How Much Does Policing Really Cost?

The National Equity Atlas is excited to announce the release of our latest data tool — At What Cost? Examining Police, Sheriff, and Jail Budgets Across the US. The interactive dashboard explores how much cities and counties across the nation spend on policing and incarceration.


Research has shown that local governments in the United States are dedicating more funds to carceral systems, like jails and law enforcement. At What Cost? sheds further light on this trend. Using data from the fiscal year 2022 budget allocations of 20 US cities and counties, the dashboard compares local spending on carceral activities with money allocated toward community investments that contribute to residents’ well-being — like housing, health care, and social services.


What the Dashboard Does

At What Cost? is a valuable tool for anyone working to promote transparency and accountability in local government. It enables users, including residents, advocates, and policymakers, to:

  • Understand how their tax dollars are being spent.
  • Assess their community’s spending priorities and compare them to other cities and counties.
  • Identify budget trends, funding disparities, and potential areas for reform.

How to Navigate the Dashboard

Unsure where to get started? We've developed a user guide to help you make full use of the dashboard and its data. It highlights key features and provides step-by-step instructions on accessing and interpreting local budget data.

Get Further Support

Have questions about the dashboard or its data? Explore our frequently asked questions. Don't see your question listed, or need one-on-one support? Please submit a request.

Fewer and Fewer Small Businesses Are Getting Federal Contracts

Our analysis of federal data shows that the number of small businesses contracting with the federal government shrank dramatically over the past decade and federal purchasing — and the economic opportunities it generates — is highly concentrated in just a few congressional districts.

By Sarah Treuhaft, Eliza McCullough, Michelle Huang, and Tracey Ross

The federal government is the nation’s largest purchaser of goods and services, spending more than half a trillion dollars on contracts every year. This buying power is a crucial catalyst for equitable economic development across the country, creating scores of opportunities for businesses along a vast supply chain. Recognizing the value of its purse, the federal government has an official policy to ensure that small businesses, as well as entrepreneurs who face systemic barriers to business development and growth, have “maximum practicable opportunity” to access these contracting opportunities. 

In 2020, the federal government spent 26 percent of its contracting budget on small businesses (a total of $145.7 billion), exceeding its goal of 23 percent. Yet, our review of federal data reveals that while the total dollar amount going to small businesses has increased, the number of small businesses doing business with the federal government has plummeted over the past decade. About forty percent fewer small businesses fulfilled federal contracts in 2020 compared with 2010, and every year, fewer and fewer small companies sell their goods and services to the federal government. 

This dramatic decline in contracting opportunities matters because of the outsized role that small businesses — and particularly small businesses owned by people of color — must play in an equitable recovery and economic future. Research has shown that in the face of chronic labor market discriminationsegregation, and disinvesment in communities of color, businesses owned by people of color are more likely to hire people of color than other firms and also generate increased economic activity in communities of color. Entrepreneurship can also help close the racial wealth gap. But while workers of color start businesses at above-average rates, persistent barriers to accessing capital, networks, and business support translate into lower revenue growth for entrepreneurs of color. Federal contracting is an important pathway for business expansion and growth that can have ripple effects in communities that bear the heaviest burdens of structural racism and were hit hardest by the pandemic.

Here are key findings from our review of the data.

There has been a dramatic decline in the number of small business doing business with the federal government over the past decade

In 2010, about 125,000 small businesses contracted with the federal government. That number has shrunk year after year and by 2020, just under 76,000 small businesses fulfilled federal contracts — a 39 percent decline. Although a larger share of federal contracts are going to small businesses, fewer small businesses — and fewer communities — are benefiting from these business opportunities.

In addition to the shrinking overall number of small businesses contracting with the federal government, fewer small businesses are newly entering into federal contracts. While the federal government contracted with 23,000 new small business vendors in 2012, in 2019 just 9,400 new small businesses entered the federal marketplace.

Less than 16 percent of total government procurement is from small businesses owned by people of color and women

Today, people of color are 39 percent of the population and own 29 percent of all American businesses, yet entrepreneurs of color receive less than 12 percent of federal government contracting dollars.* While this exceeds the official contracting goal of five percent, it is far from being proportionate and even further from proactively advancing racial equity in business ownership. And while women own 42 percent of American companies and women of color start businesses at the fastest rate of all racial/gender groups, the federal government fell shy of meeting its 5 percent contracting goal for small women-owned businesses in 2020.

Federal contracts with small businesses are highly concentrated in just a few communities — exacerbating spatial inequities

Examining the geographic spread of federal contracts to small businesses, we found that federal contracts are highly concentrated in just a few congressional districts. There are 17 congressional districts that each had more than $1 billion in small business contracts with the federal government in 2020 — 12 of them in Virginia and Maryland. While federal contracts do go to businesses located in every congressional district, these 17 districts — which are home to just four percent of the population — received 43 percent of small business procurement. As economic opportunity continues to concentrate in a smaller number of communities, achieving greater spatial equity in federal procurement is a critical strategy to foster shared prosperity and an inclusive recovery.

 

The Build Back Better Plan offers solutions to unlock contracting opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs of color

As Congress debates more than $4 trillion in spending on infrastructure and President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda, leveraging federal procurement to strengthen and rebuild local economies is a public and policy priority. One element of the proposed Build Back Better Plan is a set of programs through whic the Small Business Administration will partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other institutions that serve communities of color to uplift the next generation of Black-, Latinx-, and Tribal-owned small businesses through federal contracting. Together, these programs would invest $2.4 billion over ten years to establish business incubators and business development programs in underrepresented communities and support small businesses to meet evolving technological needs. 

A 2019 pilot conducted with the Bowie State University, an HBCU, shows that this type of support works: the University's accelerator program worked with 32 companies that went on to secure $26 million in government contracts. 

Given the clear trend of declining contracting opportunities, this plan to democratize access to federal contracts and foster inclusive business development is a timely intervention to ensure an equitable recovery and economic future.

 

*The federal government sets contracting goals for “small disadvantaged businesses” which are at least 51 percent owned by one or more people “who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities.” 

Rent Debt Continues to Burden Renters Across the Nation

Dear Atlas users,

Millions of households across the United States are still struggling with massive amounts of back rent, putting them and their families at risk for eviction. Use the Rent Debt Dashboard to delve deeper into the latest data on rent debt in the US. Here are more updates from the Atlas:

Landmark Settlement Reached on Behalf of Californians Struggling with Pandemic Rent Debt

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE Action), Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), and PolicyLink — represented by Western Center on Law & Poverty, Public Counsel, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and Covington & Burling LLP — have settled a major lawsuit against the California Department of Housing & Community Development (HCD) over the administration of the statewide Covid-19 rent relief program. In June 2022, the advocacy groups sued HCD for several systemic failures in the program, including a confusing application process that led eligible tenants to be wrongfully denied assistance. According to Atlas analyses, more than 460,000 California renter households applied to the program and more than 100,000 households are still waiting for a decision on their applications. The agreement requires HCD to give pending and denied applicants a fair chance to receive Covid-19 rental assistance. To learn more about the settlement and what it means for tenants, visit carentrelief.org.

Data Update: Rent Debt Dashboard

Rent debt remains at crisis levels across the nation. To continue supporting advocacy efforts and policy action, we’ve updated the Rent Debt Dashboard. The latest data shows that nearly six million renter households remain behind on their rent as of May 8 — about double the pre-pandemic baseline. Altogether, they owe more than $10 billion in total rent debt, with the majority of those behind on rent being low-income people of color.

ICYMI: The Uneven Geography of Affordability for Asian American and Pacific Islander Renters

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are among the fastest-growing communities across the US: between 2010 and 2019, the AAPI population grew by 18 percent, whereas the overall US population grew by only 5 percent. However, the AAPI experience in the US is not monolithic. The second report in our series exploring the changing geography of opportunity in US metros indicates that different AAPI subgroups and ethnicities have widely divergent experiences with rental affordability, with Pacific Islanders experiencing the steepest challenges. Want to delve deeper? You can use this dashboard to explore the differences between and within AAPI communities across the nation.

Atlas in the News

Over the past few months, Atlas data and analyses have been cited by dozens of news outlets, including AxiosMarketWatchLos Angeles TimesTMJ4 News, and The Wall Street JournalTo explore more of our media coverage, visit our news archive.

Atlas on the Road

The Atlas team and our partners facilitate learning sessions and provide presentations on a regular basis to share new data, indicators, best practices, and functionalities. Here’s a brief look at some of our recent presentations: On June 15, Michelle Huang and Simone Robbenolt facilitated a session at Governing for All: California, a convening hosted by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) in partnership with PolicyLink and State of Equity. During it, participants learned how to use the Atlas as a tool for finding disaggregated data and local strategies to support their work. Simone and Michelle facilitated a virtual session with the 2023 Transformative Justice Infrastructure Fellows on June 8, where they did a walkthrough of how the Atlas could support the implementation of transformative infrastructure-related projects, programs, and processes. On June 9, Selena Tan and Seleeke Flingai joined experts from Recidiviz and the Black Wealth Data Center at a Data Funders Collaborative monthly town hall for a panel discussion about creating a demand for public data with a lens on equity. On June 1, Seleeke and Edward-Michael Muña demonstrated how Atlas data can be put into action through a brief showing of the regional equity profiles being built to support community groups that are looking to leverage funds from the statewide Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) program. The session was part of the Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI) learning series. To learn more, download the slide deck from the session or watch the session recording. On May 25, Selena showcased the Atlas and our approach to data equity at the Leadership Conference Education Fund ’s Data Disaggregation Action Network meeting. On April 28, Michelle and Selena presented at the 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Institute, which was hosted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. During the session, they delved into the Atlas’ approach to data equity and data democratization in developing analyses and working with community-based organizations on equity policy. Interested in hosting a presentation or training? Contact us at info@nationalequityatlas.org.

— The National Equity Atlas Team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

Examining Affordability for Asian American and Pacific Islander Renters in Metro America

Dear Atlas users,

Atlas data shows that at least half of renters are currently rent burdened in 57 of the 100 largest cities in the United States. Research has shown that rent-burdened households are more likely to experience financial instability and be at risk of eviction. Through our research, we continue to explore how housing unaffordability impacts families across the nation. Here are the latest updates from the Atlas:

New Atlas Research Illustrates The Uneven Geography of Affordability for Asian American and Pacific Islander Renters

The second report in our series exploring the changing geography of opportunity in American metropolitan regions indicates that Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) renters experienced an uneven distribution of housing affordability across ethnic groups and geographic regions during the period between the Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic. Our analysis of changes in market rent and median household income for AAPI residents in the 100 largest US metros shows that AAPI residents have been disproportionately concentrated in the least affordable regions. It also underscores that AAPI communities’ relatively high median incomes can obscure the presence of many low-income AAPI renters who struggle with finding safe and secure housing. To further illustrate these findings, we explore the various housing challenges that AAPI residents face in the Honolulu, Atlanta, Philadelphia/New York, and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Visit the project page to assess other resources, including a dashboard you can use to explore the differences between and within AAPI communities across the US.

An Equity Profile of Kalamazoo County

Kalamazoo County, Michigan, is growing more diverse. But our latest equity profile — developed in partnership with the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and local community leaders — details how a long history of racial discrimination and disinvestment in the region’s communities of color have created entrenched and persistent racial inequities in employment, income, wealth, education, health, justice, housing, and transportation. These growing gaps are costing the county an estimated $1 billion in potential economic growth each year. Learn more.

Data Update: Rent Debt Dashboard

Our updated Rent Debt Dashboard shows that more than 5 million renters remain in debt, with an estimated total rent debt of more than $11 billion nationwide, as of April 10. The majority of those behind on rent are low-income people of color. This new data underscores the magnitude of the rent debt crisis in communities across the country and the continued urgency of providing tenant protections to keep families in their homes and curb the surge of evictions that have followed the end of pandemic eviction moratoriums.

Meet the 2024 Class of National Equity Atlas Fellows

In case you missed it, we announced our second cohort of equity champions — 10 grassroots leaders of color from across the nation who will spend the next year sharpening their data skills and producing new data visualizations and other research products to strengthen their organization’s policy and advocacy campaigns. In the face of mounting challenges, the Atlas remains committed to bolstering the impact of dedicated advocates who reflect the communities they serve, which is a critical ingredient to winning on equity. Learn more about our fellowship program.

Atlas in the News

Over the past few months, Atlas data and analyses have been cited in dozens of news articles: Findings from our September 2022 report on Prop 22’s impact on rideshare drivers was cited in a piece from The San Francisco Standard about rideshare and food delivery drivers grappling with tipping issues. The report was also cited in a piece from The Guardian about drivers calling for the regulation of rideshare companies. Our rent debt data was cited in a CalMatters article on rising evictions in Los Angeles County and a CNBC article detailing solutions for those grappling with rent debt. To explore more of our media coverage, visit our news archive.

We Want to Hear from You!

If you’ve found any of our data, research, or resources valuable, please let us know. Share your questions, thoughts, and stories with us at info@nationalequityatlas.org.

— The National Equity Atlas Team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

Happy Holidays from the National Equity Atlas

Dear Atlas users,

As 2022 comes to an end, we're celebrating what has been both a productive and transformative year for our team and partners. This year, we produced more than 30 data products, including reports, fact sheets, equity profiles, dashboards, and analyses, that have helped communities and advocates across the nation win on equity. Here are a few more updates from the Atlas to close out the year:

Applications for the National Equity Atlas Fellowship Are Now Open!

Are you a mid-career grassroots leader of color who’s interested in learning how to leverage data to bolster your organization’s campaigns? We’re now accepting applications for the second cohort of National Equity Atlas Fellows. This year-long program offers selected participants hands-on training in data analysis and visualization, opportunities to engage with data and policy experts, access to a peer network of other community-based leaders from across the United States, and dedicated support in developing original data projects. The deadline for applications is January 21, 2023, and the fellowship will begin in March 2023. To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit nationalequityatlas.org/lab/fellowship-cohort2.

Ensuring Workers in the Miami Metropolitan Area Are Prepared for the Jobs of Tomorrow

South Florida’s economic rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic has been turbulent, driven by persistent barriers to quality employment prospects for residents of color and an elevated risk of automation-driven job displacement. Our latest workforce equity report — produced in partnership with Florida International University — examines what these upheavals and ongoing racial economic exclusion are costing the three-county region. Our in-depth analysis of disaggregated equity indicators and labor market dynamics found that Black workers and Hispanic women in the Miami metropolitan region have the lowest median wages at $16 per hour, while white men earn the highest median wages at $27 per hour — a 69 percent pay gap. The research also indicates that eliminating racial gaps in wages and employment for working-age people could boost South Florida's economy by $122 billion a year. Download the full report, and explore other regional analyses in our Advancing Workforce Equity project.

Join Our Team

The USC Equity Research Institute invites applicants to apply for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship in support of the research and activities of the Atlas. The postdoctoral fellow will have the opportunity to contribute to building data infrastructure for the equity movement, conduct quantitative and qualitative research, and participate in engagements with community advocates and policymakers. Please help us spread the word!

Thanks for Being a Part of Our Growing Network

We appreciate your continued support and interest in our work. Please stay tuned for new research, updated data, and more opportunities to connect with us in 2023! In the meantime, if you’ve found any of our data, research, or resources valuable this year, we want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and stories with us at info@nationalequityatlas.org.


- The National Equity Atlas Team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

The Atlas Team Has Grown!

Dear Atlas users,

In this season of gratitude and giving, we want to thank you for supporting the National Equity Atlas and our work. We’re gearing up to release updated data and new research that help further advance racial and economic equity. To increase our capacity and better support the leaders and communities we partner with, we’ve expanded our team. Here is more on this exciting news and other updates:

Atlas Team Members Who Joined in 2022 (from top left to bottom right): Alex Balcazar, Bita Minaravesh, Gabriel Charles Tyler, Jennifer Tran, Ryan Fukumori, Seleeke Flingai, Simone Robbennolt, and Vanessa Garcia.

You might have already noticed, but there have been many new members added to the Atlas team this year. Please help us in officially welcoming them: Alex Balcazar, Bita Minaravesh, Gabriel Charles Tyler, Jennifer Tran, Ryan Fukumori, Seleeke Flingai, Simone Robbennolt, and Vanessa Garcia. We’re thrilled to have these eight amazing leaders support and boost our change-making work!

ICYMI: A Blueprint for Workforce Equity in Metro Detroit

The latest report in our Advancing Workforce Equity project spells out how long-standing racial gaps in income and employment have impacted Metro Detroit’s workforce and economy: People of color make up a large share of the region’s workforce. Despite this growth and the increasing economic prosperity in the region, Black and Latinx workers in particular aren’t benefiting equitably. Our research also shows that eliminating these racial gaps would provide the region with an estimated $28 billion in economic activity per year. The report and its findings have been covered in Crain’s Detroit Business, Axios Detroit, and Bridge Michigan.

New State Profiles Illuminate the Stark Racial Disparities in Eviction across the Nation

Eviction cases are rising across the United States as Covid-era renter protections continue to end, putting millions of people at-risk of experiencing homelessness. The Eviction Research Network — a collaborative research project for social good based at UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project — has released several state profiles that illustrate eviction patterns and disparities before and during the pandemic. The analyses underscore the persistence of racial disparities in eviction, with Black renters consistently facing the greatest threat of eviction in localities across the nation. Thus far, maps and profiles have been released for Delaware, Indiana, Minnesota, and Oregon.

Do You Have an Atlas Story to Share?

If you’ve found any of our data, research, or resources valuable, we want to hear from you! Share your thoughts and stories with us at info@nationalequityatlas.org.

- The National Equity Atlas Team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

Just Released: A Blueprint for Workforce Equity in Metro Detroit

Dear Atlas users,

While top-line measures indicate that the US economy has largely bounced back from the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of workers and families across the nation are still reeling. In Detroit, Michigan, local leaders are working across sectors to co-create solutions that advance equity for workers and ensure that families can thrive. The National Equity Atlas remains committed to providing actionable insights and support to those working to ensure racial equity is at the forefront of recovery efforts. Here are more updates:

New Research Reveals that Black Workers Have Borne the Brunt of Metro Detroit’s Inequitable Labor Market and Uneven Economic Growth

In the years following the Great Recession, Metro Detroit showed promise of a strong economic rebound. But our report, produced in partnership with the Detroit Area Workforce Funders Collaborative, illustrates how long-standing racial gaps in income and employment have impacted the region’s workforce and economy: The region has a shortfall of good jobs that do not require a college degree and only 29 percent of the region’s workers hold good jobs. And despite the growing diversity of the region's workforce, workers of color remain crowded in lower paying and lower opportunity occupational groups, while white workers are overrepresented in many higher paying professions. Our research indicates that eliminating racial inequities in employment and wages could boost Detroit’s regional economy by about $28 billion a year. Download the full report — and explore the other regional analyses in our Advancing Workforce Equity project.

Prop 22 Undermines the Pay, Benefits, and Autonomy of California Rideshare Drivers

In their campaign for Prop 22, rideshare companies promised drivers good pay, benefits, and flexibility. But our analysis of real driver data — developed in partnership with Rideshare Drivers United (RDU) — reveals that the law has given these companies a free pass to deny their drivers critical rights and protections. As a result, the average net earnings of rideshare drivers in California are just $6.20 per hour under Prop 22. If rideshare companies were forced to respect drivers’ labor rights, they would earn an average of three times more per hour. Explore more findings in the report.

Atlas in the News

Over the last month, our study with RDU received significant media coverage, which was featured in MarketWatch, WIRED, Tech Times, Mission Local. For more, explore the archive of our news coverage.

- The National Equity Atlas Team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)
 

Major US Metros Are Becoming More Unaffordable to Low-Income Renters

Dear Atlas users,

The crisis of housing affordability remains an urgent challenge for communities across the country, and it’s being driven by both national and local forces. As our research has shown, ensuring all households have access to safe and affordable housing is key to an equitable recovery and a strong economy built on shared prosperity. The National Equity Atlas and our partners continue to provide guidance and support to those working to build a more just housing future for us all. Here are more updates:

The Shrinking Geography of Opportunity in Metro America

The first report in our series exploring the changing geography of opportunity in American metropolitan regions illustrates the growing gap in access to affordable housing and opportunity-rich neighborhoods for working-class, Black, and Latinx renters. Eighty-one of the 100 most populous regions in the United States saw a decline in affordability between 2013 and 2019, with Black households, in particular, facing an extremely limited and diminishing number of neighborhood choices. Our analysis shows that this trend is reinforcing long-standing patterns of racial segregation and creating new ones. Explore more findings and our policy recommendations — and stay tuned for the forthcoming reports from this series.

Thousands of Households in California Are Still Waiting for Rent Relief

More than 461,000 renter households applied to California’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), staking their families’ futures on its promise to cover 100 percent of Covid-related rent debt. Our latest ERAP analysis shows that more than 45,000 households are still waiting for their applications to be reviewed and 133,707 households have been denied assistance as of July 13. And newly obtained data on the basis for denials shows that the vast majority of applications (83 percent) were denied for one or both of two reasons — “non-responsiveness” and “inconsistent/unverifiable information” — which tenant advocates have cited as being problematic. See our dashboard for data down to the zip code level, and find all of our analyses at the California ERAP hub.

Advancing Workforce Equity in Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio, has one of the fastest-growing economies in the nation, but our report on the region’s workforce shows that the prosperity generated by its tremendous growth has not been shared equitably. In fact, workers of color tend to be overrepresented in lower-paying occupational groups, while white workers are overrepresented in higher-paying professions. Our research indicates that eliminating racial inequities in employment and wages could boost the Columbus regional economy by about $10 billion a year. Download the full report and explore the other regional analyses in our Advancing Workforce Equity project.

Join Our Team!

Our team is actively recruiting for a Senior Associate to lead Atlas research engagements with community partners, including the development of reports, analyses, and local equity data tools; contribute research and data support to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, and support the further development of the Atlas tool. The ideal candidate is passionate about producing data and research that is relevant and actionable for those working on the front lines to advance racial economic equity. Please help us spread the word!

Atlas Fellows

In case you missed it, we launched the National Equity Atlas Fellowship with 12 visionary leaders. This new program provides intensive, hands-on data training and support to grassroots leaders of color working to advance racial and economic equity. Click here to learn more about the fellows and their work.

Atlas in Action

Over the past few months, our data and analyses have informed dozens of news articles, the development of new tools, and advocacy efforts: Our ERAP analyses and key findings have been covered in both national and California media outlets, including CalMatters, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Public Press, and Politico. Our September 2021 report on the share of federal contracts going to small businesses and insights from Atlas team Eliza McCullough anchored a CNBC piece exploring trends in federal contracting. In addition, Atlas data has been used in the Partnership for the Bay's Future’s Housing Readiness Report — a new tool that helps Bay Area residents track, monitor, and get involved in their city’s housing plans and policies. We also have shared our work with a diverse set of audiences through dozens of presentations, including the 2022 Pennsylvania State of the Union on Latino Health, the CFLeads Community Foundation Equity Network Meeting, the 2022 Community Indicator Consortium Symposium, and the National Association of County & City Health Officials Virtual Symposium.

