks Last: Study (Newsweek) | April 5, 2022
- Study: Louisiana ranks last on inclusiveness index, Hawaii first (Gonzales Weekly Citizen) | April 5, 2022
- California cities thwart fair access to housing (Whittier Daily News) | March 26, 2022
- UC study sees harm in high rates of single family zoning (The Real Deal) | March 7, 2022
- Study shows three-quarters of southern California neighborhoods zoned for single-family homes (KNCC radio) | March 3, 2022
- Here’s How LA’s Suburban-Style Zoning Contributes To Racial Disparities (LAist) | March 2, 2022
- 78% of Southern California neighborhoods don’t allow apartments, study finds (OC Register) | March 2, 2022
- The Lasting Legacy Of Redlining (FiveThirtyEight) | Feb. 9, 2022
- Targeted universalism: A solution for inequality? (CalMatters) | Feb. 4, 2022
- California clearly owes its Black communities reparations. Here's what that could look like (SF Chronicle) | Oct. 21, 2021
- It's time to make up for housing discrimination (SF Chronicle) | Oct 17, 2021
- Consider this From NPR interview with Stephen Menendian (KQED) | Oct. 14, 2021
- Racial residential segregation has gone down in Sacramento, study finds (Sacramento Bee) | Oct. 14, 2021
- Extreme Racial Residential Segregation In Oakland Despite Its Diversity (Bay City News) | Oct. 13, 2021
- California's Reparations Task Force to Hear Testimony on Anti-Black Racism in Housing and Education Policy (KQED) | Oct 12, 2021
- Here are the Bay Area’s most segregated, integrated communities (East Bay Times) | Oct. 8, 2021
- Racial segregation is alive and well -- and gripping America's cities (CNN) | Sept. 23, 2021
- California seeks to make its low-carbon living more affordable (Grist) | Sept. 20, 2021
- Berkeley Study: Salinas ranks high on the list of segregated metropolitan regions (KION 5/46) | Aug. 19, 2021
- California’s housing crisis: How much difference will a zoning bill make? (CalMatters) | Aug. 19, 2021
- The Resilience of New York’s Black Homeowners (New York Times) | Aug. 17, 2021
- U.S. neighborhoods are more segregated than a generation ago, perpetuating racial inequity (NBC Think) | Aug. 16, 2021
- Do you live in one of Memphis’ Blackest, whitest or most segregated neighborhoods? (MLK 50) | Aug. 6, 2021
- Florida city paints a different racial portrait of America (Christian Science Monitor) | Aug. 3, 2021
- East Bay city to look at allowing undocumented residents to vote in local elections (SF Chronicle) | July 28, 2021
- ‘Sea of white’: Marin segregation detailed in UC study (Marin Independent Journal) | July 10, 2021
- Research Traces Roots of Racial Disparities to Residential Segregation (San Francisco Public Press) | July 8, 2021
- U.S. Residential Segregation Is Likely to Get Worse: New Study (Bloomberg News) | July 8, 2021
- New Report Finds Major US Metro Areas, Greater Los Angeles Among Them, Are More Segregated Now Than 30 Years Ago (AirTalk) | July 8, 2021
- Measuring Diversity and Segregation in U.S. Cities (Wall Street Journal) | July 7, 2021
- LA has more diversity but is still segregated. Could that mean more uprisings? (KCRW) | July 6, 2021
- The Only Thing Integrating America (The Atlantic) | July 2, 2021
- Big Pharma Price Gouging; How Segregation Persists; Drones Go Global (Political Misfits Podcast) | July 1, 2021
- Muslim Network News TV interview | June 30, 2021
- New study shows racial housing discrimination increased nationwide (UpFront on KPFA) | June 29, 2021
- Shocking new study shows segregation growing worse in surprising parts of US (The Hill) | June 29, 2021
- The U.S. has become more segregated. That could make gerrymandering worse. (The Fulcrum) | June 28, 2021
- ‘Where you live determines everything’: why segregation is growing in the US (The Guardian) | June 28, 2021
- Your city is more segregated than it was in 1990, new study shows (Grist) | June 28, 2021
- L.A. segregation problems unchanged in decades, study shows (Los Angeles Times) | June 28, 2021
- How segregated is your Oakland neighborhood? (Oaklandside) | June 28, 2021
- What's Making the Bay Area More Segregated? (KCBS Radio) | June 26, 2021
- Researchers Say ‘Chronic Disinvestment’ Has Led to Detroit Being the Most Segregated City In the U.S. (Atlanta Black Star) | June 25, 2021
- Racial Segregation is Still an Issue in Most Metro Areas (Legal Reader) | June 24, 2021
- How 3 Decades of Increased Segregation in the Bay Area is Hurting Communities of Color (KQED) | June 24, 2021
- U.S. Latinos earn less, die earlier in segregated areas (Axios) | June 24, 2021
- Study: Racial segregation is increasing in the Bay Area and across the US (SF Gate) | June 23, 2021
- Sacramento ranks as a ‘highly segregated’ city, study finds. Why it’s worse than 30 years ago (Sacramento Bee) | June 23, 2021
