Urban Studies & Planning

Kenya Covington

Kenya
Associate Professor
Email:
Phone:
(818) 677-6463
Office location:
Sierra Hall 214B

Biography

Education

  • Ph.D. 2003 University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Public Policy
  • M.C.P. 2000 University of Maryland, College Park, Urban Planning
  • M.A. 1994 Old Dominion University, Applied Sociology
  • B.A. 1992, Kean University, Sociology

Courses Taught

  • Growth and Development of Cities 
  • Policymaking for Planners Research Methods
  • Urban Housing Policy
  • Urban Scene
  • Public Policy Process

Selected Publications and Presentations

Stoll, M. and K. Covington. (2010). Explaining Racial/Ethnic Gaps in Spatial Mismatch: The Primacy of Racial Segregation. University of Michigan National Poverty Center Working Paper Series (2010-2).

Covington, Kenya and M. Stoll. (under review 2009). “Racial Segregation and Gaps in Metropolitan Job Isolation.” Submitted Oct. 13, 2009 to Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy.

Abel Valenzuela, Kenya Covington and Michael Stoll (November 2009) The State of Latino Los Angeles. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. Latino Policy and Issues Brief, No. 24.

Covington, Kenya. (2009). “Spatial Mismatch of the Poor: An Explanation of Recent Declines in Job Isolation.” Journal of Urban Affairs, 31(5)559-587.

Covington, Kenya. (2007). “Evidence of Dynamic Geographic Shifts in Metropolitan Child Care Markets Over the 1990s.” International Journal of Economic Development, 9(3):159-204.

Covington, Kenya and Rodney Harrell. (Winter 2007). “From Renting to Homeownership: Using Tax Incentives to Encourage Homeownership among Renters.” Harvard Journal on Legislation, 44(1):97-117.

Covington, Kenya and William Spriggs. (2004).  “Negative Effects of State Welfare Policy on Recipient College Enrollment.”  Review of Black Political Economy. No. 2 (32), pp.7-26.

Research and Interests

Professor Covington is most interested in examining the impact of social and urban policies on low-income families, single parents, African Americans and other racial and ethnic populations, urban and rural dwellers and their children. She has a multidisciplinary background in sociology, urban planning and policy, with extensive experience in legislative development at the national and state levels.

Dr. Covington teaches in the Urban Studies and Planning Department at California State University, Northridge. Previously, she directed the research department at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc., in Washington, D.C., where she was responsible for the conceptualization and release of major research studies on black male unemployment and innovative legislation to boost homeownership among renters. She has also served as a resident scholar at the National Urban League, where she was primarily responsible for the supervision of numerous research projects. She also co-authored a paper on the effects of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, welfare reform, on the college enrollment of low income mothers.