- The National Equity Atlas Team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

California’s Policymakers Must Take Immediate Action to Keep People in Their Homes

Dear Atlas users,

In just seven days, California’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program will stop accepting new applications, and the Covid protections that had previously barred landlords from filing eviction notices on the basis of unpaid rent will end. As evidenced by our new analysis, the combined loss of resources and protections will expose families and communities to the cascading harms of eviction and homelessness. Through our data tools, research, and partnerships with grassroots organizations, the Atlas team is proud to support efforts to ensure an equitable recovery. Here are more updates:

New Analysis of California’s Rent Relief Program Underscores the Urgent Need for Policy Action

Our new analysis of California’s statewide rent relief program — released in partnership with Housing NOW! — reveals that more than 366,000 of the 534,666 applicants are still waiting for assistance. At the current rate of approvals, it would take until Thanksgiving for them all to receive a decision on their applications. These findings underscore that California needs permanent policy solutions, funding, and infrastructure to support the renters hardest hit by the pandemic. In addition to the report, we released a dashboard with real-time, in-depth data for counties, cities, and zip codes.

Meet the Inaugural Cohort of National Equity Atlas Fellows

We are proud to announce the inaugural cohort of the National Equity Atlas Fellowship. This new program provides intensive, hands-on data training and support to grassroots leaders of color working to advance racial and economic equity. The 12 visionary leaders we’ve selected come from a broad range of backgrounds and represent community-based organizations from across the country. Learn more about the fellows and their work at nationalequityatlas.org/fellowship.

Equity Data for Six Southern States

In partnership with E Pluribus Unum, we produced a series of data snapshots to support a cohort of Southern state legislators working to advance racial and economic equity. In addition to key Atlas indicators on demographics, economic vitality, readiness, connectedness, and the economic benefits of equity, the snapshots also include customized indicators related to priority equity issues in each of the states. You can download data decks for AlabamaGeorgiaLouisianaMississippiNorth Carolina, and Tennessee.

Did You Hear? We’re Expanding Our Team!

We are looking for a dynamic Senior Associate to join our team. The person who fills this position will lead research engagements with community partners for the Bay Area Equity Atlas, including the development of reports, analyses, and local equity data tools. They will contribute research and data support to the National Equity Atlas and support the further development of the Atlas tool. The ideal candidate is passionate about producing data and research that is relevant and actionable for those working on the front lines to advance racial and economic equity. This position will remain open until it’s filled. Please help us spread the word!

In the News

The Atlas received broad media coverage this month, anchored by our latest analysis, which was covered by KGETKABCKPBSMercury NewsKQED, and Los Angeles Times. For more, explore the archive of our news coverage.

- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)
 

Apply by January 21 to Become a National Equity Atlas Fellow

Today, the National Equity Atlas is launching an open application for people of color working at community-based organizations to become year-long National Equity Atlas Fellows. We are accepting applications through January 21, 2022, and the program will start in March 2022. 

Data that is disaggregated by race, gender, income, and geography are crucial to advancing policies that counter structural racism, eliminate racial and economic inequities, and further racial equity. Yet, grassroots community-based organizations that are advocating for equity-focused policy solutions face barriers to accessing, analyzing, and effectively incorporating local data into their policy advocacy efforts. Through the Equity Data Fellowship, the National Equity Atlas (a partnership between PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute) will work with 12 grassroots leaders of color to sharpen their data skills and produce new data visualizations, dashboards, factsheets, or other research products to strengthen their organization’s policy campaigns. 

What will Fellows gain from participating?
Fellows will increase their skills in data analysis and visualization to produce data points and data products to use in their policy campaigns. They will network with other equity advocates across the country, engage in learning sessions, and work with Atlas staff to design and develop their own data products to support their policy advocacy work.

Who should apply?
The fellowship is open to people of color who are currently working at community-based organizations to advance policy and systems changes that increase racial and economic equity. Fellows do not need strong data skills or experience but should have basic data literacy, interest in building their data capacity, and the ability in their current role to develop data analyses and products. 

What will the fellowship include? 
National Equity Atlas Fellows will participate in monthly online learning sessions (1 – 1.5hr each), individual monthly check-ins with Atlas team members, and Slack/discussion communication channels with other Fellows and Atlas staff. 

The fellowship program will be broken into two segments. Months 1-5 will focus on data access, analysis, and visualization skills. Fellows will learn about accessing and using the National Equity Atlas, developing a data narrative, understanding and accessing data sets, and analyzing and visualizing data. By the end of month 5, in partnership with Atlas team members, fellows will determine the type of data project they will undertake during the second half of the fellowship to support their organization’s policy campaigns.

During months 6 – 12, Fellows will design and develop their data project with support from Atlas staff on research and data visualization. Projects may include interactive dashboards, factsheets, maps, and other custom visualizations and products.

How long will the fellowship last?
The fellowship will begin in March 2022 and conclude in February 2023.

What is expected from the Fellows?
Fellows are expected to participate in the monthly online learning sessions and individual check-ins, and to work in partnership with the Atlas team to create a data product to support their organization’s policy campaigns. The amount of time the fellow spends on the data product will depend on the scope of the project as developed during the first half of the fellowship.

How will Fellows be supported?
Organizations will receive a $7,500 stipend to support their fellow’s participation in the 12-month program. Fellows interested in learning Tableau will also receive support for accessing necessary Tableau licenses and receive training in building Tableau visualizations. 

When will Fellows be selected?
Applications closed January 21, 2022, and selected fellows will be notified by mid-February 2022. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I need to be a full-time staff of the organization to qualify?
No, applicants should be affiliated with the community-based organization that is actively participating in a policy campaign and can be in a part-time or volunteer role.

Can government employees apply?
No, this fellowship is designed to support grassroots leaders. We hope that you will share this opportunity with community-based groups in your network.

Is it possible for an organization to have more than one member participate in the fellows' program, or must we select who we would like to participate?
We do not have a limitation on the number of applicants per organization, and each application will be reviewed on an individual basis. The selection of fellows will be based on the final pool. We recommend each interested individual apply so that they can share in their application about their work and interest in the fellowship, which will help us identify the best fit and our capacity to best support the work. Given the level of interest in the fellowship and a limited number of slots, we will not select more than one fellow per organization.

Is this opportunity open to people who are not in the US or are nationals from other countries?
We invite applicants regardless of citizenship status as long as the focus of the policy campaign is US-based.

What type of organization qualifies?
Fellows must be affiliated with an established 501(c)3 non-profit organization or fiscally sponsored organizations.

Is there a way to apply to participate without a sponsoring organization and/or suggest an organization and apply as an entity?
This fellowship is designed to support fellows who are currently engaged in ongoing advocacy and organizing work and are directly affiliated with a qualifying organization. We are not able to provide matching at this time between organizations and interested applicants.

What do you mean by "equity campaign"?
Campaigns should have a clear advocacy target focused on policy and systems change at the municipal, county, regional, state, or national level, with clear goals as to how the policy change will benefit communities of color.

Is it possible to also have the stipend go directly to the fellow?
No.

 

Questions? Please email Selena Tan at selena@policylink.org

2021 in Review: Data and Research to Fuel the Equity Movement

Dear Atlas users,

As the Covid-19 pandemic dragged on into its second year, the communities most impacted by its economic fallout and systemic inequities advocated for emergency relief and long-term solutions for a more equitable and resilient economy. The Atlas team is proud to support these efforts through our data tools, research, and partnerships with grassroots organizations. In 2021, we published more than a dozen original analyses, and our user base doubled to more than 100,000 people. Here are a few highlights from the year.

Powering Advocacy for Eviction Protections and Rent Relief

Stabilizing renters experiencing housing insecurity is key to an equitable recovery. In April, we launched a regularly updated rent debt dashboard, in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, that equips advocates and policymakers with timely, local data on the extent of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to prevent eviction and eliminate rent debt. Since its debut, the dashboard and our accompanying analysis have been accessed 19,000 times, and advocates in California, Indiana, Minnesota, and elsewhere used our data to make the case for equity-focused recovery policies at both local and state level. News outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, ABC Baltimore, Texas News Today, the New York Times, and CNN, produced over 150 articles using dashboard data.

Launching the Racial Equity Data Lab

This summer we launched the Racial Equity Data Lab, a new interactive space on the Atlas that helps you create custom displays to tell your community’s equity story, powered by Tableau software and Atlas data. Our Tableau-ready datasets for equity indicators like Poverty, Car Access, Working Poor, and Educational Attainment can be customized to build factsheets and dashboards at the local level. Learn how to use this new tool with this step-by-step guide and starter viz to create your own factsheet to show who in your community is able to access a $15/hour wage.

Activating Local Efforts to Advance Workforce Equity

Through our ongoing Advancing Workforce Equity project, in partnership with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and Emsi Burning Glass, we worked with local leaders in nine regions across the country to catalyze cross-cutting strategies to build a more equitable economy. In addition to two national reports detailing the early labor-market impacts of the pandemic and laying out a forward-looking, data-driven framework for workforce equity, we published five tailored analyses and blueprints for local action in Boston (with SkillWorks), Chicago (with the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance), Dallas and Collin Counties (with Pathways to Work), the San Francisco Bay Area (with ReWork the Bay), and Seattle (with the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County).

Supporting Gig Worker Rights, Equity in Federal Contracting, and Housing Security for All

Throughout 2021, the Atlas team partnered with leaders working to address structural racism and the inequitable impacts of the pandemic to provide actionable insights and analyses across a range of issue areas.

  • Through a study with Rideshare Drivers United, we found that California rideshare drivers, particularly Latinx drivers, are struggling to access health insurance and a safe workplace following the passage of Prop 22. As the first study on rideshare health care access under this legislation, our work was lifted up in SF Examiner, KQED, and The American Prospect, among others.
  • We analyzed small business access to federal contracting dollars, revealing that the number of small businesses contracting with the federal government shrank dramatically – by 40 percent – over the past decade. This analysis contributed to the Biden Administration’s new commitments to advance equity in federal procurement, including increasing federal contracting with businesses owned by entrepreneurs of color to 11 percent in 2022.
  • We produced a series of fact sheets in partnership with For the Many, who used our data to advocate for Good Cause eviction protections across New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley. Our analysis showed that 54 percent of renter households in the region are rent-burdened, and Black and Latinx households are especially impacted. In October Newburg became the first city in the region to pass a law protecting renters from eviction without good cause, as other municipalities in the region consider similar legislation.

Bolstering Regional Equity Campaigns: News from the Bay Area Equity Atlas

Throughout 2021, 50,000 users turned to the Bay Area Equity Atlas to access equity data and policy tools, double the number of users in 2020. The team produced a landmark report on the diversity of high-level elected officials in the Bay Area, which revealed that while these leaders are becoming more representative of the communities they represent every year, significant inequities remain: people of color represent 60 percent of residents, but just 34 percent of top electeds.

Atlas In the News and On The Road

This year, our data and analyses informed 190 print and digital news articles in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, NPR, The Hill, and Buzzfeed News (see full list here). We also shared our work with a diverse set of audiences, conducting dozens of presentations and trainings to policymakers, government agencies, grantmakers, community leaders, and peer organizations, including the House Committee on Ways and Means, Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum to Clear Impact’s Measurable Equity One Year Challenge, and Partnership on AI’s Partner Perspectives: The Next 5 Years in AI.

Join Our Team!

USC Equity Research Institute is hiring a one-year postdoctoral position to provide data analysis support to the Bay Area and National Equity Atlas team. The fellow will help the team design, organize, and conduct advanced quantitative analyses producing academic articles as well as popular reports. Please send experienced candidates our way!

- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

We’re Hiring!

 

Dear Atlas users,

We are excited to announce that the National Equity Atlas team is expanding! While the movement for racial equity continues to gain momentum across the nation, it is critical to center people and communities of color in our economy’s recovery and in our systems and policy change efforts. This additional staffing will allow us to take on more data requests from community leaders and organizers, conduct more original analyses, build more responsive data tools, and dedicate more time to supporting equity advocates and campaigns.

The National Equity Atlas Team Is Growing

The Atlas team is actively recruiting for three new positions: a director to lead the team, a senior associate to conduct research and analysis, and a senior communications associate to lead all of our media & dissemination activities. These are dream jobs for people who love data, use mixed-methods approaches, and want to produce innovative research and partner with grassroots organizations advancing racial and economic equity. We have a preference for Bay Area-based candidates, but encourage applicants from anywhere in the US who are passionate about racial equity and have experience working in and with communities of color. Learn more about the positions here and please share with your networks!

Atlas Featured in “How to Build an Inclusive Economy”

PolicyLink CEO Michael McAfee was included in Freethink’s recent video series on how to build an inclusive economy and lifted up the role of the Atlas in advancing the equity movement by highlighting key data insights that validate the experiences of communities of color and providing fuel to advance equity campaigns. “The National Equity Atlas,” he explained, “will give you a sense of how much a region, a city, a county, a state, would benefit by closing gaps in racial disparities.” Watch the video.

Racial Equity in Entrepreneurship Is Crucial for an Inclusive Recovery

At the recent Institute of Governmental Studies Research Symposium, Sarah Treuhaft joined a keynote panel to share key Atlas data and insights on the state of racial equity in entrepreneurship, noting that in the 10 most populous US cities African Americans remain underrepresented in business ownership. Removing barriers that prevent people of color from starting and growing successful businesses is a crucial inclusive growth strategy as entrepreneurship is an important pathway for building wealth and addressing the racial wealth gap and also creating jobs for workers of color.

In the News

This month, our Rent Debt Dashboard was covered by the Los Angeles Times, Cal Matters, Maryland Matters, CBS8, Mendocino Voice, and the Sahan Journal. Our study of California rideshare driver healthcare access under Prop 22 was covered by LawyersAndSettlements. You can find a complete list of news coverage here.

- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)
 

For an Equitable Recovery, We Need to Democratize Access to Federal Contracting

Dear Atlas users,

As evidenced by our most recent rent debt analysis, low-income people of color continue to suffer from the devastating impacts of the pandemic even as other aspects of the economy return to ‘normal.’ The majority of federal rental assistance has yet to reach those who need it, and a new report from The Housing Initiative at Penn found that other housing access programs like Housing Choice Vouchers reach just one in five low-income renter households who are eligible. With federal, state, and local governments working to pass policies to rebuild our economy, the Atlas team continues to equip advocates with necessary data and analysis to push for a just and equitable recovery. Here are some updates:

New Analysis Finds Fewer and Fewer Small Businesses Are Getting Federal Contracts

The federal government is the nation’s largest purchaser of goods and services, but our new analysis reveals that the number of small businesses doing business with the federal government has plummeted over the past decade: about 40 percent fewer small businesses fulfilled federal contracts in 2020 compared with 2010. We also found that while people of color own 29 percent of all American businesses, entrepreneurs of color receive less than 12 percent of federal government contracting dollars. Federal contracts are highly concentrated in just a few congressional districts, mostly in the DC metro area, that are home to less than 4 percent of the total population. A critical solution is within reach through the infrastructure package before Congress, but is at risk of being removed. Policymakers are negotiating the inclusion of a groundbreaking set of programs that would direct $2.4 billion to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other people-of-color-serving institutions to uplift the next generation of small businesses owners.

Updated Rent Debt Dashboard and Analysis Finds Mounting Debt for Low-Income Renters of Color

The share of renters with debt has not declined since April. Our updated Rent Debt Dashboard and analysis show that nearly 6 million renters remain in debt, and the majority of them are low-income people of color. Just 11 percent of federal rental relief funds have been distributed; our new map shows that many of the cities and counties with the lowest distribution of relief funds have large populations of low-income renters. Finally, we found that Black renters disproportionately expect to be evicted by October: 58 percent of Black tenants with rent debt say they are very or somewhat likely to be evicted, compared with 45 percent of their White counterparts. The dashboard continues to fuel community advocacy for debt cancellation and rent assistance. Recently, California-based Raise the Roof coalition cited our work in their presentation to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, while Housing4Hoosiers provided recommendations to Indiana’s Emergency Rental Assistance program using our data.

You’re Invited! The Power of Place: Addressing Structural Racism in the Workforce and Economy

On September 29, Atlas team member Abbie Langston will speak on a panel on racial equity and the workforce system at the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum alongside our partners at the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and local partners on our Advancing Workforce Equity project. The conversation will touch on structural racism in the world of work and highlight solutions that workforce systems, communities, employers, and training providers are implementing to improve career outcomes for students and young workers of color. Join us by registering here.

Fact Sheets Reveal Continued Housing Insecurity in Mid-Hudson Valley

Earlier this month, we produced a series of fact sheets on renters in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley in partnership with For the Many, to support their advocacy for policies to protect renters from unfair evictions and predatory landlords. We found that housing insecurity is a region-wide issue. More than half of renter households in the Mid-Hudson Valley are rent-burdened, and Black and Latinx renters are especially impacted. In New Paltz, for example, nearly all Black renter households are rent-burdened. You can download fact sheets here for the following places: Ulster County, Beacon, Kingston, Newburgh, New Paltz, and Poughkeepsie.

In the News

This month, our Rent Debt Dashboard work was featured in the New York Times, CBS News, Bloomberg, Oklahoma Watch, Minnesota Post, Tampa Bay Times, The Hill, and Law360. Our work on California rideshare driver benefits under Prop 22 was featured in Jacobin and Dissent Magazine. See a complete list of news coverage here.

- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

La Mayor Parte de Conductores Rideshare de California No Reciben Beneficios del Cuidado de la Salud bajo la Propuesta 22

Por Eliza McCullough y Brian Dolber de Rideshare Drivers United*

El uso de la letra “e” en vez de "a/o" cuando se refiere a una persona es intencional y es parte de nuestros principios de ser inclusivos. Se trata de asegurar que nuestres parientes trans y otres que no se identifiquen con el género binario sean incluides en nuestro reporte. 

Una encuesta de más de 500 conductores revela que les conductores de viaje compartido (rideshare) de California, en particular les conductores Latines, están teniendo dificultad para tener acceso al seguro de la salud y un lugar de trabajo seguro.

En el 2020, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, y otros gigantes de la industria tecnológica, se gastaron una cantidad sin precedentes de $220 millones para llevar a cabo una campaña de referendo para no tener que clasificar a sus trabajadores como empleades bajo la ley estatal de California, conocida como AB5. Las empresas argumentaron que la Propuesta 22 protegería la “flexibilidad” de les trabajadores que se contratan por aplicación en California, y que les proporcionaría beneficios incluyendo estipendios para seguro de salud y entrenamiento de seguridad. La Propuesta 22 fue aprobada en noviembre del 2020 con un porcentaje del 58 por ciento de los votos.

De hecho, el éxito de las empresas privó a les conductores de los derechos básicos en el trabajo, incluyendo beneficios para el cuidado de la salud, un salario mínimo por hora, y los niveles de salud y seguridad. La profesora de derecho laboral Veena Dubal le llamó a la Propuesta 22 “la ley laboral más peligrosa para les trabajadores desde la ley Taft-Hartley,” la cual restringió drásticamente a los sindicatos, argumentando que ésta crea un precedente peligroso para los niveles de empleo en todas las industrias.

Aunque la campaña de la industria se enfocó en las protecciones a les trabajadores de la Propuesta 22, estas protecciones están escasamente definidas en la ley y no son iguales a las protecciones legales dadas a les empleades. Les conductores tienen derecho a un estipendio parcial para cubrir las primas del seguro de salud, y solamente si cumplen con múltiples requisitos. [1] La propuesta 22 también requería que las empresas administren entrenamientos de seguridad a todos les conductores, y estos deben incluir información de cómo reportar situaciones de agresión y acoso sexual. Sin embargo, este requisito, es mucho más leve que las protecciones que les empleades tienen bajo la Occupational Safety and Health Act (la Ley de Sanidad y Seguridad Ocupacional).  Con el brote del virus del Corona, la pérdida de seguro médico garantizado y de los niveles de seguridad en el lugar de trabajo han causado riesgos de salud sin precedente para les conductores.

Para comprender si les conductores están teniendo acceso a los beneficios, llevamos a cabo una encuesta de conductores miembros de Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), basados en California, preguntándoles acerca de su acceso al seguro de la salud, los estipendios para el seguro de la salud y los entrenamientos de seguridad. La encuesta se llevó a cabo entre el 19 de mayo y el 12 de junio del 2021, y fue completada por 531 conductores. Debido a las evidentes desigualdades raciales en los datos de la encuesta, tratamos de comprender mejor las experiencias de les conductores de color con entrevistas de seguimiento.  Llevamos a cabo 10 entrevistas con conductores sin seguro quienes hayan manejado desde enero del 2021. Dos de esas entrevistas se llevaron a cabo con conductores primordialmente de habla hispana. [Para ver las citas en español, ver las anotaciones al pie de la página].

Nuestra encuesta reveló lo siguiente:

  • Solamente el 10 por ciento de los encuestados reciben un estipendio, mientras que el 40 por ciento de les encuestades o nunca ha escuchado respecto a poder recibir los estipendios o no estaban seguros si habían recibido la notificación.
  • Los conductores buscan las opciones de seguro público para la salud, o se privan totalmente del seguro para la salud. Veintinueve por ciento de les encuestades depende de Medi-Cal.  Dieciséis por ciento de todos les encuestades no están asegurados, lo cual es el doble de la tasa nacional de personas sin seguro.
  • Les Latines encuestades tienen menos posibilidad de saber respecto a los estipendios y mayor posibilidad que no estén asegurados.
  • Uno de cada seis encuestades no ha recibido entrenamiento de seguridad de una empresa de entrega o rideshare.

Muchos de les conductores entrevistados expresaron frustración con los retos al tratar de conseguir seguro bajo la Propuesta 22, y la mayor parte lo ve como parte de un patrón más amplio de engaño y desconsideración hacia la fuerza laboral de parte de Uber y Lyft. En algunos casos, les conductores reportaron gran dificultad para obtener cuidado médico.

Para mejorar de inmediato el acceso al cuidado de la salud y la seguridad en el lugar de trabajo, recomendamos quitar las restricciones al estipendio para el cuidado de la salud, mejorar la transparencia en la implementación de los estipendios, enfocar ayuda a les conductores con mayor posibilidad de no estar asegurados, y mejorar la implementación de entrenamientos de seguridad. Además, se necesitan cambios a largo plazo a las políticas para crear una industria rideshare que proporcione trabajos de calidad. Les legisladores de California deberían revocar la Propuesta 22 y les legisladores de otros estados deberían prevenir que se aprueben propuestas similares a la Propuesta 22. El gobierno federal también juega un papel importante para asegurar las condiciones de trabajo justas y un salario digno para todos les trabajadores por obra, por medio de políticas como la PRO-Act, así como un programa de salud nacional de pagador único.