- Othering & Belonging Institute holds residential segregation seminar (Daily Californian) | June 23, 2021
- Bay Area segregation is worsening, UC Berkeley study finds (San Francisco Chronicle) | June 22, 2021
- Segregation Is Getting Worse in the US. The Bay Area Is No Exception (KQED) | June 22, 2021
- Report: Oakland, Fremont among U.S. metro areas that have become more segregated (KTVU Fox 2) | June 22, 2021
- Study: US more segregated now than 1970, including Bay Area (KCBS) | June 22, 2021
- ABC7 News interview with Stephen Menendian (ABC7 News) | June 21, 2021
- Most major metropolitan areas have become more racially segregated, study shows (CNN) | June 21, 2021
- Study Finds That Detroit is the Most Segregated City in the Country (The Root) | June 21, 2021
- The U.S. Is Increasingly Diverse, So Why Is Segregation Getting Worse? (Time) | June 21, 2021
- Bay Area is Becoming More Racially, Economically Segregated: UC Berkeley Study (NBC Bay Area) | June 21, 2021
- The D.C. Region Has Become More Diverse — But Also More Segregated, Study Finds (DCist) | June 21, 2021
- Most big cities have become more racially segregated: study (New York Post) | June 21, 2021
- How American racism is rooted in residential segregation (Berkeley News) | June 21, 2021
- Bay Area has become more segregated over decades, report says (East Bay Times) | June 21, 2021
- Detroit ranked as one of the most segregated cities in the country (Michigan Radio) | June 21, 2021
- Most segregated city in America is Detroit. How that impacts Detroiters (Detroit News) | June 21, 2021
- 'It was traumatizing': Black drivers more likely to be stopped by police in Berkeley, audit finds (San Francisco Chronicle) | May 2, 2021
- Palo Alto's housing debate is a battle over Silicon Valley segregation (San Francisco Chronicle) | May 1, 2021
- Oakland's guaranteed income program caught up in debate over race and equity (San Francisco Chronicle) | April 6, 2021
- Facing Housing Crunch, California Cities Rethink Single-Family Neighborhoods (NPR) | March 13, 2021
- ‘A symbolic step’: Berkeley to end exclusionary zoning by 2022 (The Daily Californian) | February 25, 2021
- Berkeley may get rid of single-family zoning as a way to correct the arc of its ugly housing history (Berkeleyside) | February 17, 2021
- California Cities Rethink the Single-Family Neighborhood (KQED) | February 16, 2021
- SPUR Talk: The Racist Roots of Single-Family Zoning (Streets Blog SF) | February 4, 2021
- Capitol riots: A broader symbol of ethno-nationalism across the globe (The Daily Californian) | January 28, 2021
- Voting rights groups see gerrymandering as potent threat (The Hill) | January 18, 2021
- Can Lawsuit Force Clovis to Roll Out Welcome Mat to Low Income Renters? (Capital & Main) | December 10, 2020
- Here's why Marin continues to be the Bay Area's most segregated county (San Francisco Chronicle) | December 8, 2020
- UC Berkeley project publishes list of Bay Area cities ranked by severity of segregation (The Daily Californian) | December 3, 2020
- Marin County dominates racial segregation rankings in Bay Area according to UC Berkeley study (The Mercury News) | November 30, 2020
- Californians reject affirmative action. Maybe they're not progressive after all (San Francisco Chronicle) | November 9, 2020
- Proposition 13 Under Increased Scrutiny as California Faces Economic Crisis (KCET) | October 13, 2020
- The Racist History of Single-Family Home Zoning (KQED) | October 5, 2020
- History of Redlining, Predatory Lending, Systemic Racism Impacts Black Home Ownership In Bay Area (CBS SF Bay Area) | June 29, 2020
- People of color living in low-resource neighborhoods (Local News Matters) | August 13, 2019
- Segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area (El Show de Andrés Soto. KPFA Berkeley) | February 7, 2019
- The US is much less inclusive than it was two years ago. Here's why (CNN) | December 30, 2018
- Inclusionary Housing (HouseKeys Radio with Julius Nyanda - KDOW Fremont) | March 13, 2018
- 50 Years Ago, This Groundbreaking Report Confronted America’s Racial Struggle (Crosscurrents with Hana Baba - KALW Public Radio) | February 27, 2018
- Opinion: 50 years later, nation faces same racial divisions (East Bay Times) | February 13, 2018
- How Stockton, Calif., has resisted political polarization (The Christian Science Monitor) | October 17, 2017
- Supreme Court upholds affirmative action with no impact on UC policy (The Daily Californian) | June 24, 2016
- Where are you Going to Live? (Sunday Show with Philip Maldari - KPFA Berkeley) | August 2, 2015
- Oakland Building New Housing, But For Whom? (KQED) | November 10, 2014