Una fuerza laboral en su mayoría inmigrantes y personas de color.

Entre nuestros encuestades, el 65 por ciento son personas de color, 52 por ciento nacieron fuera de los E.E.U.U., y el 37 por ciento habla primordialmente otro idioma que no es inglés. Ochenta y cinco por ciento de les encuestades conduce para Uber, el 68 por ciento conduce para Lyft, y el 59 por ciento de encuestados conduce para un servicio de entrega de alimentos (como Uber Eats, Postmates, o DoorDash). El sesenta y seis por ciento de les encuestades conduce para más de una plataforma y el 75 por ciento ha conducido desde el 1 de enero del 2021, cuando la Propuesta 22 entro en vigor. Cincuenta y uno por ciento de les encuestades eran mayores de 50 y el 21 por ciento de les encuestades eran mayores de la edad de 60, haciendo particularmente importante su acceso al seguro para la salud. No hay una fuente de información de calidad respecto a la demografía de les conductores para evaluar la representación de dicha muestra. Sin embargo, un estudio reciente de les conductores de San Francisco demuestra que, igual que la población de nuestros encuestades, la mayoría de les conductores son personas de color, inmigrantes, mayores de 30 años, y conducen para plataformas múltiples.

Uber y Lyft no notifican adecuadamente a sus conductores respecto a poder calificar para estipendios para la salud.

El cuarenta por ciento de les conductores encuestades no recuerda haber sido notificado respecto a los estipendios, con grandes diferencias entre los grupos raciales/étnicos.  Les conductores Latines tienen menos posibilidad de saber respecto a los estipendios: Aproximadamente la mitad de les conductores Latines no recuerdan haber recibido ninguna notificación o no están seguros.

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Un conductor Latine de 31 años mencionó, “Nadie se comunicó conmigo para decirme lo que era”. La falta de comunicación de parte de las empresas no le sorprende. “Para ser sincero, a ellos no les importan los conductores. Yo sabía que (las promesas de la Propuesta 22) no iban a ser verdaderas.”

Quienes fueron notificados dicen haber recibido correos electrónicos o mensajes de texto de las empresas. Sin embargo, la simple información no significa acceso. Por ejemplo, un conductor de 36 años, hispanohablante en Los Ángeles, dijo: “Yo recibí un correo electrónico con la información. En la aplicación aparece también las horas que uno necesita registrar para cumplir los requisitos para el cupón. Yo también trabajé en DoorDash durante la pandemia. Yo cambiaba entre las plataformas, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash. Con Uber tengo que pasar 20 horas semanales con pasajeros para cumplir los requisitos. Ellos mintieron a los conductores respecto al seguro médico ya que yo estoy aquí, trabajando y no tengo seguro.” Las restricciones en los requisitos para la elegibilidad, además de la mala comunicación, han hecho difícil el acceso a los estipendios de seguro para muchos conductores, especialmente les conductores de color.

La Propuesta 22 redujo el acceso al cuidado de la salud: Menos de uno en cinco conductores reciben estipendios para el cuidado de la salud.

Los requisitos de la Propuesta 22 no han reparado los derechos perdidos de les trabajadores de recibir cuidado para la salud, ya que la mayoría de les conductores no reciben estipendios para el cuidado de la salud. Esto se debe en gran parte a la limitación en los requisitos para calificar para los estipendios bajo la Propuesta 22. Para poder calificar, les conductores no deben recibir cuidado de la salud por medio de Medicare, Medi-Cal, otro trabajo, o por medio de cónyuge o compañere/a. Les conductores deben conducir por lo menos 15 horas participadas por semana en una sola aplicación para recibir el estipendio mínimo. Les conductores también han reportado que deben “mostrar comprobante de seguro de la salud dentro cierto tiempo, antes de solicitar el estipendio,” indicando así que les conductores que no están asegurados podrían no calificar. Juntos, estos requisitos previenen que la mayoría de les conductores tengan acceso a los estipendios para el cuidado de la salud prometidos bajo la Propuesta 22.

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Muches conductores no son elegibles ya que sus horas se han reducido por lo tanto sus ingresos se han visto reducidos. Un conductor de 49 años en Los Ángeles, y su hijo de 18 años, ambos han estado sin seguro por nueve meses por esta razón. “Los precios han bajado a .50 cts. [por milla], así que raramente manejo estos días,” dijo.

Aunque él no votó por la Propuesta 22, la apoyaba. “pensé que recibiría seguro gratuito,” dijo. “Me siento tenso.” Él dice que su hijo tuvo una emergencia médica, y tuvo que depender de Medi-Cal, el programa de seguro público, para cubrir los gastos. “Me preocupo ya que casi cumplo 50 y no sé qué va a pasar si sigo conduciendo para Uber y Lyft.”

El conductor de habla hispana de 36 años en Los Ángeles mencionó, “Los conductores se sienten engañados. Estas empresas gastaron mucho dinero en campaña política. Ellos controlan la plataforma. Estos cambios en las empresas se ven muy bien hasta que se sabe la verdad. Las horas necesarias para cumplir los requisitos son demasiadas para ser justas. Nos mintieron. Uber ha estado haciendo demasiados cambios sin la participación de les conductores.

Un conductor de 66 años en el área de San Diego dice que no maneja lo suficiente para recibir un estipendio ya que tuvo que conseguir un trabajo adicional para subsistir. Él dice que es afortunado de vivir cerca de Tecate en la frontera de México-E.E.U.U.  Él cruza la frontera para recibir cuidado asequible. “Algunos de los mejores médicos están en México,” dijo. “Lo máximo de espera son como 15 minutos.”

Entre les encuestades que han conducido desde que la Propuesta 22 entró en vigor, y no reciben seguro médico por medio de un programa público o por cónyuge, solamente el 19 por ciento reciben estipendios para el cuidado de la salud. Las personas que se identifican como de un grupo multirracial o de un grupo racial no incluido en la encuesta, fueron los que menos reciben un estipendio. Aun si solamente el 50 por ciento de les conductores cumplen con el requisito de tiempo-participado de la Propuesta 22 (un cálculo que creemos moderado), solamente un numero sorprendentemente bajo de conductores reciben los estipendios para la salud.

Algunos conductores también han dicho que los estipendios son demasiado bajos para cubrir los gastos. Un conductor de 53 años en Sacramento ha estado sin seguro desde el 2010 y ha tenido gastos médicos considerables a través de los años, incluyendo trabajo dental y cálculos en los riñones. Pero él menciona que aún con el estipendio, un plan de seguro es demasiado caro por que el estipendio solamente cubre una porción de la prima. “Yo me rehúso a pagar por algo así,” dijo. “Yo no voy a pagar para vivir. No está a mi alcance.” Él comenta que sus pagos de carro consumen gran parte de sus ingresos, haciendo que el seguro sea inasequible.

Entre todos los grupos raciales/ étnicos, les conductores Latines son los que tienen menos posibilidades de estar asegurados: un cuarto de les conductores Latines no tienen seguro para la salud.

La pérdida del derecho al seguro médico causado por la Propuesta 22 ha forzado a muches conductores a privarse del seguro médico: el dieciséis por ciento no están asegurados, lo cual es el doble de la tasa nacional de personas sin seguro. Les conductores Latines tienen más posibilidad de no tener seguro.Un cuarto de los encuestados indica no tener seguro.

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Un conductor de habla hispana de 25 años en Los Ángeles dijo, “Yo no tengo seguro de salud. No he tenido desde que trabajo para Uber. He trabajado tres años acá en los E.E.U.U., y todo ese tiempo he trabajado con Uber.

El conductor hispano hablante de 36 años en Los Ángeles mencionó que no ha tenido seguro por año y medio. Dijo “soy diabético. Tengo que prepararme mi medicina. Si no pago me toca endeudarme en los hospitales. Fui al hospital de Glendale, mi cuenta fue de $900. Recientemente cumplí los requisitos para el cuidado médico de emergencia.  En un año he ido dos veces a urgencias.

Nos enteramos de que es altamente probable que los conductores dependan del sistema público: casi un tercio de les encuestados reciben seguro de salud por medio de Medi-Cal. Este dato indica que muches conductores tienen dificultad económica, ya que Medi-Cal está reservado primordialmente para les persones que están al 138 por ciento bajo el nivel de pobreza. También nos enteramos de que la mitad de les encuestades recién seguro por medio de Medi-Cal, Medicare, o por medio del cónyuge o compañere de vida, lo cual automáticamente los descalifica para recibir estipendios para el cuidado de la salud. Por medio de estos requisitos limitados, la Propuesta 22 permite que Uber y Lyft se ahorren miles de millones en costos de seguro para la salud que tenían que pagar antes que la legislación fuera promulgada.

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Uber y Lyft no proporcionan protección de seguridad adecuada a sus conductores

En lugar de las protecciones legalmente obligatorias de salud y seguridad para les empleades, la Propuesta 22 ordena entrenamiento de seguridad para les trabajadores contratados por aplicación. El noventa y tres por ciento de nuestros 531 encuestades han conducido desde el 1 de enero del 2021, cuando la propuesta entro en vigor.  Por lo tanto, a Uber y Lyft se les requiere que proporcionen a estes conductores con entrenamientos de seguridad. Sin embargo, a uno de cada seis conductores que participaron en nuestra encuesta, las empresas Uber y Lyft les ha fallado en proporcionarles entrenamiento. También nos enteramos de que les conductores que se identifican como multirracial o de una raza de otra categoría no incluida en la encuesta, eran los que tenían menos posibilidades de haber recibido entrenamiento, más que otros conductores de otras razas. Este descuido es particularmente perjudicial hacia las mujeres y conductores LGBTQ, quienes tienen más posibilidad de ser sometidas a pasar por acoso y violencia en el trabajo. Sin un entrenamiento adecuado en cómo responder y reportar situaciones perjudiciales, les conductores están en riesgo de correr peligro en el trabajo.

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Para aumentar la seguridad en el lugar de trabajo y acceso al cuidado de la salud para les conductores de viaje compartido (rideshare) se necesitan cambios urgentes a la política.

Nuestros estudios revelan que la implementación de las protecciones delineadas en la Propuesta 22 son impredecibles, desiguales e inadecuadas. En lugar de corregir los problemas que les conductores contratados por aplicación enfrentan, la Propuesta 22 ha aumentado la vulnerabilidad de les conductores en cuanto a riesgos a la salud y la seguridad, así como también a sentimientos de confusión y desilusión. Esto ha sido particularmente grave entre les conductores Latines, quienes tienen menos posibilidades de estar enterados de los estipendios para el cuidado de la salud. Las empresas Rideshare y las agencias reguladoras deben comenzar inmediatamente a mejorar el acceso al cuidado de la salud y a los entrenamientos de seguridad para los conductores.

  • Las empresas deben quitar las restricciones del estipendio para el cuidado de la salud. El estipendio debería cubrir el 100 por ciento de la prima de un plan promedio de Covered California Bronze. La suma total de las horas de trabajo de les conductores debería ser tomado en cuenta y no solo las horas participadas al calcular la participación para el estipendio.
  • Las agencias regulatorias deben mejorar la transparencia en la implementación del estipendio, requiriendo que las empresas informen trimestralmente el porcentaje de conductores que reciben estipendios desagregándolos por raza y etnicidad para asegurarse que todos aquellos que cumplen los requisitos para un estipendio en realidad lo reciben.
  • Uber, Lyft, y otras empresas deben enfocar sus enlaces comunitarios para aquellos conductores con menos posibilidades de estar asegurados. La información de cómo cumplir con los requisitos y recibir el estipendio para el cuidado de la salud debería estar disponible en múltiples idiomas y formatos.
  • Las empresas Rideshare deben mejorar la implementación de los entrenamientos de seguridad asegurándose que todos les conductores reciben entrenamiento y proporcionando información pública respecto al porcentaje de conductores que han completado entrenamientos. Estos entrenamientos deberían también destacar información de como reportar situaciones de agresión o acoso sexual.

Aunque estos cambios mejoraran inmediatamente las condiciones de trabajo de millones de conductores, acciones políticas a largo plazo deben ser tomadas para crear una industria rideshare para beneficio de todos.

Les legisladores deben revocar la Propuesta 22 y clasificar nuevamente a los conductores rideshare como empleados, restaurándoles todos los derechos laborales que se les quitaron al aprobarla. Uber, Lyft y otras empresas de trabajos por obra ya están financiando campañas para legislación similar a la Propuesta 22 en Nueva York, Massachussets, Illinois y otros estados a nivel nacional. Legisladores estatales y partidarios laborales deben proteger los derechos cruciales de los conductores y prevenir la aprobación de esta legislación.

Aun sin la reclasificación de los conductores como contratistas independientes por medio de esta legislación, las protecciones actuales no son suficientes: Los legisladores federales deben asegurar condiciones justas de trabajo y un salario de vida para todos los trabajadores de obra por medio de políticas como la Pro Act.

Les legisladores deberían establecer un programa nacional de salud de pagador único, así como también programas orientados hacia la ciudadanía para proporcionar a todos en los E.E. U.U. cobertura completa para asegurar que les trabajadores de todas las industrias tengan acceso gratuito a un cuidado de salud de calidad.

*Brian Dolber es un profesor adjunto de Comunicaciones en la Universidad Estatal de San Marcos, y un organizador de Rideshare Drivers United. Rideshare Drivers United es una asociación independiente de conductores de US rideshare unidos para exigir pagos más altos y derechos en el lugar de trabajo para todos les conductores (de vehículos compartidos) rideshare.

Esta encuesta es la primera en una serie de análisis coproducidos por National Equity Atlas y Rideshare Drivers United que examinan el impacto a les conductores rideshare por la Propuesta 22. Los autores desean agradecer a Sarah Treuhaft y Michelle Huang de PolicyLink, Carla Tapia de Rideshare Drivers United y Justin Scoggins de Equity Research Institute.

Notes

(1) La Propuesta 22 requiere que las empresas de entregas y de vehículos de viaje compartido (rideshare) paguen un estipendio mensual del 82 por ciento de la prima mensual promedio del plan Covered California Bronze (el nivel más bajo de los planes disponible por medio del intercambio a nivel estatal) para les conductores que han estado ocupados un promedio de más de 25 horas por semana. Tiempo ocupado se define como el tiempo que les conductores pasan desde que recogen a un pasajero hasta que lo dejan en su destino y no incluye el tiempo pasado entre viaje y viaje. Para les conductores con un promedio de por lo menos 15 pero menos de 25 horas de tiempo ocupado, las empresas tienen que pagar un estipendio del 41 por ciento de la prima promedio. Les conductores que trabajan menos de 15 horas de tiempo ocupado por semana no cumplen los requisitos para un estipendio, lo mismo para les conductores que reciben seguro para la salud por medio de Medicare o Medi-Cal, de otro trabajo o por medio de su compañere.

Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

Our rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent eviction.

By Sarah Treuhaft, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, Justin Scoggins, Abbie Langston, and Selena Tan

Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of the millions of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers — disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. With the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the federal emergency eviction moratorium on August 26, 2021, these renters are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. Allowing the households hardest-hit by the pandemic to be evicted would be a moral travesty and a policy failure that would deepen inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

To inform policymaking and advocacy to prevent eviction and eliminate rent debt, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance — a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all — launched this rent debt dashboard in April 2021.

The dashboard provides current data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, states, and 15 metro areas, as well as estimates of the amount of back rent owed. With this release, we’ve added a new “Relief Map” to the dashboard tracking the distribution of federal emergency rental assistance in states, counties, and cities. We’ve also expanded our rent debt estimates to cover all states and counties in the US as well as 562 cities. To provide disaggregated data for sub-national geographies, we combine the two most recent waves of the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and use the individual-level microdata in the Pulse public-use file, which is released two weeks after the tabular data. The dashboard data is refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, incorporating data from the August 4 - 16 Pulse survey, along with action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers must take immediately to keep people in their homes.

An archive of our past analyses can be found here

Rent debt remains at crisis levels: nearly 6 million households are behind on rent, including about 7 million children.

As of mid-August 2021, 5.9 million renter households — 15 percent of all renters — were behind on their rent payments. About half of these households (48 percent) are families with children and we estimate there are 6.7 million children living in these households. This represents an enormous number of renters and their children who are now at risk of eviction and displacement, approaching the scale of the 2008 foreclosure crisis in which nearly 8 million households lost their homes.

Data on the share of households behind on rent comes directly from the Census Pulse survey, which has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since mid-August 2020.

The rent debt crisis has not abated over the past four months.

Fourteen percent of renter households were behind on rent the first time the Pulse survey posed this question; the share behind climbed up to 19 percent at the height of the pandemic and economic crisis in January, then crawled back down to 14 percent in March. The rate has remained at 14 - 15 percent behind for the past four and a half months. This is likely about twice the pre-pandemic baseline: the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent.


Under the Trump administration, the federal government did not provide any direct resources for rental assistance for the first nine months of the crisis, but in December and January, Congress allocated $46.5 billion toward emergency rental assistance to be distributed by state, local, and tribal governments. By the end of July, however, only $5.1 billion of this rental assistance had been distributed. As our trend data show, these resources are not yet having a measurable impact on renters who are struggling to get out of debt.

The share of renters with debt is much higher in some communities: One in three low-income renters are behind on rent in North Carolina and the District of Columbia.

The share of renters who are behind on rent is much higher than the national average in some communities. One in every five renters are behind in five southern states (Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia) which offer few tenant protections from eviction. North Carolina has the highest share of renters with debt (25 percent).

Focusing specifically on renters with annual incomes of less than $50,000, who are likely to meet the eligibility criteria for federal rental assistance, we see that nationwide, about one in five low-income renter households (19 percent) are behind on rent. But one in three low-income renter households are behind on rent in North Carolina (33 percent) and the District of Columbia (37 percent), and nearly one in three in South Carolina (30 percent). Less than ten percent of low-income renters owe back rent in the states of Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota, and Utah. In terms of sheer numbers, the most populous states are home to the most at-risk households: there are 2.5 million low-income renter households with debt living in California, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, New York, Washington DC, and Miami have the highest shares of low-income renters behind on rent, all at 28 percent. New York is home to the most low-income renters with debt by far (475,700 households), followed by Los Angeles (247,800 households). 


Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to $15 billion.

According to our estimates, total rent debt is $15 billion nationwide. On average, renters are behind three months’ rent and owe $2,550, but these averages mask much higher debts and levels of need for many renters, especially those with the lowest incomes. This is due to two factors. First, renters in higher-cost communities are paying higher rents thus will owe higher amounts: the average debt in the San Francisco Bay Area is $4,300. Second, the lowest income renters are more likely to be much further behind on rent and owe the most back rent. Based on the Pulse survey’s newly-added question about how many months renters with arrears are behind, 43 percent of renters are one month behind, 25 percent are two months behind, 12 percent are three months behind, 12 percent are between four and seven months behind, and 8 percent are eight to 17 months behind. Low-income renters who are further behind owe greater debts: those who are eight or more months behind owe $9,832 on average.

The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

The overwhelming majority of households with debt — 85 percent — are households with earnings of less than $50,000 per year, which is generally the group targeted by federal rental assistance programs.

Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 68 percent of those who were behind on rent in May had lost employment income at some point during the pandemic, according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses and are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Currently, the majority of renters with arrears were not employed within the past week (56 percent).

Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing their risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. The May 12-24 Pulse survey data showed that among low-income households who lost employment income at some time during the pandemic, 73 percent were current on rent. This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

Workers of color were hardest hit by the pandemic job losses and thus more likely to fall behind on rent through no fault of their own. Two-thirds of renters with arrears (67 percent) are people of color. Today, 27 percent of Black renters, 19 percent of Latinx renters, 18 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander renters, and 17 percent of multiracial renters are behind on rent, compared to 9 percent of White renters.

Among renters with arrears, Black renters disproportionately expect to be evicted by October: 58 percent of Black tenants with rent debt say they are very or somewhat likely to be evicted, compared with 45 percent of their White counterparts. Other research has shown that Black renters, especially Black women with children, are more frequently evicted by their landlords.


In the United States, renters have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). The rent debt crisis adds another layer to these preexisting inequities. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

Rent debt is also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap. Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in the labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. (Atlas data show that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black and Latinx households rent.) While renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $17 billion in rent debt alone (not including utilities and other debts), homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.9 trillion increase in their home equity from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up.

Rental assistance resources are not sufficiently reaching tenants in need.

Over the past couple of months, the federal government has sought to speed up the distribution of rental assistance and the pace picked up in July, but only 11 percent of the allocated resources have been distributed. Our analysis of Treasury data tracking the distribution of the first round of assistance (ERA1) finds that there are 191 cities and counties where less than 25 percent of the funds have been distributed. This list includes many communities with large populations of low-income renters, such as Broward County, Florida; Chicago; Dallas (city and county); King County, Washington; and Los Angeles (city and county).

With the sluggish distribution of rental assistance, millions of renters are in limbo.

In August, the Pulse survey added a question about the status of rental assistance for households with arrears. This new dataset provides insight into how these programs are working and illustrates many of the challenges that renters face in accessing these resources. Nationwide, one in five renters with debt (22 percent) have applied for rental assistance and are awaiting a response. Three in five (62 percent) have not yet applied for rental assistance. One in ten (10.5 percent) applied for and were denied rental assistance.

Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. A University of Pennsylvania survey of California renters who applied for rental assistance found that the majority had about $3,050 in “shadow debt” they borrowed to pay their rent that is not covered by relief programs.

According to the Pulse survey, among households behind on rent, 43 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay for expenses including rent, compared with 16 percent of households current on rent. About 31 percent of all renter households used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average; and in Massachusetts half a million households were 90 days behind on their utilities, averaging $1,000 in debt.

Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households — most of them people of color — now face the burden of owing back rent and the risk of being evicted due to a public health crisis that upended their finances. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July of 2020, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September of last year. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back-rent, the moratorium simply delayed eviction, yet the federal government provided no rent relief until December.

Swiftly clearing rent debts is urgently needed to stave off mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout communities and our economy. Eviction has significant and undeniable negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Amidst the continued spread of the Delta variant, evictions will have disastrous impacts on public health: Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. And particularly at a time when rents are increasing everywhere, eviction will increase homelessness, with its devastating consequences for health and well-being and significant costs for local governments.

Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

Policymakers Must Take Immediate Action to Prevent Eviction and Clear Rent Debt

The new data underscores the magnitude of the rent debt crisis in communities across the country and the urgency of providing eviction protections and distributing rental assistance to avert the specter of mass eviction and skyrocketing homelessness. Targeted support is particularly needed in places with the most low-income renters with debt, slowest distribution of rental assistance, and weakest tenant protections. But no community is immune to the rent debt crisis. Policymakers everywhere should partner with community-based organizations that have been working with the communities most impacted by both the pandemic and systemic racism to address this immediate crisis and implement long-term solutions to housing insecurity.

At the federal level, Congress should act immediately to pass a national eviction moratorium that lasts through the end of the pandemic. This will give states and local governments the necessary time to deliver rental assistance to those in need. HUD and FHFA should enact an eviction moratorium for all renters living in all federally assisted properties and urge the administration to explore and use any authority it has to institute a moratorium or other eviction prevention requirements on properties that have a federally backed mortgage or multifamily loan. The Department of Justice and Treasury should use their authority to ensure that renters eligible for relief get assistance quickly and are not moved through the court eviction process.

State and local governments and their courts must double down on the important work they are doing by partnering with directly impacted communities and renter advocates to pass and strengthen eviction and utilities shutoff moratoria, streamline the delivery of rent relief, provide access to free legal assistance for renters facing eviction, establish eviction diversion programs. In the absence of moratoria, they should require landlords to apply for rental assistance as a condition of filing evictions (for any reason, not only nonpayment of rent), ensure that renters who’ve applied for assistance are protected from eviction, and extend rent repayment periods for renters who do not receive assistance.

Localities should disaggregate their data on rent relief program performance by geography, income, and race/ethnicity, and make it accessible to housing assistance providers and the general public. Presenting this data in dashboards is critical but insufficient: the data should be provided in downloadable spreadsheets or databases that can be analyzed to inform outreach and assistance efforts and hold leaders accountable for delivering assistance. Localities should also track and democratize data on evictions and rental ownership patterns with a focus on which landlords are responsible for evictions in order to develop long-term policy solutions to prevent eviction and stabilize renters, particularly as recent data indicate an increase in institutional investor ownership through the pandemic and link between corporate landlords and higher rates of eviction.

For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org.

Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

Our rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent the looming crisis of mass eviction.

By Sarah Treuhaft, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, Justin Scoggins, Abbie Langston, and Selena Tan

Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of the millions of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers —  disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. With the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the federal emergency eviction moratorium on August 26, 2021, these renters are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. Allowing an eviction tsunami to take place would be a moral travesty and a policy failure that would deepen inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

To inform policymaking and advocacy to prevent eviction and eliminate rent debt, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance — a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all —  launched this rent debt dashboard in April 2021. 

The dashboard provides current data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, states, and 15 metro areas, as well as estimates of the amount of back rent owed. With this release, we’ve added a new “Relief Map” to the dashboard tracking the distribution of federal emergency rental assistance in states, counties, and cities. We’ve also expanded our rent debt estimates to cover all states and counties in the US as well as 562 cities. To provide disaggregated data for sub-national geographies, we combine the two most recent waves of the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and use the individual-level microdata in the Pulse public-use file, which is released two weeks after the tabular data. The dashboard data is refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, incorporating data from the July 21 - August 2 Pulse survey, along with action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers must take immediately to keep people in their homes. 

This is an update to our April 21, May 25, July 7, and August 10 analyses. The next dashboard update will be directly after the September 8 microdata release.

Rent debt remains at crisis levels: more than 6 million households are behind on rent, including about 7 million children.

As of the first week of August 2021, 6.2 million renter households — 15 percent of all renters — were behind on their rent payments. Half of these households (51 percent) are families with children and we estimate there are 6.9 million children living in these households. This represents an enormous number of renters and their children who are now at risk of eviction and displacement, approaching the scale of the 2008 foreclosure crisis in which nearly 8 million households lost their homes.

Data on the share of households behind on rent comes directly from the Census Pulse survey, which has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since mid-August 2020.

The rent debt crisis has not abated over the past four months.

Fourteen percent of renter households were behind on rent the first time the Pulse survey posed this question. The share behind climbed up to 19 percent at the height of the pandemic and economic crisis in January, then crawled back down to 14 percent in March, where it has lingered for the past four months. This is likely about twice the pre-pandemic baseline: the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent.


Under the Trump administration, the federal government did not provide any direct resources for rental assistance for the first nine months of the crisis, but in December and January, Congress allocated $46.5 billion toward emergency rental assistance to be distributed by state, local, and tribal governments. By the end of July, however, only $5.1 billion of this rental assistance had been distributed. As our trend data show, these resources are not yet having a measurable impact on renters who are struggling to get out of debt. 

There are six states where at least one in four low-income renters are behind on rent.

The share of renters who are behind on rent is much higher than the national average in some communities. At least one in four low-income renters are behind on rent in Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. New York has the highest share of low-income renters with arrears (31 percent), followed by New Jersey (30 percent), and  South Carolina (28 percent). Less than ten percent of low-income renters owe back rent in the states of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.

In terms of sheer numbers, the most populous states are home to the most at-risk households: there are 2.6 million low-income renter households with debt living in California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Illinois.

Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, New York has the highest share of low-income renters with debt (32 percent), followed by Houston and Washington DC (28 percent). New York is home to the most low-income renters with debt by far (539,600 households), followed by Los Angeles (226,600 households).


Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to $16.8 billion.

According to our estimates, total rent debt is $16.8 billion nationwide. On average, renters are behind three months’ rent and owe $2,730, but these averages mask much higher debts and levels of need for many renters, especially those with the lowest incomes. This is due to two factors. First, renters in higher-cost communities are paying higher rents thus will owe higher amounts: the average debt in the San Francisco Bay Area is $4,660. Second, the lowest income renters are more likely to be much further behind on rent and owe the most back rent. Based on the Pulse survey’s newly-added question about how many months renters with arrears are behind, 44 percent of renters are one month behind, 30 percent are two months behind, 12 percent are three months behind, 12 percent are between four and seven months behind, and 10.5% are eight to 16 months behind. Among low-income renters, one in four (25 percent) are at least four months behind, compared to 13 percent of renters with incomes above $50,000 per year. Low-income renters who are further behind owe greater debts: those who are eight or more months behind owe $9,435 on average (and in the Bay Area, its an average of $14,076). 

The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

The overwhelming majority of households with debt — 84 percent — are low-income households with earnings of less than $50,000 per year, which is generally the group targeted by federal rental assistance programs. Nationwide, one in five low-income households are behind on rent. 

Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 68 percent of those who were behind on rent in May had lost employment income at some point during the pandemic, according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses and are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Currently, the majority of renters with arrears were not employed within the past week (55 percent).

Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing their risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. The May 12-24 Pulse survey data showed that among low-income households who lost employment income at some time during the pandemic, 73 percent were current on rent. This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

Workers of color were hardest hit by the pandemic job losses and thus more likely to fall behind on rent through no fault of their own. Two-thirds of renters with arrears (66 percent) are people of color. Today, 26 percent of Black renters, 19 percent of Latinx renters, 19 percent of multiracial renters, and 17 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander renters are behind on rent, compared to 10 percent of White renters. 

Among renters with arrears, Black renters disproportionately expect to be evicted by October: 56 percent of Black tenants with rent debt say they are very or somewhat likely to be evicted, compared with 45 percent of their White counterparts. Other research has shown that Black renters, especially Black women with children, are more frequently evicted by their landlords.


In the United States, renters have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). The rent debt crisis adds another layer to these preexisting inequities. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

Rent debt is also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap. Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in the labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. (Atlas data show that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black and Latinx households rent.) While renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $17 billion in rent debt alone (not including utilities and other debts), homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.9 trillion increase in their home equity from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up. 

Rental assistance is not sufficiently reaching tenants in need. 

Over the past month, the federal government has sought to speed up the distribution of rental assistance and the pace picked up in July, but only 11 percent of the allocated resources have been distributed as of the end of July. Our analysis of Treasury data tracking the distribution of the first round of assistance (ERA1) finds that there are 191 cities and counties where less than 25 percent of the funds have been distributed. This list includes many communities with large populations of low-income renters, such as Broward County, Florida; Chicago; Dallas (city and county); King County, Washington; and Los Angeles (city and county).

With the sluggish distribution of rental assistance, millions of renters are in limbo. 

The rollout of emergency rental assistance has been riddled with challenges including complicated and confusing application processes, which the Treasury is now seeking to streamline, as well as the refusal of some landlords to participate. In August, the Pulse survey added a question about the status of rental assistance for households with arrears. This new dataset provides insight into how these programs are working and illustrates many of the challenges that renters face in accessing these resources. Nationwide, one in five renters with debt (22 percent) have applied for rental assistance and are awaiting a response. Three in five (62 percent) have not yet applied for rental assistance. One in ten (12 percent) applied for and were denied rental assistance.

Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. A University of Pennsylvania survey of California renters who applied for rental assistance found that the majority had about $3,050 in “shadow debt” they borrowed to pay their rent that is not covered by relief programs. 

According to the Pulse survey, among households behind on rent, 51 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay rent, compared with 14 percent of households current on rent. About 30 percent of all renter households used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average; and in Massachusetts half a million households were 90 days behind on their utilities, averaging $1,000 in debt.

Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households — most of them people of color — now face the burden of owing back rent and the risk of being evicted due to a public health crisis that upended their finances. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July of 2020, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September of last year. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back-rent, the moratorium simply delayed eviction, yet the federal government provided no rent relief until December.

Swiftly clearing rent debts is urgently needed to stave off mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout communities and our economy. Eviction has significant and undeniable negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Amidst the continued spread of the Delta variant, evictions will have disastrous impacts on public health: Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. And particularly at a time when rents are increasing everywhere, eviction will increase homelessness, with its devastating consequences for health and well-being and significant costs for local governments. 

Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

Policymakers Must Take Immediate Action to Prevent Eviction and Clear Rent Debt 

The new data underscores the magnitude of the rent debt crisis in communities across the country and the urgency of providing eviction protections and distributing rental assistance to avert the specter of mass eviction and skyrocketing homelessness. Targeted support is particularly needed in places with the most low-income renters with debt, slowest distribution of rental assistance, and weakest tenant protections. But no community is immune to the rent debt crisis. Policymakers everywhere should partner with community-based organizations that have been working with the communities most impacted by both the pandemic and systemic racism to address this immediate crisis and implement long-term solutions to housing insecurity.

At the federal level, Congress should act immediately to pass a national eviction moratorium that lasts through the end of the pandemic. This will give states and local governments the necessary time to deliver rental assistance to those in need. HUD and FHFA should enact an eviction moratorium for all renters living in all federally assisted properties and urge the administration to explore and use any authority it has to institute a moratorium or other eviction prevention requirements on properties that have a federally backed mortgage or multifamily loan. The Department of Justice and Treasury should use their authority to ensure that renters eligible for relief get assistance quickly and are not moved through the court eviction process.

State and local governments and their courts must double down on the important work they are doing by partnering with directly impacted communities and renter advocates to pass and strengthen eviction and utilities shutoff moratoria, streamline the delivery of rent relief, provide access to free legal assistance for renters facing eviction, establish eviction diversion programs. In the absence of moratoria, they should require landlords to apply for rental assistance as a condition of filing evictions (for any reason, not only nonpayment of rent), ensure that renters who’ve applied for assistance are protected from eviction, and extend rent repayment periods for renters who do not receive assistance. 

Localities should disaggregate their data on rent relief program performance by geography, income, and race/ethnicity, and make it accessible to housing assistance providers and the general public. Presenting this data in dashboards is critical but insufficient: the data should be provided in downloadable spreadsheets or databases that can be analyzed to inform outreach and assistance efforts and hold leaders accountable for delivering assistance. Localities should also track and democratize data on evictions and rental ownership patterns with a focus on which landlords are responsible for evictions in order to develop long-term policy solutions to prevent eviction and stabilize renters, particularly as recent data indicate an increase in institutional investor ownership through the pandemic and link between corporate landlords and higher rates of eviction.

 

For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org.

Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

Our rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent the specter of mass eviction.

By Sarah Treuhaft, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, Justin Scoggins, Abbie Langston, and Jamila Henderson

Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers — disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. As of August 3rd, the federal eviction moratorium was temporarily extended to October 3rd for a more narrow subset of renters. While this extended order will cover the majority of renter households, when the order expires at the beginning of October, the renter households that still hold debt and lack protection by state or local moratoria will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. Allowing this eviction tsunami to take place would be a moral travesty and a policy failure that would deepen inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

To inform policymaking and advocacy to prevent eviction and eliminate rent debt, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance launched a rent debt dashboard in April 2021 with near real-time data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, most states (currently 40 states), and 15 metro areas.* The dashboard also provides estimates of the amount of back rent owed for these geographies, as well as estimates for the number of households with debt and the amount owed for all counties in the states. Drawing current data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and the University of Southern California Center for Economic and Social Research's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey, the dashboard data is refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

Born out of the need for accessible, current data to inform local and state campaigns, the dashboard was produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all.

This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, based on the June 23 - July 5 Pulse survey, along with action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers can take to stabilize the people most negatively impacted by the pandemic and facilitate equitable recovery by addressing the challenge of rent debt.

This is an update to our April 21, May 25, and July 7 analyses. We will be updating our dashboard and this analysis after the August 11 Pulse data release.

Rent debt continues to be a significant issue, with 6.4 million renter households behind on rent.

As of the first week of July 2021 6.4 million renters — 15 percent of all renter households — were behind on their rent payments. The federal eviction moratorium from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enacted in September 2020 provided these renters with some protection from eviction but will expire on October 3. And even now, the temporary eviction moratorium order does not apply to all renter households who might be at risk. A few states and cities still have moratoria banning eviction for nonpayment of rent. However, most renters with arrears live in the vast majority of states and cities that do not have moratoria and they are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. As a point of comparison, nearly 8 million households lost their homes to foreclosure due to the 2008 financial crisis.

The Pulse survey has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since August 2020. Nationally, the current share of renters with debt is down from a high of 19 percent in mid-January, but remains far higher than the pre-pandemic baseline. While data on rent debt is sparse, the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent.

South Carolina and Georgia have the highest share of renters with arrears among the 40 states analyzed.

The share of renters who are behind on rent is much higher than the national average in some states and metro areas. Among the 40 states with sufficient data to include in our analysis, South Carolina has the highest share of renters with arrears (28 percent), and at least 20 percent of renters are behind in the states of Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Idaho and Montana have the lowest shares of renters with debt, at 6 and 4 percent, respectively.

Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, New York and Riverside have the highest share of renters with debt (24 percent), followed by Seattle (21 percent), and Atlanta and Philadelphia (both at 19 percent). Phoenix and Miami are tied for the lowest share of renters in arrears among the 15 metros (8 percent).

Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to about $21 billion.

According to our estimates, households that are behind on rent owe $3,300 on average, for a total of $21.3 billion nationwide. As this average suggests, the majority of households who are behind owe one or two months of back rent. However, a smaller but not insignificant number of renters have not been able to pay rent for many months and owe much larger amounts. Our analysis of the University of Southern California’s Understanding Coronavirus in America national survey finds that approximately 28 percent are one month behind, 22 percent are two months behind, 15 percent are three months behind, and the remaining 35 percent are more than three months behind.

The average amount owed depends primarily on local housing costs, so it varies significantly across states and metros. Among states, Hawaii has the highest average rent debt per behind-household ($5,600), while Arkansas has the lowest ($2,100). At the metro level, San Francisco and Washington DC have the highest average debts ($5,800 and $5,200, respectively), while Detroit has the lowest average debt by far ($2,500), followed by Phoenix ($3,200).

Our national estimates of rent debt fall somewhere in the middle of existing projections in terms of total debt, and on the lower end in terms of per household amount. In January, Moody’s Analytics projected that 6.3 million renters would owe a total of $33 billion in rent debt by March, at an average of $5,282 per household. Stout Analytics estimated that between two and five million renter households owed between $13 and $24 billion as of January. Both Moody’s and Stout used the Pulse survey to inform their estimates of the number of households behind. Using a very different methodology based on modeling employment losses, income supports, and spending choices at the household level, and not incorporating the Pulse survey data, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated that 1.8 million renter households would owe $11 billion in rent in March, at approximately $6,100 per household.

With the incipient recovery, the number of renters with debt has declined nationwide since its peak in January, but has remained at 14 percent since late March. Most states and metros are following this decline.

Nationwide, the share of renters with debt trended downward from a high of 19 percent in January to 14 percent in late March, and has held steady around 14 percent for the past couple of months. Nearly all states and metros followed this general downward trend since their peaks. Between January and the beginning of July, the rates of renters behind on rent rose in only nine states, the District of Columbia, and four metro.

Among states, Georgia saw the largest spike in arrearages (from 18 to 25 percent behind), followed by Oregon (from nine to 12 percent). Missouri saw the most improvement (from 27 to 12 percent behind).

Among metros, Seattle saw the highest increase (from 13 to 21 percent behind). Dallas saw the greatest decrease (from 27 to 10 percent).

The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who’ve lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 68 percent of those who were behind on rent in May had lost employment income at some point during the pandemic, according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey which asked respondents this question. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses and are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Among households with rent debt, 81 percent are low-income (with earnings less than $50,000 per year) and 64 percent are renters of color. The majority (51 percent) are currently unemployed.

Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. One of the most surprising facts in the data is the high share of low-income renters who are paid in full: Among low-income households that lost employment income during the pandemic, 73 percent were not behind on rent as of May (also according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey).* This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. Among households behind on rent, 46 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay rent, compared with just 15 percent of households current on rent. About 30 percent of all renter households, whether behind or current on rent, used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average.

Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

In the United States, renters are already a more vulnerable population as a whole: they have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in our labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. Atlas data show that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black, Latinx, and multiracial households rent.

The challenge of unaffordable rents and flat wages add to this underlying housing insecurity among renters. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

Covid-19 added yet another layer of inequity to these preexisting disparities. Today, 24 percent of Black renters, 17 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander and Latinx renters, and 18 percent of multiracial renters are behind on rent, compared to 9 percent of White renters.

Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households – most of them people of color – now face the burden of owing back rent due to a public health crisis that had extremely concentrated negative economic impacts on low-wage workers. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back rent, the moratoria simply delay eviction. Yet, the federal government provided no rent relief until December, nine months into the pandemic.

The magnitude of rent debt is a crisis in and of itself and the leading indicator of a potential eviction tsunami that would be a humanitarian disaster. Rent debt adds a heavy burden onto families who are already financially insecure and struggling during the pandemic, further limiting their choices and creating additional stress. It’s also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap: while renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $20 billion in debt, homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.9 trillion increase in their home equity from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up. At a time when racial equity is at the forefront of the policy debate, eliminating rent debt that has unfairly and unequally accrued for people of color should be an urgent priority.

Clearing rent debt is also key to staving off the specter of mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout our economy. Eviction has significant negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Some evicted families and individuals would become homeless, with devastating consequences for long-term health and well-being as well as significant costs for local governments.

The health impacts of eviction and homelessness are even more severe during a pandemic. Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. Although the vaccination campaign is in full swing and Covid cases are low in most states, there are hotspots with high infection rates and the longer-term picture remains uncertain.

Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

For an Equitable and Just Recovery, Policymakers Must Clear Rent Debt and Prevent Eviction

Recognizing the catastrophic impact of mass eviction, policymakers have responded, albeit belatedly, by enacting eviction moratoria and establishing rent relief funds. The federal CDC eviction moratorium scheduled to expire last month was temporarily extended through October 3 for most renter households, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed in January provided $21.5 billion for rental assistance programs as well as $350 billion in fiscal support for state and local governments, some of which could be allocated toward debt relief. The December 27 coronavirus relief bill also provided $25 billion in funding for rental assistance.

With the federal moratorium expiring in just a couple months and many state and local emergency rent relief programs supported by the ARP just getting off the ground, there is an urgent need to clear the debts of all tenants in need to prevent mass eviction. Throughout the pandemic, rent relief programs have not been reaching all of those in need. These programs must be structured to meet the scale of the crisis, both to efficiently deliver resources and to ensure that resources are distributed equitably, reaching the low-income renters of color who were both hardest hit by the pandemic and already housing insecure before Covid-19. Renters also need stronger eviction protections, including access to free legal assistance and eviction diversion programs. States and localities should extend their eviction moratoria until the pandemic rent debt crisis has subsided.

As they design rent relief programs, local and state policymakers should implement policies that adhere to the following equitable, common sense principles:

  • No renter, regardless of immigration status, should be evicted or burdened with years of debt for rent that they were unable to pay during the pandemic.
  • Rent debt due to the pandemic should be fully forgiven and should not be conditioned on landlords’ acceptance of funds or participation in programs.
  • Financial assistance to landlords should address the fiscal needs of landlords in danger of going out of business due to lost rent, with a particular focus on keeping small community-based landlords and nonprofit affordable housing operators solvent, rather than attempting to achieve full rent replacement for all landlords. California’s program, negotiated with the state’s landlord association, provides an example: landlords receive 80 percent of back rent owed.
  • Local municipalities’ authority to pass stronger eviction and debt protection laws should be preserved.
  • Landlords should continue to fulfill their legal obligations to tenants regardless of whether they receive assistance, including the duty to maintain habitable premises, refrain from harassment and retaliation against tenants, and respecting tenants’ legal rights.

    For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org

    * The number of renter respondents to the Pulse survey for Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming was insufficient to produce reliable data to include in the dashboard.

    Pioneer Study Reveals Broken Promises of California’s Proposition 22

    Dear Atlas users,

    The Supreme Court’s rejection of the federal eviction moratorium threatens to push millions of renters out of their homes. As our Rent Debt Dashboard shows, over 6 million renters —  overwhelmingly low-income households of color who have recently lost employment — owe more than $21 billion in back rent, putting them at immediate risk of eviction. Just 10 percent of state rental assistance funds have been distributed, while many who have applied wait in limbo. The Atlas team continues to equip local advocates with data and research to make the case for robust renter protections. We’re currently analyzing the newest rent debt data and will release our findings and analysis on Monday, August 30. Here are some more updates: 

    New Report: Most California Rideshare Drivers Are Not Receiving Health-Care Benefits under Prop 22

    Nearly a year after tech industry giants won passage of a law that exempted them from classifying millions of their drivers as full-time employees, we produced a study in partnership with Rideshare Drivers United to analyze the impact of Prop 22 on rideshare and delivery drivers’ access to health care. Our survey of drivers found that just 10 percent of respondents are receiving health insurance stipends from Uber or Lyft, and 16 percent have no insurance — double the national uninsurance rate. We also found stark racial inequities: Latinx respondents are less likely to know about the stipends and are also more likely to be uninsured. With Prop 22 ruled unconstitutional last week, our research underscores the need to overturn this harmful legislation and prevent its spread to other states where Uber and Lyft are already campaigning for identical legislation. 

    New Analysis Finds that Bay Area Residents of Color Remain Underrepresented in Elected Positions

    Centering the experiences of the people most impacted by structural racism is an essential component of equitable policymaking. The Bay Area Equity Atlas team and Bay Rising are excited to share our latest analysis on the diversity of elected officials in the region, which shows that the region has seen steady growth in electeds of color, but people of color remain highly underrepresented. Strategies like campaign finance reform, leadership development programs, district-based elections, and expanded voter education and voting options can also foster a fairer and more inclusive Bay Area. Join us on September 9 for a webinar to learn more about this research and hear local leaders — like Shanthi Gonzales of Oakland Unified School District and Kimi Lee of Bay Rising — discuss strategies to build political power among communities of color in the region. You can register here. 

    In the News

    This month, our report on the impacts of California’s Prop 22 were featured in the SF ExaminerKQEDThe American ProspectBloomberg Law, and Law360. Our rent debt analysis were featured on KMOV4Multi-Housing NewsCatholic HeraldBollyInsideWOSU Public MediaNorthern Nevada Business WeeklyABC BaltimorePolitiFactNBC5, Maryland MattersTexas News TodayThe CurrentMarket Watch, the Nevada Independent, and News Nation, among others. See the complete list of media coverage here.

    - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)
     

    Most California Rideshare Drivers Are Not Receiving Health-Care Benefits under Proposition 22

    A survey of more than 500 drivers reveals that California rideshare drivers, particularly Latinx drivers, are struggling to access health insurance and a safe workplace.

    By Eliza McCullough and Brian Dolber of Rideshare Drivers United*

    In 2020, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other tech industry giants led a referendum campaign to exempt themselves from classifying their workers as employees under a California state law known as AB5. Spending a record-shattering $220 million, the companies argued that Proposition 22 would protect California’s app-based workers’ “flexibility” while providing benefits, including health insurance stipends, and safety trainings. Proposition 22 passed on the November 2020 ballot, with 58 percent of the vote. 

    In fact, the companies’ victory stripped drivers of basic employment rights, including health-care benefits, an hourly minimum wage, and health and safety standards. Labor law professor Veena Dubal called Proposition 22 “the most dangerous law to workers since Taft-Hartley,” which dramatically restricted unions, arguing that it sets a dangerous precedent for employment standards across industries. 

    While the industry campaign focused on Prop 22’s worker protections, these protections are narrowly defined in the law and are not equal to the legal protections given to employees. Drivers are eligible for a partial stipend to cover health insurance premiums, and only if they meet multiple qualifications. [1] Prop 22 also required that companies administer safety trainings to all drivers, which must include information about how to report instances of sexual harassment or assault. This requirement, however, is much weaker than protections employees have under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. With the outbreak of the coronavirus, the loss of guaranteed health insurance and workplace safety standards have caused unprecedented health risks for drivers.

    To understand whether drivers are accessing benefits, we conducted a survey of California-based drivers who are members of Rideshare Drivers United (RDU), asking them about their access to health insurance, health insurance stipends, and safety trainings. The survey was conducted between May 19 and June 12, 2021, and was completed by 531 drivers. Given the racial inequities apparent in the survey data, we sought to better understand the experiences of drivers of color with follow-up interviews. We conducted 10 interviews with uninsured drivers of color who have driven since January 2021. Two of these interviews were conducted in Spanish, with primarily Spanish-speaking drivers. See the endnotes for the Spanish version of quotes from these interviews.

    Our survey revealed the following:

    • Just 10 percent of respondents are receiving a stipend while 40 percent of respondents either never heard about their ability to qualify for the stipends or weren’t sure if they had received notification. 
    • Drivers are either turning to public health-care options or forgoing health insurance altogether: Twenty-nine percent of respondents rely on Medi-Cal. Sixteen percent of all respondents are uninsured which is double the national uninsurance rate
    • Latinx respondents are less likely to know about the stipends and are also more likely to be uninsured. 
    • One in six respondents have not received a safety training from a rideshare or delivery company.

    Many drivers we interviewed expressed frustration with the challenges in getting insurance under Prop 22, and most saw it as part of a larger pattern of deception and disregard for the workforce by Uber and Lyft. In some cases, drivers reported significant hardship in obtaining medical care. 

    To immediately improve access to health care and workplace safety, we recommend removing health-care stipend restrictions, improving transparency of stipend rollout, targeting outreach to drivers who are more likely to be uninsured, and improving implementation of safety trainings. Long-term policy changes are also needed to create a rideshare industry that provides quality jobs. California legislators should repeal Prop 22 and other state legislators should prevent the passage of Prop 22 clones. The federal government also has an important role to play in ensuring just working conditions and a living wage for all gig workers through policies such as the PRO Act as well as a single-payer, national health insurance program.

    A majority people-of-color and immigrant workforce.

    Among our survey respondents, 65 percent are people of color, 52 percent were born outside the US, and 37 percent speak a language other than English as their primary language. Eighty-five percent of respondents drive for Uber, 68 percent drive for Lyft, and 59 percent of respondents drive for a food delivery service (like Uber Eats, Postmates, or DoorDash). Sixty-six percent of respondents drive for more than one platform and 75 percent have driven since January 1, 2021 when Prop 22 took effect. Fifty-one percent of respondents were over the age of 50 and 21 percent of respondents were over age 60, making their access to health insurance particularly important. There is no quality source of driver demographic data to assess the representativeness of this sample. However, a recent study of San Francisco drivers shows that like our respondent population, the majority of drivers are people of color, immigrants, over 30 years old, and drive for multiple platforms.

    Uber and Lyft are failing to adequately notify their drivers about their ability to qualify for health insurance stipends.

    Forty percent of drivers surveyed do not recall being notified about the stipends, with large differences across racial/ethnic groups. Latinx drivers are least likely to know about the stipends: about half of Latinx drivers don’t recall receiving any notification or aren’t sure.

    One 31-year-old male Latinx driver in Los Angeles noted, “No one ever reached out and said what it was.” The lack of communication from the companies does not surprise him. “To be honest, they don’t care about drivers. I knew [the promises of Prop 22 weren’t] going to come true.” 

    Those who were notified said they received emails or text messages from the companies. Information alone, however, has not meant accessibility. For example, one 36-year-old male, Spanish-speaking driver in Los Angeles, said, “I received an email with the information. On the app there is also the hours tallied that you need in order to qualify for the voucher. I also worked DoorDash during the pandemic. I was jumping all over the platforms, Uber, LYFT, DoorDash. With Uber I have to spend 20 hours with a passenger to qualify, weekly. They lied to drivers about the medical insurance because I'm out here working and I don’t have insurance.” [2] Narrow eligibility requirements, on top of poor communication, has made accessing insurance stipends difficult for many drivers, especially drivers of color. 

    Prop 22 reduced access to health care: fewer than one in five drivers are receiving health-care stipends.

    Prop 22 requirements have not made up for drivers’ lost right to health care as the vast majority of drivers do not receive health-care stipends. This is largely due to the narrow requirements to qualify for stipends under Prop 22. In order to qualify, drivers must not receive health care through Medicare, Medi-Cal, another job, or a partner or spouse. Drivers also must drive at least 15 engaged hours per week on one app to receive the minimum stipend. Drivers have also reported that they must “show a proof of health insurance within a certain time frame prior to applying for the stipend,” indicating that drivers who are uninsured may also not qualify. Together, these requirements prevent the vast majority of drivers from accessing the health-care stipends promised under Prop 22. 

     

     

    Many drivers are ineligible because they have seen their income decline during the pandemic, and thus have reduced their hours. One 49-year old male driver in Los Angeles, and his 18-year old son, have both been without insurance for nine months for this reason. “The pricing has gone down to 50 cents [per mile], so I’m very rarely driving these days,” he said. 

    While he did not vote for Prop 22, he supported it. “I thought I’d get free insurance,” he said. “I feel stressed.” He says his son had a medical emergency, and he had to rely on Medi-Cal, the public insurance program, to cover expenses. “I’m worried about me. I’m almost 50 and I don’t know what’s going to happen if I just keep driving for Uber and Lyft.” 

    The 36-year-old male, Spanish-speaking driver in Los Angeles noted, “Drivers feel duped. These companies spent so much money on propaganda. They control the platform. As drivers we have no control. These changes from the companies look cute until the truth is revealed. The hours needed to qualify are too much for what is fair. They lied to us. Uber has been making too many changes without input from drivers.” [3]

    One 66-year-old male driver in the San Diego area says he does not drive enough to receive a stipend because he took on an additional job to make ends meet. He says he is fortunate to live in Tecate near the US-Mexico border. He crosses the border to receive affordable care. “Some of the best doctors are in Mexico,” he said. “If you wait 15 minutes it’s too long.”   

    Among survey respondents who have driven since Prop 22 took effect and don’t receive health insurance through a public program or their spouse, only 19 percent are actually receiving health-care stipends. People who identify as multiracial or a racial group outside of those listed on the survey were least likely to receive a stipend. Even if only 50 percent of drivers are meeting Prop 22’s engaged-time qualifications (an estimate we think is conservative), a shockingly low share of drivers are receiving health care stipends. 

    Some drivers also said that the stipends are too low to cover expenses. One 53-year-old male driver in Sacramento has been uninsured since 2010 and has had significant medical expenses over the years, including dental work and kidney stones. But he says even with the stipend, an insurance plan is still too expensive because the stipend only covers a portion of the premium. “I refuse to pay for something like that,” he said. “I’m not going to pay to live. I can’t afford it.” He noted that his car payments eat up much of his income, making insurance unaffordable.

    Latinx drivers are the least likely to be insured among all racial/ethnic groups: a quarter of Latinx drivers do not have health insurance.

    The lost right to health insurance caused by Prop 22 has forced many drivers to forgo health insurance: sixteen percent of drivers are uninsured, which is twice as much as the national uninsurance rate. Latinx drivers are most likely to lack insurance, with a quarter of respondents indicating that they are uninsured. 

    One 25-year-old male, Spanish-speaking driver in Los Angeles, said, “I do not have health insurance, I haven't had it since I worked with Uber. I've worked three years here in the US, the whole time I've been with Uber.” [4]

    The 36-year-old male, Spanish-speaking driver in Los Angeles noted he has been without insurance for a year and a half. He said, “I'm diabetic. I have to prepare my medicine. If I don't pay I have to take on debt with the hospitals. I went to the hospital in Glendale, my bill was $900. I went recently and qualified for emergency medical care. I have gone to the emergency room twice in a year.” [5]

    We found that drivers are most likely to rely on the public system: nearly one-third of respondents get health insurance through Medi-Cal. This finding indicates that many drivers are also struggling financially as Medi-Cal is primarily reserved for people below 138 percent of the poverty line. We also found that half of all respondents receive insurance through Medi-Cal, Medicare, or a partner or spouse, which automatically disqualifies them from receiving health-care stipends. Through these narrow requirements, Prop 22 allows Uber and Lyft to save billions on the health insurance costs that they were required to pay before the legislation was enacted.

    Uber and Lyft are failing to provide drivers with adequate safety protections.

    In lieu of legally mandated health and safety protections guaranteed to employees, Proposition 22 mandates safety training for app-based workers. Ninety-three percent of our 531 respondents had driven since January 1, 2021, when Proposition 22 took effect. Therefore, Uber and Lyft are required to provide these drivers with safety trainings. However, the companies have failed to provide a training to one in six drivers who responded to our survey. We also found that drivers who identify as multiracial or as a racial category not included in the survey were least likely to have received a training than drivers of other racial groups. This oversight is particularly harmful to women and LGBTQ drivers, who are more likely to experience harassment and violence while working. Without adequate training on how to respond to and report instances of harm, drivers are at risk of danger while on the job. 

    Policy changes are urgently needed to increase workplace safety and access to health care for rideshare drivers.

    Our study reveals that the rollout of protections outlined in Proposition 22 is unpredictable, uneven, and inadequate. Rather than rectifying the problems app-based drivers face, Prop 22 has intensified drivers’ vulnerability to health and safety risks as well as feelings of confusion and disillusionment. This has been particularly acute among Latinx drivers, who are the least likely to know about the health-care stipends and be insured. Rideshare companies and regulatory agencies must take immediate steps to improve access to health care and workplace safety for drivers. 

    • Companies must remove restrictions on the health-care stipend. The stipend should cover 100 percent of the average monthly premium for a Covered California Bronze plan. Drivers’ total work time, rather than engaged work time, should be counted when calculating stipend qualification. 
    • Regulatory agencies must improve transparency of stipend rollout by requiring that companies report the percentage of drivers who receive stipends disaggregated by race and ethnicity on a quarterly basis to ensure that everyone who can qualify for a stipend is actually receiving one. 
    • Uber, Lyft, and other companies need to provide targeted outreach to drivers who are more likely to be uninsured. Information about how to qualify for and receive a health-care stipend should be available in multiple languages and formats. 
    • Rideshare companies must improve implementation of safety trainings by ensuring that all drivers receive trainings and providing public data on the percentage of drivers who have completed trainings. These trainings should also highlight information about how to report instances of sexual assault or harassment.

    While these changes will immediately improve working conditions for millions of drivers, long-term policy action must be taken to create a rideshare industry that benefits everyone. 

    • California legislators must repeal Prop 22 and reclassify rideshare drivers as employees, restoring all labor rights stripped with its passage. Uber, Lyft, and other gig companies are already funding campaigns for legislation identical to Prop 22 in New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and other states nationwide. 
    • State policymakers and labor advocates must protect crucial rights for drivers and prevent the passage of this legislation
    • Even without the reclassification of drivers as independent contractors through this legislation, current protections are not enough: federal policymakers must ensure just working conditions and a living wage for all gig workers through policies such as the PRO Act
    • Policymakers should establish a single-payer, national health insurance program alongside expanded pathways to citizenship to provide everyone in the US with comprehensive coverage to ensure that workers across all industries have access to free, quality health care. 

    * Brian Dolber is an Associate Professor of Communication at California State University San Marcos, and an organizer with Rideshare Drivers United. Rideshare Drivers United is an independent association of US rideshare drivers coming together to demand higher pay and workplace rights for all rideshare drivers.

    This survey is the first in a series of analyses co-produced by the National Equity Atlas and Rideshare Drivers United examining the impacts of Prop 22 on rideshare drivers. The authors thank Sarah Treuhaft and Michelle Huang of PolicyLink, Carla Tapia of Rideshare Drivers United, and Justin Scoggins of Equity Research Institute. 

    Notes

    (1) Proposition 22 requires rideshare and delivery companies to pay a monthly stipend of 82 percent of the average monthly premium for a Covered California Bronze plan (the lowest tier of plans available through the statewide exchange) for drivers averaging more than 25 hours per week in engaged time. Engaged time is defined as time drivers spend from when they get a ride to when they drop a passenger at their destination and does not include time spent in between rides. For drivers averaging at least 15 but less than 25 engaged hours, companies are required to pay a stipend of 41 percent of the average premium. Drivers who work less than 15 hours of engaged time per week do not qualify for a stipend and the same goes for drivers who receive health insurance through Medicare or Medi-Cal, their partner or spouse, or another job. 

    (2) “Recibí un correo electrónico con la información. En la aplicación también están las horas contabilizadas que necesita para calificar para el cupón. También trabajé en la aplicación durante la pandemia. Estaba saltando por todas partes las plataformas, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash. Con Uber tengo que pasar 20 horas con los pasajeros para calificar, semanalmente. Mintieron a los conductores sobre el seguro médico, porque estoy aquí trabajando y no tengo seguro.”

    (3) “Los conductores se sienten engañados. Estas empresas gastaron mucho dinero en propaganda. Controlaban la plataforma. Como los conductores no tienen control. Estos cambios de las empresas se ven lindos hasta que se revela la verdad. Las horas necesarias para calificar son demasiadas para lo que es justo. Nos mintieron. Uber ha estado haciendo demasiados cambios sin imputación de los conductores“

    (4) “No tengo seguro de salud, no lo he tenido desde que trabajé con Uber. He trabajado tres años aquí en los Estados Unidos, todo el tiempo que he estado con Uber.”

    (5) “Estoy sin seguro y soy diabético. Tengo que preparar mi medicamento. Si no pago tengo que endeudar con los hospitales. Fui al hospital en Glendale, mi factura era de 900 dólares. Fui recientemente y calificé para emergencia médical. He ido a la sala de emergencias dos veces en un año.”

    Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

    Our rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent the specter of mass eviction.

    By Sarah Treuhaft, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, Justin Scoggins, Abbie Langston, and Jamila Henderson

    Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers —  disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. When the federal eviction moratorium expires at the end of this month, the renter households that still hold debt and lack protection by state or local moratoria will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. Allowing this eviction tsunami to take place would be a moral travesty and a policy failure that would deepen inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

    To inform policymaking and advocacy to prevent eviction and eliminate rent debt, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance launched a rent debt dashboard in April 2021 with near real-time data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, most states (currently 42 states), and 15 metro areas.* The dashboard also provides estimates of the amount of back rent owed for these geographies, as well as estimates for the number of households with debt and the amount owed for all counties in the states. Drawing current data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and the University of Southern California Center for Economic and Social Research's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey, the dashboard data is refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

    Born out of the need for accessible, current data to inform local and state campaigns, the dashboard was produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all.

    This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, based on the May 26 - June 7 Pulse survey, along with action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers can take to stabilize the people most negatively impacted by the pandemic and facilitate equitable recovery by addressing the challenge of rent debt.

    This is an update to our May 25 and April 21 analyses.

    Rent debt continues to be a significant issue, with 5.8 million renter households behind on rent.

    As of the first week of June 2021, 5.8 million renters — 14 percent of all renter households — were behind on their rent payments. Renters with arrears will be at imminent risk of eviction in the absence of strong eviction moratoria and other renter protections, and the current federal eviction moratorium from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was recently extended one final time and will expire July 31. As a point of comparison, nearly 8 million households lost their homes to foreclosure due to the 2008 financial crisis.

    The Pulse survey has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since August 2020. Nationally, the current share of renters with debt is down from a high of 19 percent in mid-January, but remains far higher than the pre-pandemic baseline. While data on rent debt is sparse, the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent.

    The share of renters who are behind on rent is much higher than the national average in some states and metro areas. Alabama has the highest share of renters with arrears (28 percent), and at least 20 percent of renters are behind in the states of Arkansas, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, and South Carolina. New Hampshire and Utah have the lowest shares of renters with debt, at 7 percent.

    Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, New York has the highest share of renters with debt (24 percent), followed by Atlanta (21 percent), and Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, and Los Angeles, all at 16 percent. Phoenix has the lowest share of renters in arrears among the 15 metros (8 percent).

    Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to about $20 billion.

    According to our estimates, households that are behind on rent owe $3,400 on average, for a total of $20 billion nationwide. As this average suggests, the majority of households who are behind owe one or two months of back rent. However, a smaller but not insignificant number of renters have not been able to pay rent for many months and owe much larger amounts. Our analysis of the University of Southern California’s Understanding Coronavirus in America national survey finds that approximately 28 percent are one month behind, 22 percent are two months behind, 15 percent are three months behind, and the remaining 35 percent are more than three months behind.

    The average amount owed depends primarily on local housing costs, so it varies significantly across states and metros. Among states, Hawaii has the highest average rent debt per behind-household ($5,600), while Arkansas has the lowest ($2,100). At the metro level, San Francisco and Washington DC have the highest average debts ($5,800 and $5,200, respectively), while Detroit has the lowest average debt by far ($2,500), followed by Phoenix ($3,200).

    Our national estimates of rent debt fall somewhere in the middle of existing projections in terms of total debt, and on the lower end in terms of per household amount. In January, Moody’s Analytics projected that 6.3 million renters would owe a total of $33 billion in rent debt by March, at an average of $5,282 per household. Stout Analytics estimated that between two and five million renter households owed between $13 and $24 billion as of January. Both Moody’s and Stout used the Pulse survey to inform their estimates of the number of households behind. Using a very different methodology based on modeling employment losses, income supports, and spending choices at the household level, and not incorporating the Pulse survey data, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated that 1.8 million renter households would owe $11 billion in rent in March, at approximately $6,100 per household.

    With the incipient recovery, the number of renters with debt has declined nationwide since its peak in January, but has remained at 14 percent since late March. Most states and metros are following this trend.

    Nationwide, the share of renters with debt trended downward from a high of 19 percent in January to 14 percent in late March, and has held steady at 14 percent for the past couple of months. Nearly all states and metros followed this general downward trend since their peaks. Between January and the beginning of June, the rates of renters behind on rent rose in only 10 states, the District of Columbia, and one metro.

    Among states, Georgia and Arkansas saw the biggest spike in arrearages (from 18 to 25 percent behind), followed by Oregon (from nine to 13 percent). Louisiana saw the biggest improvements (from 34 to 18 percent behind).

    Among metros, only Atlanta saw an increase (from 15 to 21 percent behind). Philadelphia saw the greatest decrease (from 27 to 13 percent).

    The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who’ve lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

    Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 68 percent of those who were behind on rent in May had lost employment income at some point during the pandemic, according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey which asked respondents this question. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses and are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Among households with rent debt, 81 percent are low-income (with earnings less than $50,000 per year) and 66 percent are renters of color. The majority (53 percent) are currently unemployed.

    Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. One of the most surprising facts in the data is the high share of low-income renters who are paid in full: Among low-income households that lost employment income during the pandemic, 73 percent were not behind on rent as of May (also according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey).* This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

    Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

    While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. Among households behind on rent, 43 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay rent, compared with just 14 percent of households current on rent. About 30 percent of all renter households, whether behind or current on rent, used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average.

    Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

    In the United States, renters are already a more vulnerable population as a whole: they have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in our labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. Atlas data show that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black, Latinx, and multiracial households rent.

    The challenge of unaffordable rents and flat wages add to this underlying housing insecurity among renters. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

    Covid-19 added yet another layer of inequity to these preexisting disparities. Today, 24 percent of Black renters, 17 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander and Latinx renters, and 18 percent of multiracial renters are behind on rent, compared to 9 percent of White renters.

    Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

    Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households – most of them people of color – now face the burden of owing back rent due to a public health crisis that had extremely concentrated negative economic impacts on low-wage workers. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back rent, the moratoria simply delay eviction. Yet, the federal government provided no rent relief until December, nine months into the pandemic.

    The magnitude of rent debt is a crisis in and of itself and the leading indicator of a potential eviction tsunami that would be a humanitarian disaster. Rent debt adds a heavy burden onto families who are already financially insecure and struggling during the pandemic, further limiting their choices and creating additional stress. It’s also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap: while renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $20 billion in debt, homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.9 trillion increase in their home equity from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up. At a time when racial equity is at the forefront of the policy debate, eliminating rent debt that has unfairly and unequally accrued for people of color should be an urgent priority.

    Clearing rent debt is also key to staving off the specter of mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout our economy. Eviction has significant negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Some evicted families and individuals would become homeless, with devastating consequences for long-term health and well-being as well as significant costs for local governments.

    The health impacts of eviction and homelessness are even more severe during a pandemic. Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. Although the vaccination campaign is in full swing and Covid cases are low in most states, there are hotspots with high infection rates and the longer-term picture remains uncertain.

    Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

    For an Equitable and Just Recovery, Policymakers Must Clear Rent Debt and Prevent Eviction

    Recognizing the catastrophic impact of mass eviction, policymakers have responded, albeit belatedly, by enacting eviction moratoria and establishing rent relief funds. The federal CDC eviction moratorium scheduled to expire last month was extended through July 31, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed in January provided $21.5 billion for rental assistance programs as well as $350 billion in fiscal support for state and local governments, some of which could be allocated toward debt relief. The December 27 coronavirus relief bill also provided $25 billion in funding for rental assistance.

    With the federal moratorium expiring in just a few weeks and many state and local emergency rent relief programs supported by the ARP just getting off the ground, there is an urgent need to clear the debts of all tenants in need to prevent mass eviction. Throughout the pandemic, rent relief programs have not been reaching all of those in need. These programs must be structured to meet the scale of the crisis, both to efficiently deliver resources and to ensure that resources are distributed equitably, reaching the low-income renters of color who were both hardest hit by the pandemic and already housing insecure before Covid-19. Renters also need stronger eviction protections, including access to free legal assistance and eviction diversion programs. States and localities should extend their eviction moratoria until the pandemic rent debt crisis has subsided.

    As they design rent relief programs, local and state policymakers should implement policies that adhere to the following equitable, common sense principles:

    • No renter, regardless of immigration status, should be evicted or burdened with years of debt for rent that they were unable to pay during the pandemic.
    • Rent debt due to the pandemic should be fully forgiven and should not be conditioned on landlords’ acceptance of funds or participation in programs.
    • Financial assistance to landlords should address the fiscal needs of landlords in danger of going out of business due to lost rent, with a particular focus on keeping small community-based landlords and nonprofit affordable housing operators solvent, rather than attempting to achieve full rent replacement for all landlords. California’s program, negotiated with the state’s landlord association, provides an example: landlords receive 80 percent of back rent owed.
    • Local municipalities’ authority to pass stronger eviction and debt protection laws should be preserved.
    • Landlords should continue to fulfill their legal obligations to tenants regardless of whether they receive assistance, including the duty to maintain habitable premises, refrain from harassment and retaliation against tenants, and respecting tenants’ legal rights.

      For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org

      * The number of renter respondents to the Pulse survey for Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming was insufficient to produce reliable data to include in the dashboard.

      Create Your Own Data Viz with New Indicators on the Racial Equity Data Lab

      Dear Atlas users,

      Even as stay-at-home ordinances end and businesses reopen, communities across the country continue to struggle with the health and economic impacts of Covid-19. With nearly 9.5 million people still unemployed, targeted solutions for those most impacted by the pandemic are as crucial as ever. The Atlas team is focused on supporting advocates to advance an equitable recovery and shared prosperity. Here are a few updates:

      New Ready-to-use Tableau Workbooks on the Racial Equity Data Lab

      We’re excited to announce the addition of four new Tableau-ready datasets on the Racial Equity Data Lab: Poverty, Car Access, Working Poor, and Educational Attainment. Each workbook has built-in features that allow you to access and explore Atlas data in Tableau Public, customize your own data charts, and create a Tableau dashboard or factsheet for your community. Visit the Lab to learn how to access Tableau Public for free, check out our gallery, and explore resources to help you craft your own equity data visualizations. Stay tuned for additional tools and updates from the Lab!

      Updated Rent Debt Dashboard Supports State and Local Efforts to Protect Covid Impacted Renters

      Last week, we released new national and local data on our Rent Debt Dashboard, produced in partnership with with Right to the City Alliance. As of the beginning of June, 5.8 million renters — overwhelmingly low-income households of color who have recently lost employment — owe more than $20 billion in back rent. With the federal eviction moratorium scheduled to expire at the end of July, clearing this debt is urgently needed to prevent an eviction crisis and make equitable recovery possible. See the data for your community on the dashboard and check out our updated analysis.

      In the News

      Dozens of news sources covered our Rent Debt Dashboard this month, including San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, ABC News, NBC News, Mercury News, BET, KQED, and more. Augusta Chronicle, Journal of Olympia, Lacet, and Tumwater, and St. Louis American lifted up findings from Atlas indicators. Finally, SF Public Press highlighted findings from our report on California rental assistance, produced in partnership with BARHII and Housing Now. See a full list of media coverage here.

      - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

      Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

      Our rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent the specter of mass eviction. 

      By Sarah Treuhaft, Jamila Henderson, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, and Justin Scoggins

      Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers —  disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. Without sufficient eviction protection, debt relief, and financial support, these Covid-impacted renters will be left behind — deepening inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

      To inform the national policy debate, as well as local and state policymaking and advocacy, in April 2021, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance launched a rent debt dashboard with near real-time data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, 41 states, and 15 metro areas.* The dashboard provides estimates of the amount of back rent owed for these geographies, as well as estimates for the number of households with debt and the amount owed for all counties in the 41 states. Drawing current data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and the University of Southern California Center for Economic and Social Research's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey, the dashboard data is refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

      Born out of the need for accessible, current data to inform local and state campaigns, the dashboard was produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all.

      This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, based on the April 14-26 Pulse survey, as well as action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers can take to stabilize the people most negatively impacted by the pandemic and facilitate equitable recovery by addressing the challenge of rent debt head-on.

      Rent debt continues to be a significant issue, with 5.8 million renter households behind on rent.

      As of the end of April 2021, 5.8 million renters – 14 percent of all renter households – were behind on their rent payments. Renters with arrears will be at imminent risk of eviction in the absence of strong eviction moratoria and other renter protections, and the current federal eviction moratorium from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to expire June 30. As a point of comparison, nearly 8 million households lost their homes to foreclosure due to the 2008 financial crisis.

      The Pulse survey has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since August 2020. Nationally, the current share of renters with debt is down from a high of 19 percent in mid-January, but remains far higher than the pre-pandemic baseline. While data on rent debt is sparse, the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent. 

      The share of renters who are behind on rent is much higher than the national average in some states and metro areas. Alabama has the highest share of renters with arrears (29 percent), and at least 20 percent of renters are behind in the states of Arkansas, South Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey. Rhode Island has the lowest share of renters with debt (2 percent) followed by Utah (5 percent).

      Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, Atlanta has the highest share of renters with debt (24 percent), followed by Miami (20 percent), New York City and San Francisco (19 percent), and Washington DC (18 percent). Phoenix has the lowest share of renters in arrears among the 15 metros (7 percent).

       

      Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to about $19 billion.

      According to our estimates, households that are behind on rent owe $3,200 on average, for a total of $18.6 billion nationwide. As this average suggests, the majority of households who are behind owe one or two months of back rent. However, a smaller but not insignificant number of renters have not been able to pay rent for many months and owe much larger amounts. Our analysis of the University of Southern California’s Understanding Coronavirus in America national survey finds that 27 percent are one month behind, 27 percent are two months behind, 10 percent are three months behind, and the remaining 36 percent are more than three months behind.

      The average amount owed depends primarily on local housing costs, so it varies significantly across states and metros. Among states, Hawaii has the highest average rent debt per behind household ($5,200), while Arkansas has the lowest ($2,000). At the metro level, San Francisco and Washington DC have the highest average debts ($5,300 and $4,800, respectively), while Detroit has the lowest average debt by far ($2,400), followed by Atlanta ($2,900). 

      Our national estimates of rent debt fall somewhere in the middle of existing projections in terms of total debt, and on the lower end in terms of per household amount. In January, Moody’s Analytics projected that 6.3 million renters would owe a total of $33 billion in rent debt by March, at an average of $5,282 per household. Stout Analytics estimated that between two and five million renter households owed between $13 and $24 billion as of January. Both Moody’s and Stout used the Pulse survey to inform their estimates of the number of households behind. Using a very different methodology based on modeling employment losses, income supports, and spending choices at the household level, and not incorporating the Pulse survey data, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated that 1.8 million renter households would owe $11 billion in rent in March, at approximately $6,100 per household. 

      With the incipient recovery, the number of renters with debt is declining nationwide, but some states and metros saw increases from March to April.

      Nationwide, the share of renters with debt is trending downward from a high of 19 percent in January 2021 to 14 percent at the end of April. Nearly all states and metros are following this general downward trend since their peaks. However, when we look at the most rencent month of data, we see that some communities are seeing declines while others are seeing increases. Between the end of March and the end of April, rates of renters behind rose in 20 states and seven metros.

      Among states, Tennessee saw the biggest spike in arrearages (from nine to 20 percent behind), followed by Arkansas (from 14 to 23 percent), and Hawaii (from eight to 16 percent). West Virginia and Mississippi saw the biggest improvements (from 31 to 13 percent behind).

      Among metros, Atlanta saw the largest increases (from 11 to 24 percent behind). Riverside saw the greatest decrease (from 22 to eight percent).

      The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who’ve lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

      Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 68 percent of those who are behind on rent lost employment income at some point during the pandemic. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses and are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Among households with rent debt, 78 percent are low-income (with earnings less than $50,000 per year) and 64 percent are renters of color. The majority (54 percent) are currently unemployed.

      Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. One of the most surprising facts in the data is the high share of low-income renters who are paid in full: Among low-income households that lost employment income during the pandemic, 73 percent are not behind on rent. This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

      Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

      While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. Among households behind on rent, 41 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay rent, compared with just 15 percent of households current on rent. About 30 percent of all renter households, whether behind or current on rent, used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average.

      Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

      In the United States, renters are already a more vulnerable population as a whole: they have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in our labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. Atlas data shows that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black, Latinx, and multiracial households rent. 

      The challenge of unaffordable rents and flat wages add to this underlying housing insecurity among renters. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

      Covid-19 added yet another layer of inequity to these preexisting disparities. Today, 10 percent of White renters are behind on rent, compared to 20 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander renters, 20 percent of Latinx renters, and 22 percent of Black renters.

      Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

      Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households – most of them people of color – now face the burden of owing back rent due to a public health crisis that had extremely concentrated negative economic impacts on low-wage workers. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back rent, the moratoria simply delay eviction. Yet, the federal government provided no rent relief until December, nine months into the pandemic.

      The magnitude of rent debt is a crisis in and of itself and the leading indicator of a potential eviction tsunami that would be a humanitarian disaster. Rent debt adds a heavy burden onto families who are already financially insecure and struggling during the pandemic, further limiting their choices and creating additional stress. It’s also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap: while renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $20 billion in debt, homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.5 trillion increase in their home equity between October 2019 and October 2020 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up. At a time when racial equity is at the forefront of the policy debate, eliminating rent debt that has unfairly and unequally accrued for people of color should be an urgent priority.

      Clearing rent debt is also key to staving off the specter of mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout our economy. Eviction has significant negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Some evicted families and individuals would become homeless, with devastating consequences for long-term health and well-being as well as significant costs for local governments. 

      The health impacts of eviction and homelessness are even more severe during a pandemic. Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. Although the vaccination campaign is in full swing and Covid cases are low in most states, there are hotspots with high infection rates and the longer-term picture remains uncertain.

      Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

      For an Equitable and Just Recovery, Policymakers Must Clear Rent Debt and Prevent Eviction

      Recognizing the catastrophic impact of mass eviction, policymakers have responded, albeit belatedly, by enacting eviction moratoria and establishing rent relief funds. The federal CDC eviction moratorium scheduled to expire last month was extended through June 30th, and the American Rescue Plan passed in January provided $25.1 billion for rental assistance programs as well as $350 billion in fiscal support for state and local governments, some of which could be allocated toward debt relief. The December 27 coronavirus relief bill also provided $25 billion in funding for rental assistance. 

      These are important steps, and more must be done to ensure that all struggling renters emerge from this crisis safely in their homes with no debt. The eviction moratorium is far from airtight: many evictions are still proceeding, and renters need stronger protections. In addition, rent relief programs are not reaching all of those with need; these programs must be structured to meet the scale of the crisis, both to efficiently deliver resources and to ensure that resources are distributed equitably, reaching the low-income renters of color hardest hit by the pandemic who were already housing insecure before Covid-19.

      As they design rent relief programs, local and state policymakers should implement policies that adhere to the following equitable, common sense principles: 

      • No renter, regardless of immigration status, should be evicted or burdened with years of debt for rent that they were unable to pay during the pandemic.
      • Rent debt due to the pandemic should be fully forgiven and should not be conditioned on landlords’ acceptance of funds or participation in programs.

      • Financial assistance to landlords should address the fiscal needs of landlords in danger of going out of business due to lost rent, with a particular focus on keeping small community-based landlords and nonprofit affordable housing operators solvent, rather than attempting to achieve full rent replacement for all landlords. California’s program, negotiated with the state’s landlord association, provides an example: landlords receive 80 percent of back rent owed.

      • Local municipalities’ authority to pass stronger eviction and debt protection laws should be preserved.

      • Landlords should continue to fulfill their legal obligations to tenants regardless of whether they receive assistance, including the duty to maintain habitable premises, refrain from harassment and retaliation against tenants, and respecting tenants’ legal rights. 

      For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org

      * The number of renter respondents to the Pulse survey for Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Carolina South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming was insufficient to produce reliable data to include in the dashboard.

      Updated Rent Debt Data Informs Equitable Recovery Efforts

       

      Dear Atlas users,

      We’ve had an exciting month, from launching the Racial Equity Data Lab to equipping housing advocates across the country with new data on the Covid-driven rent debt crisis. As summer kicks off, we remain focused on producing research and data tools to advance an equitable recovery and shared prosperity. Here are some updates:

      Clearing $19 Billion in Back Rent Urgently Needed for Equitable Recovery

      This week, we released new national and local data on our Rent Debt Dashboard, produced in partnership with with Right to the City Alliance. As of the end of April, 5.8 million renters — overwhelmingly low-income households of color who’ve lost employment income during the pandemic — owe nearly $19 billion in back rent. With the federal eviction moratorium scheduled to expire at the end of June, clearing this debt is urgently needed to prevent an eviction crisis and make equitable recovery possible. In California, our data was included in a report from Housing NOW, BARHII, and PolicyLink about how the state can strengthen its rental assistance programs. See the data for your community on the dashboard and check out our updated analysis

      Rent Debt Data Supports “Cancel the Rent” Campaign in Oregon

      In partnership with Oregon’s Community Alliance of Tenants, the Atlas team released a new fact sheet on rent debt and households behind on rent in Oregon. Even as economic recovery is picking up, in Oregon one in 10 renter households, many of whom are people of color and have low incomes, still owe a total of $170 million in back rent. These renters were the hardest hit by pandemic shutdowns and layoffs, underscoring the continued need for renter protections and rent cancellation as part of an equitable recovery. The new data were presented at the Oregon Cancel the Rent Digital Town Hall alongside stories and learnings from tenant leaders. You can find a recording of the town hall here.

      Getting Started in the Racial Equity Data Lab: Create Your Own $15/Hour Fact Sheet

      Last month, we launched the Racial Equity Data Lab, a new space on the Atlas where you can create unique data displays, dashboards, and maps. The Lab has everything you need to tell your community’s equity story using Atlas data: ready-to-use datasets, data visualization basics, and a step-by-step guide to get you started. You can watch the recording from our introductory webinar here.

      Join us this Thursday, June 3, at 12 pm PT for the second installment of our three-part webinar series, “Getting Started in the Racial Equity Data Lab: Create Your Own $15/Hour Fact Sheet.” Through this series, the Atlas team and our partners at Tableau and Lovelytics will walk you through each step of creating your own $15/hour fact sheet, from accessing the data to publishing a custom visualization that you can download, share, and use to advance equitable recovery strategies in your community. If you missed Part 1: Exploring Your Data, you can watch the recording or follow the instructions in the step-by-step guide on the Lab to update the data for your fact sheet. Click here to register for Part 2: Designing Your Data Viz.

      Atlas Team Presents to House Committee on Ways and Means

      On May 21, the Atlas team shared the National Equity Atlas with the Ways and Means Committee, the chief tax-writing committee of the US House of Representatives on a panel titled, “Measuring What we Value: Bridging Gaps in Data and Reporting on Race and Ethnicity”that included experts in disaggregated data Randall Akee, Nancy Lopez Ninez Ponce, and Rhonda Sharpe. The Committee recently created a Racial Equity Initiative to address the role of racism in perpetuating health and economic inequities. The Atlas team shared our work to highlight the power of disaggregated data to advance equitable, targeted solutions.

      You’re Invited: Join the Measurable Equity One Year Challenge

      Join Clear Impact and the National Equity Atlas team for a webinar on June 15 (11 am PT / 2 pm ET) to learn more about the Measurable Equity One Year Challenge. Clear Impact designed this challenge to help government, non-profit, and foundation leaders assess, plan, and advance racial equity using a suite of free resources and tools, including a Racial Equity Scorecard powered by Atlas data. Register here.

      In the News

      This month, U.S. News, The Intercept, Duluth News Tribune, Governing, The Daily Californian, MPR News, Berkeley News, Minn Post, and AL.com all cited findings from our Rent Debt Dashboard, on both the national and local level. StreetsBlog cited our commute time indicator, which reveals that Black workers have 12 percent longer commute times than their White counterparts. Finally, Reuters covered the launch of our Racial Equity Data Lab.

      - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

      Using Data to Protect Renters from Eviction; Join Us to Learn More About the New National Equity Atlas

      August 11, 2020

      Dear Atlas users,

      We hope you and your loved ones are staying well during this difficult time. Since the release of the updated National Equity Atlas, our team has been hard at work producing data and analysis to support local advocacy efforts and sharing the Atlas with communities and leaders across the field. Last week, Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink Founder in Residence, delivered the keynote address at the Community Indicators Consortium’s 2020 Virtual Impact Summit, noting that "If you want change, you must use data to understand the change you need. Until we understand how we treat Black people, we are not dealing with oppression and exclusion in America.” Sarah Treuhaft, VP of Research at PolicyLink, also presented on the use of equity data for building community power and policy change. And we shared the newly revamped Atlas and debuted the Racial Equity Index in a July 29 webinar (view the recording here). Here are a few other highlights:

      New Analyses: Eviction Risk Factsheets Power Local Organizing

      In recent weeks, the Atlas team and our community partners have produced a series of factsheets on eviction risk in counties and states nationwide. The factsheets include data on how many households are currently at risk of eviction and homelessness, which households are rent burdened (disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender), as well as the voices of tenants impacted by the economic downturn. Our first factsheet for Contra Costa County, produced in partnership with Raise the Roof Coalition, was used in organizing efforts to extend the eviction moratorium. Since then, we have produced factsheets for Florida, California, and Sonoma and San Mateo counties, with many more factsheets currently in the works. All factsheets will be available on the National Equity Atlas.


      You’re Invited: Disaggregating Data with the National Equity Atlas

      Join the Atlas team on August 19 to learn how to unlock the power of disaggregated data for your city, region, or state. The National Equity Atlas offers unparalleled data disagreggation by race/ethnicity, gender, nativity, ancestry, and other characteristics to inform and support local efforts to advance racial and economic equity. This webinar will equip participants with the know-how to access, understand, share, and use this disaggregated data to foster more equitable communities. Register now.
       

      Atlas in the News: Providing Deeply Disaggregated Data to Power the Equity Movement

      NC News Daily used our new Racial Equity Index to look at the state of equity in North Carolina cities and identify key gaps and policy priorities. As Abbie Langston, Senior Associate at PolicyLink, noted, “Raleigh and Durham are among the 20 cities with the highest prosperity scores for Black residents on the index. But even in these places where people of color are doing relatively well, we still see deep and persistent inequities that must be addressed explicitly.” Another article from software company Tableau lifted up our work in discussing racial equity data visualizations, emphasizing the need for deep disaggregation by race and ethnicity. “If you don’t disaggregate, you miss a lot of what is happening for some segments of the population, especially people that have been marginalized and discriminated against,” explained Sarah Treuhaft. The Atlantic, Fast Company, and Philanthropy News Digest wrote articles about the Atlas this month while other reporters have drawn on our data to better understand issues like eviction risk, the racial wealth gap, and job losses due to Covid-19. Find a complete list of coverage here.

      Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

      Our new rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent the specter of mass eviction. 

      By Sarah Treuhaft, Jamila Henderson, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, and Justin Scoggins

      Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers —  disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. Without sufficient eviction protection, debt relief, and financial support, these Covid-impacted renters will be left behind — deepening inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

      To inform the national policy debate, as well as local and state policymaking and advocacy, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance have launched a new rent debt dashboard with near real-time data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, 45 states, and 15 metro areas.* The dashboard provides estimates of the amount of back rent owed for these geographies, as well as estimates for the number of households with debt and the amount owed for all counties in the 45 states. Drawing current data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and the University of Southern California Center for Economic and Social Research's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey, the dashboard data will be refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

      Born out of the need for accessible, current data to inform local and state campaigns, the dashboard was produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all.

      This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, based on the March 17-29 Pulse survey, as well as action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers can take to stabilize the people most negatively impacted by the pandemic and facilitate equitable recovery by addressing the challenge of rent debt head-on.  

      Rent debt continues to be a significant issue, with millions of renters — 14 percent of all renter households — currently behind on rent.

      As of the end of March 2021, 5.7 million renters – 14 percent of all renter households – were behind on their rent payments, placing them at risk of eviction in the absence of strong eviction moratoria and other renter protections. For comparison, nearly 8 million households lost their homes to foreclosure due to the 2008 financial crisis.

      The Pulse survey has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since August 2020. Nationally, the current share of renters with debt is down from a high of 19 percent in mid-January, but remains far higher than the pre-pandemic baseline. While data on rent debt is sparse, the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent. 

      Among states, the current share of renters with debt ranges from a high of 22 percent in Alabama to a low of 6 percent in both Maine and Utah. Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, the share behind ranges from a high of 23 percent in Miami to a low of 8 percent in Boston.

      Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to about $20 billion.

      According to our estimates, households that are behind on rent owe $3,400 on average, for a total of $19.75 billion nationwide. As this average suggests, the majority of households that are behind owe one or two months of back rent. However, a smaller but not insignificant number of renters have not been able to pay rent for many months and owe much larger amounts. Our analysis of the University of Southern California’s Understanding Coronavirus in America national survey finds that 25 percent are one month behind and 28 percent are two months behind, 12.5 percent are three months behind, about 29 percent are between four  and 12 months behind, and 5.5 percent have not paid rent for the entire pandemic. 

      The average amount owed depends primarily on local housing costs, so it varies significantly across states and metros. Among states, Hawaii has the highest average rent debt per behind household ($5,500), while Arkansas has the lowest ($2,100). At the metro level, San Francisco and Washington DC have the highest average debts ($5,300 and $5,100, respectively), while Detroit has the lowest average debt by far ($2,500), followed by Atlanta ($3,100). 

      Our national estimates of rent debt fall somewhere in the middle of existing projections in terms of total debt, and on the lower end in terms of per household amount. In January, Moody’s Analytics projected that 6.3 million renters would owe a total of $33 billion in rent debt by March, at an average of $5,282 per household. Stout Analytics estimated that between two and five million renter households owed between $13 and $24 billion as of January. Both Moody’s and Stout used the Pulse survey to inform their estimates of the number of households behind. Using a very different methodology based on modeling employment losses, income supports, and spending choices at the household level, and not incorporating the Pulse survey data, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated that 1.8 million renter households would owe $11 billion in rent in March, at approximately $6,100 per household. 

      With the reopening of the economy, the number of renters with debt appears to be declining overall; however, it is increasing in some states and regions.

      Nationwide, the share of renters with debt appears to be trending downward from a high of 19 percent in January 2021. Nearly all states and metros are following this pattern, or generally holding stable, but there are a few exceptions. The rates of renters with arrears have been increasing since late-February in Alaska, California, Florida, Nevada, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Among metros, Detroit, Miami, Riverside, and Seattle are seeing increasing numbers of renters with debt in this recent time period. It will be important to keep a close watch on these places in the coming weeks to assess the situation — particularly in Alaska, Florida, Miami, and Riverside, where rates of behind renter households are at or above 20 percent and have been rising over the past month. 

      The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who’ve lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

      Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 76 percent of those who are behind on rent lost employment income at some point during the pandemic. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses, and it is these same households that are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Among households with rent debt, 78 percent are low-income (with earnings less than $50,000 per year) and 63 percent are renters of color. The majority (55 percent) are currently unemployed.

      Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. One of the most surprising facts in the data is the high share of low-income renters who are paid in full: Among low-income households that lost employment income during the pandemic, 73 percent are not behind on rent. This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

      Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

      While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. Among households behind on rent, 44 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay rent, compared with just 16 percent of households current on rent. About 30 percent of all renter households, whether behind or current on rent, used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average.

      Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

      In the United States, renters are already a more vulnerable population as a whole: they have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in our labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. Atlas data shows that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black, Latinx, and multiracial households rent. 

      The challenge of unaffordable rents and flat wages add to this underlying housing insecurity among renters. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

      Covid-19 added yet another layer of inequity to these preexisting disparities. Today, 11 percent of White renters are behind on rent, compared to 18 percent of Asian renters, 20 percent of Latinx renters, and 26 percent of Black renters.

      Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

      Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households – most of them people of color – now face the burden of owing back rent due to a public health crisis that had extremely concentrated negative economic impacts on low-wage workers. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back rent, the moratoria simply delay eviction. Yet, the federal government provided no rent relief until December, nine months into the pandemic.

      The magnitude of rent debt is a crisis in and of itself and the leading indicator of a potential eviction tsunami that would be a humanitarian disaster. Rent debt adds a heavy burden onto families who are already financially insecure and struggling during the pandemic, further limiting their choices and creating additional stress. It’s also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap: while renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $20 billion in debt, homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.5 trillion increase in their home equity between October 2019 and October 2020 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up. At a time when racial equity is at the forefront of the policy debate, eliminating rent debt that has unfairly and unequally accrued for people of color should be an urgent priority.

      Clearing rent debt is also key to staving off the specter of mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout our economy. Eviction has significant negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Some evicted families and individuals would become homeless, with devastating consequences for long-term health and well-being as well as significant costs for local governments. 

      The health impacts of eviction and homelessness are even more severe during a pandemic. Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. Although the vaccination campaign is in full swing and Covid cases are low in most states, there are hotspots with high infection rates and the longer-term picture remains uncertain.

      Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

      To Build Back Better, Policymakers Must Clear Rent Debt and Prevent Eviction

      Recognizing the catastrophic impact of mass eviction, policymakers have responded, albeit belatedly, by enacting eviction moratoria and establishing rent relief funds. The federal CDC eviction moratorium scheduled to expire last month was extended through June 30th, and the American Rescue Plan passed in January provided $25.1 billion for rental assistance programs as well as $350 billion in fiscal support for state and local governments, some of which could be allocated toward debt relief. The December 27 coronavirus relief bill also provided $25 billion in funding for rental assistance. 

      These are important steps, and more must be done to ensure that all struggling renters emerge from this crisis safely in their homes with no debt. The eviction moratorium is far from airtight: many evictions are still proceeding, and renters need stronger protections. In addition, rent relief programs are not reaching all of those with need; these programs must be structured to meet the scale of the crisis, both to efficiently deliver resources and to ensure that resources are distributed equitably, reaching the low-income renters of color hardest hit by the pandemic who were already housing insecure before Covid-19.

      As they design rent relief programs, local and state policymakers should implement policies that adhere to the following equitable, common sense principles: 

      • No renter, regardless of immigration status, should be evicted or burdened with years of debt for rent that they were unable to pay during the pandemic.
      • Rent debt due to the pandemic should be fully forgiven and should not be conditioned on landlords’ acceptance of funds or participation in programs.

      • Financial assistance to landlords should address the fiscal needs of landlords in danger of going out of business due to lost rent, with a particular focus on keeping small community-based landlords and nonprofit affordable housing operators solvent, rather than attempting to achieve full rent replacement for all landlords. California’s program, negotiated with the state’s landlord association, provides an example: landlords receive 80 percent of back rent owed.

      • Local municipalities’ authority to pass stronger eviction and debt protection laws should be preserved.

      • Landlords should continue to fulfill their legal obligations to tenants regardless of whether they receive assistance, including the duty to maintain habitable premises, refrain from harassment and retaliation against tenants, and respecting tenants’ legal rights. 

      For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org

      * The number of renter respondents to the Pulse survey for Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming was insufficient to produce reliable data to include in the dashboard.

      New Data Dashboard Tracks Rent Debt in States, Regions, and Counties

      April 27, 2021

      Dear Atlas users,

      With the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the Atlas team stands in solidarity with George Floyd’s family. True justice would be a world where George Floyd was never murdered. We remain committed to supporting the fight for racial equity and systemic justice through our analyses, disaggregated data tools, and campaign support. Here are some updates:

      Join Us for the Launch of the Racial Equity Data Lab on May 6

      The National Equity Atlas is America’s most detailed report card on racial and economic equity – and now we’re democratizing our data even further help you to build your own custom Atlas-powered data dashboards. Join us on May 6 at 12:00pm Pacific / 3:00 Eastern for the launch of the Racial Equity Data Lab, a new space on the Atlas where you can create unique data displays, dashboards, and maps. The Lab has everything you need to tell your community’s equity story using Atlas data: ready-to-use datasets, data visualization basics, and a step-by-step guide to get you started. We’ll also share a starter dashboard focused on the importance of raising the minimum wage. For example, in Dallas, fewer workers earn at least $15 now than in 1980, due entirely to racial inequities. Join this webinar to hear more about the Lab, how we’re using it to support equity campaigns, and how to create custom data visualizations for your community. Register now!

      New Rent Debt Dashboard Tracks Covid Impacts to Support Broad Renter Protections

      Stabilizing renters experiencing housing insecurity is key to an equitable recovery and lasting prosperity for our communities, so we partnered with Right to the City Alliance to equip advocates and policymakers with timely, local data on the extent of renter debt and the characteristics of households affected by it. Our regularly updated data reveals that the renters behind on rent owe an average of $3,400 – and the vast majority of them are low-wage workers, disproportionately people of color, who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the economic shutdowns. Without sufficient eviction protection, debt relief, and financial support, these Covid-impacted renters will be left behind. Visit the rent debt dashboard to see the data for your community, and check out our accompanying analysis.

      In the News

      This month, Forbes highlighted the Atlas as a key tool for advancing racial equity on a municipal level. Denver7 TV aired a story featuring the findings and implications of our rent debt analysis, and Planetizen also highlighted the data in our rent debt dashboard. Government Affairs called for the Biden Administration to develop equity indicators modeled after the Atlas. And ABC Cleveland, Energy News Network, and Akron Beacon Journal all cited our data in their coverage of racial inequities. See a complete list of media coverage here.

      - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

      New Analysis Reveals Massive Renter Debt in California

      March 25, 2021

      Dear Atlas users,

      The Atlas team stands in solidarity with the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community in this moment of heightened discrimination, hatred, and violence. As we reckon with our nation’s long history of racism and xenophobia, disaggregated data is crucial for advancing racial equity and justice. Here are a few updates:

      Ancestry Matters: Racial Subgroup Data in the National Equity Atlas

      Asian and Pacific Islander activists and organizations have warned about the ‘model minority’ myth for decades. While the API population as a whole often fares above average on socioeconomic indicators, such metrics render invisible subgroup populations within the API community who face barriers to economic opportunities and inclusion. To illustrate the diversity of experiences and outcomes within broad racial/ethnic groups, the Atlas includes subgroup data for several of our economic opportunity and connectedness indicators, including median wage, unemployment, the percentage of workers making $15/hour, disconnected youth, homeownership, and educational attainment. To view this data, navigate to your indicator of choice and then select “by ancestry” from the Breakdown menu.

      New Data Shows that 1 in 7 California Renter Households Are Behind on Rent

      In partnership with Housing Now!, the Atlas team released an updated fact sheet analyzing rent debt in California (also available in Spanish), as well as a rent debt fact sheet for the Bay Area. We found that over 814,000 households were behind on rent in January, or 14 percent of all renter households. Renters owe an estimated $2.4 billion in back rent (an average of $2,900 per household). Eliminating rent debt is critical to equitable recovery: the vast majority of renters with debt are low-income, Covid-impacted renters of color. The new data was featured during #TenantTuesday to raise awareness about California’s rent forgiveness program, which will provide crucial relief.

      You’re invited: Using Disaggregated Data to Advance Workforce Equity

      You’re invited to join the National Equity Atlas team and our partners at the National Fund for Workforce Solutions for a three-part webinar series on using disaggregated data to develop high-impact workforce strategies for racial equity. Through our Advancing Workforce Equity project, we spent two years working closely with local leaders to analyze tailored workforce data, identify the key drivers of inequity, and prioritize actionable strategies to advance equity through policy, programs, and investments. In this webinar series we’ll share the tools and approaches that guided this research, along with lessons from the field.

      • Part 1: Accessing and Exploring Relevant Data from the National Equity Atlas
        April 14, 11 am – 12 pm PT / 2 pm – 3 pm ET
        This session will focus on using the National Equity Atlas to access and understand deeply disaggregated data for your city, region, or state. Register here.
      • Part 2: Analyzing Systemic Drivers of Inequity
        April 21, 11 am – 12 pm PT / 2 pm – 3 pm ET
        The second session will equip attendees with strategies to analyze disaggregated data and identify the root causes of inequitable workforce outcomes. Register here.
      • Part 3: Developing High-Impact Workforce Equity Strategies
        April 28, 11 am – 12 pm PT / 2 pm – 3 pm ET
        Finally, the third session of this webinar series will feature lessons and tools developed through our work with local leaders in the Advancing Workforce Equity project. Register here.

      In the News

      This month, news outlets including Yahoo Finance and the Washington Post covered our indicators, while The Guardian, The Mercury News, and The Press Democrat covered our analysis of renter debt in California. Find a complete list of media coverage here.

      And don’t miss “Putting People First: Reimagining OUR Economy,” a recent episode of the Radical Imagination podcast featuring Manuel Pastor and Saru Jayaraman on the fight for one fair wage and a solidarity economy. PolicyLink and its partners at Unfinished invite you to reflect and respond to the question, "What does an economy that puts people first look like?" Submit your responses at RadicalImagination.us, or on social media using #RadicalImagination and #ThisIsUnfinished

      - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

      Getting Started with the Lab

      The Racial Equity Data Lab is a space for equity champions to combine their own expertise on their community’s experiences, assets, and needs with the deeply disaggregated data in the Atlas using Tableau Public.

      In the Lab you can:

      1. Access Tableau 

      Visit our Using Tableau page to set up your own account to use the Tableau Public app or work directly in the Tableau Public site using your internet browser.

      2. Create Your Own $15/Hour Fact Sheet

      Download our starter viz to create and customize a $15/hour fact sheet for your geography. The Step-by-Step Guide provides instructions on how to select your geography, customize the elements of the $15/hour fact sheet, explore the data, and incorporate your own expertise on why a $15/hour minimum wage matters for racial equity in your community.

      3. Access Data

      Access Tableau-ready data sets to download Tableau starter workbooks for Atlas indicators. The Housing Burden starter workbook and Median Wages starter workbook include built-in features such as example charts, filters, and parameters to allow users to explore the data by year, geography, race, sex, nativity, and ancestry. 

      4. Design Your Own Data Visualizations

      Using Data Visualization Basics and best practices, create a data visualization that illustrates key data points, identifies underlying causes and drivers of inequity, and lifts up powerful equity solutions.

      5. Explore Equity Data Visualizations

      Explore our Gallery page to view other racial equity data visualizations built through the Lab. 

       

       

      Getting Started with the National Equity Atlas

      The National Equity Atlas is a one-stop-shop for data and policy ideas to advance racial equity and shared prosperity. Our focus is providing equity metrics that are deeply disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, nativity, ancestry, and income for the largest 100 cities, 150 regions, all 50 states, and the United States as a whole.

      We built this site to democratize data and make the facts accessible and actionable to everyone — including the grassroots organizations that possess invaluable firsthand knowledge of inequities yet often lack the resources to gather, analyze, and display the quantitative data so crucial to policy campaigns to address them. At the click of a button, you can see how your community is doing in comparison to other communities according to our Racial Equity Index and 30 relevant, useful, field-tested indicators of racial and economic equity.

      Now we are thrilled to share the latest innovation in our suite of data and policy tools: the Racial Equity Data Lab. The Lab is a new space on the Atlas designed to help equity advocates and campaign leaders to build  custom Atlas-powered  dashboards, data displays, and maps. The Lab has everything you need to tell your community’s equity story: ready-to-use datasets, data visualization basics, and a step-by-step guide to get you started. It also includes a starter visualization that you can use as a template to create a $15/hour factsheet for your community.

      Ready to dig in to the National Equity Atlas? Here are the essential features to help you explore the indicators and unlock the power of our unparalleled data disaggregation.

      1. Indicator and Geography Selection Toolbar: Your Home Base

      Next, explore the individual indicators in the Atlas. Once you are on the page for any indicator, the first interactive element you will find is the Indicator and Geography Selection Toolbar. This toolbar allows you to choose which of our 30 indicators you want to explore for any of the 272 geographies in the National Equity Atlas. To do so, follow these five steps:

      A) Select any indicator, either from the dropdown menu under Indicators or from the Indicators introductory page
      B) Choose your indicator group (Demographics, Economic Vitality, Readiness, Connectedness, or Economic Benefits)
      C) Choose your indicator from the dropdown menu
      D) Choose your geography type (Nation, State, Region, City)
      E) Choose your geography from the dropdown menu
       
      Here is how it looks for our Race/ethnicity indicator for the Orlando region:
       
      Note that the number of geography types available to you will differ from indicator to indicator, based on data availability. For example, you will not see “City” for the Economic gains: Racial equity in income indicator because data is not available for those smaller geographies for that indicator.
       
      Also, once you are on an indicator page, scroll down for key insights about the indicator, the drivers of inequity, policy solutions to consider, and additional resources.
       
      • MASTER IT: Change the geography and pull up the trend data for a community. What groups are growing and which are shrinking?

      2. Chart Breakdowns and Filters: Explore the Data

      The Chart Breakdown and Filters feature is the true engine for data exploration in the National Equity Atlas. This is where you can disaggregate the data such as race/ethnicity, race and nativity, race and gender, ancestry, and poverty level. It is also where you can get indicator-specific breakdowns of the data, such as business ownership by race and by industry or commute time by race and transportation mode.

      Take these steps to use the Chart Breakdown and Filters feature:

      A) Select your breakdown
      B) Select one or more filters
       

      Here is how it looks for our Working poor indicator for the city of Albuquerque:

      • MASTER IT: Explore the different breakdowns and filters for this indicator. Which groups are most likely to be working full-time but still in poverty or economically insecure (living below 200 percent of poverty) in your community?

      3. Compare: See How Your Community Stacks Up

      A fourth essential feature — also in the Indicator and Geography Selection Toolbar — is the Compare function. Comparison is a very important method for analyzing equity metrics, allowing you to see how your community (or a group in your community) is doing in relation to other communities (or the same group in a different community). This can help you understand the extent of disparities, assess what are the drivers of inequities, identify strategies to remove barriers, and set goals for progress on eliminating inequities.

      Here is how to use the Compare function:

      A) Select compare
      B) Select a comparison geography type from the dropdown menu
      C) Select a comparison geography from the dropdown menu
       
      And this is how it looks for our Working poor indicator, comparing the city of Albuquerque to the state of New Mexico: 

      Note that the Compare function is not available for indicator breakdowns that contain multiple categories over multiple years (like the Race/ethnicity indicator you just looked at) because the display would not be legible.

      • MASTER IT: Compare working poverty trends in your city and your state.

      4. Map Filters and Full Extent: Visualizing Patterns

      Mapping data by geography puts spatial inequities — which are also racial inequities, due to housing segregation and discrimination — into stark relief. The National Equity Atlas team has worked hard to create a custom mapping system that enables clear visualization of patterns across communities and correlations between race, place, and income.

      Follow these steps to Map Filters and Full Extent features:

      A) In the chart breakdown, select the map breakdown
      B) Under map geography, choose your geography type (Nation, State, Region, City)
      C) Select map filters
      D) Select map full extent
      E) Select a demographic group
      F) Use the slider to see how communities with higher and lower shares of your selected demographic group perform on the indicator
       
      Here is how it looks for our Rent burden indicator for the St. Louis metro region, looking at majority Black communities by selecting Percent Black, 50% in the map filter:

      5. Downloads and Social Media Buttons: Share and Use Data Visualizations

      The National Equity Atlas is a tool for community action, and we wanted to make it easy for you to use the data to highlight issues of inequity, build support for campaigns, and make your case for solutions with policymakers and others in positions of power. We also believe in open data and know that you want to be able to explore the raw data yourself. That’s why we built more sharing and download functionality into the National Equity Atlas.

      Follow these steps to access our Download and Sharing features:

      A) Select download type (Image or Excel worksheet)
      B) Select sharing type (Facebook, Twitter, Email)
       
      Here is how it looks for our Rent burden map for St. Louis:

      • MASTER IT: Download an Excel file to examine the data behind a chart or map. Post a National Equity Atlas chart or map on your Facebook or Twitter page.

      6. Racial Equity Index

      The new Racial Equity Index — available for all geographies in the Atlas — allows you to track how well your community is doing on a set of nine equity indicators compared with other communities (and over time). The index summarizes an inclusion score (which measures racial disparities on nine indicators) and a prosperity score (which measures overall performance levels on those same indicators), and can be further broken down into its components to help you identify the most important challenges and areas of progress to develop targeted equity strategies. You can also examine the prosperity score for each of six major racial/ethnic groups. Here is how to access the index:

      A) Go to the Racial Equity Index under Research
      C) Choose your geography type (Nation, State, Region, City)
      D) Choose your geography from the dropdown menu
      E) Explore the data
      F) Go back to Racial Equity Index to examine the Prosperity scores for the Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander, Mixed/other race, and White Populations.
       
      Here is how the index page looks for Minneapolis-St. Paul metro region.
       
      Thank you for exploring the National Equity Atlas! We hope you are excited enough about these features to let your colleagues know about this new tool. We encourage you to join the discussion on social media using the hashtag #equitydata.

      Step-by-Step Guide to Create Your Own $15/Hour Fact Sheet

      With three easy steps you can create a dashboard with six charts showing who earns at least $15/hour in your community.

      This tutorial describes how you can create a $15/hour fact sheet for your community using Atlas data and Tableau. All you will need is a Tableau Public account and an internet connection. Instructions on how to set up a Tableau Public account can be found on our Using Tableau page.

      Step 1: Login to your Tableau Public account at https://public.tableau.com/s/  
      Step 2: Open the Starter Viz in Tableau Public and click "edit" in the top right corner
      Step 3: Adjust for your geography by clicking on the icon to the right of the "All" sheet name

      Screenshot showing icon to open All sheet

      Double click on the Geo Name pill in the Filters card.

      Screenshot showing select Geo Type filter

      Unselect “Dallas City, TX” and select your city from the list of available geographies. Once you confirm only one selection has been made, click “OK” in the popup window.

      Screenshot to unselect Dallas from list of geo types
      Screenshot showing select city from list
      Screenshow showing confirmation only one selection made

      Navigate back to the $15/hour Dashboard tab at the bottom of the browser screen.

      Screenshot showing navigation back to Dashboard tab

      All the data visuals are now updated to show the data for the city you selected!

      Customize your Fact Sheet

      Use the guide below to explore the data and update the text in the factsheet. 

      1. Explore: What does the data show for your community?

      Explore the updated data for your selected geography and highlight key takeaways from the data that shows who currently earns a living wage in your community.

      Guiding questions to consider:

      • What share of workers earn at least $15/hour? How has it changed over time? Does that trend look different for White workers than for workers of color? 
      • Which racial group is the most likely to earn a living wage? Do you observe any differences by race?
      • When looking at race and gender, which workers are the least likely to earn at least $15/hour? How has that changed over time?
      • Look at immigrant versus US-born workers: do you observe any differences based on nativity?
      • Look at Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry to observe subgroups within each population: do you observe any differences between subgroups? Are all subgroups able to access $15/hour wages at the same rate as the Asian or Pacific Islander group overall? 
      • Has higher education attainment changed over time for the overall population? How about within each racial group? Are workers with similar education attainment equally likely to be earning at least $15/hour across racial groups? Do differences in educational attainment explain the different rates?

      Consider adding: Help your audience understand who are the workers that a living wage would most benefit. Interview workers that currently earn less than $15/hour about their experiences and include quotes or insights from those interviews in the viz. 

      Double-click on any header to edit the headlines and titles for each chart. 

      Screenshot showing editing of headers by double clicking on text boxes
      1. Help your audience understand the context and why this matters:

      In the Tableau workbook, edit the text to include key information that would ensure your audience understands what current wage conditions are for workers in your community, and why a $15/hour or living wage would improve equity and how it would impact the local economy.

      Guiding questions to consider:

      • What is the current minimum wage in your city/state? What is the current tipped wage?
      • When was it last updated? Does it match the living wage needs? (If you are unsure of the living wage for your location, you can look this up using the MIT Living Wage calculator)
      • Have there been any key legislative changes or laws regarding minimum wage in your city/county/state?
      • Who comes to mind when most people imagine a worker in your community that would benefit from $15/hour? Is that an accurate profile?

      Consider adding: Include a profile or quote of someone who represents a key population who is currently not earning a living wage in your city/county/state.

      Screenshot showing edit context section
      1. Include Equity Solutions:

      In the Tableau workbook, edit the text regarding what leaders can do. Include key information that would ensure your audience understands what specific policies and actions they can support and advocate for that would ensure a living wage for all workers.

      Guiding questions to consider:

      • Why would a $15/hour minimum wage improve equity in your city/county/state?
      • What can your policymakers do to ensure that all workers are paid a living wage?
      • Is there any specific legislation currently being discussed?
      • What can businesses do to ensure that all their workers are paid a living wage?
      • What do you want your audience to take as a next step to support a living wage for all workers?
      • Are there additional resources you want to include to help people learn more or take next steps? Consider including references to other resources and organizations.

      Consider adding these equity solutions to your viz:

      • Raise the minimum wage federally and at the local or state level.
      • Enact living-wage laws that require government offices and contractors to pay living wages.
      • Strengthen workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively for a living wage, including passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.
      • Establish standards to ensure public investments in economic development and infrastructure create living-wage jobs.
      • Pursue full-employment economic policies that promote hiring, increased work hours, and living wages for low-wage workers including a federal job guarantee.

      Screenshot showing edit equity solutions section
      1. Publish your Dashboard

      You can now click publish to see your final dashboard! In the File menu, click on "Save As…", name your workbook then click “Save”.

      Screenshot showing Save As from file menu to publish

      Once the workbook has uploaded successfully, you will automatically be taken to your Tableau Public profile page, where you can view your final dashboard. Click on "Edit details" in the top pop-up banner to edit your title, description, and select settings including if you want to allow others to download and explore the workbook. 

      1. Share your Dashboard

      You can share your dashboard several ways:

      • Send a link: Copy the link and share it!
      • Send an email using your default email application: Click on the email icon.
      • Share on Twitter or Facebook by clicking on the corresponding icons.
      • Embed the dashboard on your website: Copy the embed code and paste it in your web page HTML.

      You can also download the visualization as an image, PowerPoint, or PDF file. 

      Screenshot showing download and share buttons

       

      Submit your customized fact sheet to the Racial Equity Data Lab!

      Submissions are reviewed by the National Equity Atlas team and selected vizzes may be highlighted in the Racial Equity Data Lab Gallery. Click here to share your viz with us.

      Rent Debt in America: Stabilizing Renters Is Key to Equitable Recovery

      Our rent debt dashboard, produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, equips policymakers and advocates with data on the extent and nature of rent debt in their communities to inform policies to eliminate debt and prevent the specter of mass eviction.

      By Sarah Treuhaft, Michelle Huang, Alex Ramiller, Justin Scoggins, Abbie Langston, and Jamila Henderson

      Mounting rent debt and the potential for mass eviction is one of the most pressing equity issues created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of renters who are in debt are low-wage workers — disproportionately people of color — who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the pandemic. As of August 3rd, the federal eviction moratorium was temporarily extended to October 3rd for a more narrow subset of renters. While this extended order will cover the majority of renter households, when the order expires at the beginning of October, the renter households that still hold debt and lack protection by state or local moratoria will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. Allowing this eviction tsunami to take place would be a moral travesty and a policy failure that would deepen inequities at a moment when the federal government has prioritized addressing systemic racism and ensuring an equitable recovery.

      To inform policymaking and advocacy to prevent eviction and eliminate rent debt, the National Equity Atlas and the Right to the City Alliance launched a rent debt dashboard in April 2021 with near real-time data on the number and characteristics of renters behind on rent for the US, most states (currently 40 states), and 15 metro areas.* The dashboard also provides estimates of the amount of back rent owed for these geographies, as well as estimates for the number of households with debt and the amount owed for all counties in the states. Drawing current data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and the University of Southern California Center for Economic and Social Research's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey, the dashboard data is refreshed approximately every two weeks. Find our full methodology here.

      Born out of the need for accessible, current data to inform local and state campaigns, the dashboard was produced in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance, a network of community-based organizations working in 45 cities and 26 states to prevent displacement, expand affordable housing, and build just, sustainable cities for all.

      This analysis shares key insights from the dashboard, based on the June 23 - July 5 Pulse survey, along with action steps that local, state, and federal policymakers can take to stabilize the people most negatively impacted by the pandemic and facilitate equitable recovery by addressing the challenge of rent debt.

      This is an update to our April 21, May 25, and July 7 analyses. We will be updating our dashboard and this analysis after the August 11 Pulse data release.

      Rent debt continues to be a significant issue, with 6.4 million renter households behind on rent.

      As of the first week of July 2021 6.4 million renters — 15 percent of all renter households — were behind on their rent payments. The federal eviction moratorium from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enacted in September 2020 provided these renters with some protection from eviction but will expire on October 3. And even now, the temporary eviction moratorium order does not apply to all renter households who might be at risk. A few states and cities still have moratoria banning eviction for nonpayment of rent. However, most renters with arrears live in the vast majority of states and cities that do not have moratoria and they are at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness. As a point of comparison, nearly 8 million households lost their homes to foreclosure due to the 2008 financial crisis.

      The Pulse survey has been asking the question “Is this household currently caught up on rent payments?” every two weeks since August 2020. Nationally, the current share of renters with debt is down from a high of 19 percent in mid-January, but remains far higher than the pre-pandemic baseline. While data on rent debt is sparse, the 2017 American Housing Survey found that about seven percent of renters were unable to pay some or all of their rent.

      South Carolina and Georgia have the highest share of renters with arrears among the 40 states analyzed.

      The share of renters who are behind on rent is much higher than the national average in some states and metro areas. Among the 40 states with sufficient data to include in our analysis, South Carolina has the highest share of renters with arrears (28 percent), and at least 20 percent of renters are behind in the states of Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Idaho and Montana have the lowest shares of renters with debt, at 6 and 4 percent, respectively.

      Among the 15 metros included in the Pulse survey, New York and Riverside have the highest share of renters with debt (24 percent), followed by Seattle (21 percent), and Atlanta and Philadelphia (both at 19 percent). Phoenix and Miami are tied for the lowest share of renters in arrears among the 15 metros (8 percent).

      Nationally, we estimate that rent debt amounts to about $21 billion.

      According to our estimates, households that are behind on rent owe $3,300 on average, for a total of $21.3 billion nationwide. As this average suggests, the majority of households who are behind owe one or two months of back rent. However, a smaller but not insignificant number of renters have not been able to pay rent for many months and owe much larger amounts. Our analysis of the University of Southern California’s Understanding Coronavirus in America national survey finds that approximately 28 percent are one month behind, 22 percent are two months behind, 15 percent are three months behind, and the remaining 35 percent are more than three months behind.

      The average amount owed depends primarily on local housing costs, so it varies significantly across states and metros. Among states, Hawaii has the highest average rent debt per behind-household ($5,600), while Arkansas has the lowest ($2,100). At the metro level, San Francisco and Washington DC have the highest average debts ($5,800 and $5,200, respectively), while Detroit has the lowest average debt by far ($2,500), followed by Phoenix ($3,200).

      Our national estimates of rent debt fall somewhere in the middle of existing projections in terms of total debt, and on the lower end in terms of per household amount. In January, Moody’s Analytics projected that 6.3 million renters would owe a total of $33 billion in rent debt by March, at an average of $5,282 per household. Stout Analytics estimated that between two and five million renter households owed between $13 and $24 billion as of January. Both Moody’s and Stout used the Pulse survey to inform their estimates of the number of households behind. Using a very different methodology based on modeling employment losses, income supports, and spending choices at the household level, and not incorporating the Pulse survey data, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated that 1.8 million renter households would owe $11 billion in rent in March, at approximately $6,100 per household.

      With the incipient recovery, the number of renters with debt has declined nationwide since its peak in January, but has remained at 14 percent since late March. Most states and metros are following this decline.

      Nationwide, the share of renters with debt trended downward from a high of 19 percent in January to 14 percent in late March, and has held steady around 14 percent for the past couple of months. Nearly all states and metros followed this general downward trend since their peaks. Between January and the beginning of July, the rates of renters behind on rent rose in only nine states, the District of Columbia, and four metro.

      Among states, Georgia saw the largest spike in arrearages (from 18 to 25 percent behind), followed by Oregon (from nine to 12 percent). Missouri saw the most improvement (from 27 to 12 percent behind).

      Among metros, Seattle saw the highest increase (from 13 to 21 percent behind). Dallas saw the greatest decrease (from 27 to 10 percent).

      The vast majority of those who are behind on rent are low-income households who’ve lost jobs and income during the pandemic.

      Today’s rent debt crisis is entirely a consequence of the pandemic’s economic fallout: 68 percent of those who were behind on rent in May had lost employment income at some point during the pandemic, according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey which asked respondents this question. As our other research has shown, low-wage workers, who are disproportionately workers of color, were hardest hit by pandemic job losses and are most likely to suffer from rent debt. Among households with rent debt, 81 percent are low-income (with earnings less than $50,000 per year) and 64 percent are renters of color. The majority (51 percent) are currently unemployed.

      Renters have made tremendous sacrifices and tradeoffs to stay current on rent, including foregoing medical care, delaying payment of other bills, eating cheaper (and potentially less healthy) food, and voluntarily moving in with friends and family — increasing risk of Covid-19 exposure while losing their housing stability. One of the most surprising facts in the data is the high share of low-income renters who are paid in full: Among low-income households that lost employment income during the pandemic, 73 percent were not behind on rent as of May (also according to the May 12-24 Pulse survey).* This underscores how paying rent has remained a top priority for all renters throughout the pandemic, despite the moratoria on evictions.

      Rent is not the only debt accumulating for renters.

      While our analysis focuses on back rent, renters’ pandemic debt crisis extends far beyond their obligations to their landlords. Many renters are borrowing from family and friends or taking on other forms of debt in order to make rent and pay for household expenses. Among households behind on rent, 46 percent borrowed from friends or family to pay rent, compared with just 15 percent of households current on rent. About 30 percent of all renter households, whether behind or current on rent, used a credit card (or some other form of debt) to pay rent. Many are behind on other bills, such as utilities or car payments. A survey of water debt in California found that 1.6 million households owed $1 billion on water bills — $500 on average.

      Renters of color have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and are more likely to owe back rent, making them more vulnerable to eviction risk.

      In the United States, renters are already a more vulnerable population as a whole: they have little housing security, paltry savings, and few legal protections from exorbitant rent increases or eviction (outside of a few states and cities with strong tenant movements). Historic and continuing housing and lending discrimination, as well as systemic inequities in our labor market, have contributed to large racial inequities in homeownership. Atlas data show that seven in 10 White households own their homes while the majority of Black, Latinx, and multiracial households rent.

      The challenge of unaffordable rents and flat wages add to this underlying housing insecurity among renters. Renters were already in crisis when the pandemic began: about a third of White renters and just under half of Black and Latinx renters were both economically insecure (earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and rent burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent). Gender is another important axis: women of color are most likely to be rent burdened, and disproportionately face eviction.

      Covid-19 added yet another layer of inequity to these preexisting disparities. Today, 24 percent of Black renters, 17 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander and Latinx renters, and 18 percent of multiracial renters are behind on rent, compared to 9 percent of White renters.

      Eliminating Rent Debt is an Equity Imperative and a Moral, Economic, and Public Health Necessity

      Today’s rent debt crisis is a microcosm of the wretched inequality of the pandemic: millions of renter households – most of them people of color – now face the burden of owing back rent due to a public health crisis that had extremely concentrated negative economic impacts on low-wage workers. These unequal consequences are not random, but the predictable result of past policies that left millions of families with no savings to draw upon in the face of an economic shock, as well as the failed early policy response to the pandemic. Although the CARES Act provided important unemployment benefits and cash assistance as well as an eviction moratorium that helped many pandemic-impacted renters, undocumented and mixed-status families were ineligible for assistance and the moratorium ended in July, leaving renters unprotected until the CDC enacted its moratorium in early September. Moreover, absent meaningful financial assistance to pay back rent, the moratoria simply delay eviction. Yet, the federal government provided no rent relief until December, nine months into the pandemic.

      The magnitude of rent debt is a crisis in and of itself and the leading indicator of a potential eviction tsunami that would be a humanitarian disaster. Rent debt adds a heavy burden onto families who are already financially insecure and struggling during the pandemic, further limiting their choices and creating additional stress. It’s also contributing to the growth of the racial wealth gap: while renters, predominantly people of color, currently hold $20 billion in debt, homeowners, who are predominantly White, saw a $1.9 trillion increase in their home equity from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 as competition for a constrained supply of homes drove prices up. At a time when racial equity is at the forefront of the policy debate, eliminating rent debt that has unfairly and unequally accrued for people of color should be an urgent priority.

      Clearing rent debt is also key to staving off the specter of mass eviction, which would directly harm economically vulnerable families and their communities and have long-term ripple effects throughout our economy. Eviction has significant negative consequences for mental and physical health, educational outcomes, and household finances. Some evicted families and individuals would become homeless, with devastating consequences for long-term health and well-being as well as significant costs for local governments.

      The health impacts of eviction and homelessness are even more severe during a pandemic. Research during the pandemic found that states that allowed evictions to proceed had more Covid infections and deaths than those with eviction moratoria. Although the vaccination campaign is in full swing and Covid cases are low in most states, there are hotspots with high infection rates and the longer-term picture remains uncertain.

      Forgiving rent debt is also essential to an equitable and people-centered recovery: one in which those hardest-hit by the pandemic can fully participate and thrive.

      For an Equitable and Just Recovery, Policymakers Must Clear Rent Debt and Prevent Eviction

      Recognizing the catastrophic impact of mass eviction, policymakers have responded, albeit belatedly, by enacting eviction moratoria and establishing rent relief funds. The federal CDC eviction moratorium scheduled to expire last month was temporarily extended through October 3 for most renter households, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed in January provided $21.5 billion for rental assistance programs as well as $350 billion in fiscal support for state and local governments, some of which could be allocated toward debt relief. The December 27 coronavirus relief bill also provided $25 billion in funding for rental assistance.

      With the federal moratorium expiring in just a couple months and many state and local emergency rent relief programs supported by the ARP just getting off the ground, there is an urgent need to clear the debts of all tenants in need to prevent mass eviction. Throughout the pandemic, rent relief programs have not been reaching all of those in need. These programs must be structured to meet the scale of the crisis, both to efficiently deliver resources and to ensure that resources are distributed equitably, reaching the low-income renters of color who were both hardest hit by the pandemic and already housing insecure before Covid-19. Renters also need stronger eviction protections, including access to free legal assistance and eviction diversion programs. States and localities should extend their eviction moratoria until the pandemic rent debt crisis has subsided.

      As they design rent relief programs, local and state policymakers should implement policies that adhere to the following equitable, common sense principles:

      • No renter, regardless of immigration status, should be evicted or burdened with years of debt for rent that they were unable to pay during the pandemic.
      • Rent debt due to the pandemic should be fully forgiven and should not be conditioned on landlords’ acceptance of funds or participation in programs.
      • Financial assistance to landlords should address the fiscal needs of landlords in danger of going out of business due to lost rent, with a particular focus on keeping small community-based landlords and nonprofit affordable housing operators solvent, rather than attempting to achieve full rent replacement for all landlords. California’s program, negotiated with the state’s landlord association, provides an example: landlords receive 80 percent of back rent owed.
      • Local municipalities’ authority to pass stronger eviction and debt protection laws should be preserved.
      • Landlords should continue to fulfill their legal obligations to tenants regardless of whether they receive assistance, including the duty to maintain habitable premises, refrain from harassment and retaliation against tenants, and respecting tenants’ legal rights.

        For more local policy ideas and examples, see https://ourhomesourhealth.org

        * The number of renter respondents to the Pulse survey for Arkansas, Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming was insufficient to produce reliable data to include in the dashboard.

        Special Preview: Neighborhood Mapping on the Atlas

        This webinar offered a special preview of new maps will allow users to understand how selected equity indicators vary across neighborhoods within a city or region and can help inform targeted strategies and investments.

        A New Hub for Racial Equity Data; Guaranteeing Good Jobs for All

        Dear Atlas Users,

        As we close out the eleventh month of the pandemic, an equity lens remains crucial to understanding the public health and economic impacts of Covid-19 — and the path forward. The Atlas team is proud to partner with advocates, local leaders, and policymakers at all levels of government to advance an equitable recovery and build an inclusive economy for all. Here are a few highlights from our recent work:

        Racial Equity Data Hub Democratizes Local Equity Data

        Last week, the Tableau Foundation launched its Racial Equity Data Hub, in partnership with the National Equity Atlas. The Hub is designed to provide data and tools needed to understand racism in all of its forms and to enable movement leaders to effectively use data to advocate for change. The Atlas team worked with Tableau expert Chantilly Jaggernauth of Lovelytics to produce two visualizations to include on the Hub. Our Black Prosperity in America visualization provides information about the Black-White wage gap in cities, metros, and states — and shows how educational attainment or upskilling alone won't solve it. The other visualization presents indicators of economic and political inclusion, education, and justice for the Black population in the Bay Area. Tableau invites community members to participate in shaping the Hub’s future growth through this forum

        How Local Leaders Are Activating the Recommendations in our Advancing Workforce Equity Reports

        This month, National Fund for Workforce Solutions President and CEO Amanda Cage hosted a series of conversations with local leaders who are using our recent Advancing Workforce Equity reports to support equity-driven workforce strategies in their communities. Watch to learn more about how this work is moving forward in BostonChicagoDallas, and Seattle.

        Atlas Data Cited in Congresswoman Pressley’s Federal Job Guarantee Resolution

        On February 18, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley introduced a resolution on the federal government's obligation to create a Federal Job Guarantee to address the compounding effects of systemic racism, economic inequality, and climate change. The resolution cites National Equity Atlas data, noting that at least 100 million Americans live in or near poverty, and 28 percent of full-time workers earn less than $15 an hour. A Federal Jobs Guarantee would directly address these inequities by eliminating involuntary unemployment, decreasing poverty, and raising the floor for all low-wage workers while building stronger and greener communities. 

        - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

        Measuring Community Power in the Bay Area

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Our team has been busy behind the scenes getting our new data and interface ready for you, but also made it to DC last month to share our work at Datapalooza. And we are excited to share new research on race and political power in the Bay Area, revealing how one of the nation’s most diverse regions is making some progress, yet has a long way to go toward political inclusion.

        New Analysis: Bay Area Diversity Not Reflected Among Top Elected Officials
        With all eyes on the presidential primaries, it is easy to forget about what is happening at the local level — yet local electeds make crucial decisions in arenas like policing, housing, and land use that can have significant equity implications. And while the race and gender of elected officials does not alone determine whether they will advance equitable policies, representation matters. This is why the Bay Area Equity Atlas includes the diversity of electeds as a key measure of community power. Today, the Atlas released new data covering the November 2018 and 2019 elections, and a comprehensive analysis in partnership with Bay Rising. While the region has made some progress on political representation over the past two years, it is still lagging behind: people of color hold 29 percent of top elected offices despite making up 60 percent of the population. API and Latinx community members are particularly underrepresented; they make up 50 percent of the population but hold just 20 percent of elected offices. Read more here

        On the Road: The Atlas at Health Datapalooza
        Earlier this month, the Atlas team headed to Washington, D.C. for the 2020 Health Datapalooza, a convening of policymakers, regulatory leaders, data analysts, tech start-ups, and community members committed to using data to improve health. To an audience of roughly 50 people, alongside our colleagues from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps and the City Health Dashboard, we discussed data challenges when it comes to existing national surveys and reporting as well as what to do when the most important data does not exist. We highlighted our collection of diversity of electeds in the Bay Area Equity Atlas as one response to this challenge.

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Join Us to Talk Disaggregated Data and COVID-19 This Friday

        Dear Atlas Users,

        We hope that you and your families are staying strong through this difficult time. Our team is in the process of determining how we can best support communities in their response to the outbreak, aligned with the solidarity economics prerogative laid out by PERE director Manuel Pastor in this this new op-ed. We hope you will join us on Friday to inform our approach.

        Register Now: Community Listening Session Friday at 12 PT/3 ET
        As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, its effects are highlighting and deepening the racial inequities entrenched in our economic system. We know that disaggregated data is a crucial tool to push forward policy solutions that center equity in the short-term and lay the foundation for an inclusive recovery. Please join this listening session with Manuel Pastor, Sarah Treuhaft, and others from the Atlas team from 12-1 PT/3-4 ET this Friday, April 3rd to hear how we are responding to rapidly changing conditions and share your data needs and interests to inform our approach going forward. Register here.

        New Fact Sheet: Fair Labor Practices Benefit All New Mexicans
        When New Mexican employers deny workers their earnings, they harm families and prevent wages from circulating through the local economy. The New Mexico Worker Organizing Collaborative (NMWOC) works to combat this wage theft, and the Atlas team worked with them to develop a fact sheet showing how Latinx immigrant and Native American workers are disproportionately vulnerable to employer theft and highlighting the challenge of weak enforcement. Our analysis found that twenty percent of open wage theft cases without any activity or investigation have been open for over a year. NMWOC will be using this data in their advocacy to protect workers and take back lost wages. Learn more here.

        New Brief: Disrupting the Drivers of Inequity in Biloxi
        As wages have stagnated for the majority of workers in the U.S. and inequality has skyrocketed, racial inequity has grown. In Biloxi, Mississippi, these inequities are deep, leaving many Black and Latinx households facing racial and geographic barriers to economic opportunity. The coastal community of East Biloxi has the potential to address some of these inequities through investment in the federal Opportunity Zone program. However, this will only happen if there is an intentional focus on lifting up the most vulnerable communities. Download the brief published in partnership with the East Biloxi Community Collaborative to learn more about how to leverage the Opportunity Zones program to benefit low-income residents and people of color.

        Access New Local Data on Life Expectancy
        Through the United States Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project’s (USALEEP) new data tool, you can measure and compare differences in life expectancy in nearly every neighborhood across the country with an easy-to-use interactive map. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) also released updated data for their life expectancy tool which allows users to compare life expectancy in their neighborhood to national averages. These tools will help community leaders examine the factors that may be influencing health differences – such as access to health care, affordable housing, child care, educational opportunities – and target solutions more effectively. Learn more about the USALEEP tool and RWJF tool.

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        New Analysis Finds People of Color and Immigrants are Disproportionately Harmed by Labor-Market Impacts of COVID-19

        Dear Atlas Users,

        The brutal murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police was a stark reminder of the racism that permeates our institutions, threatens Black life, and diminishes us as a nation. We cannot achieve inclusive prosperity without addressing police brutality, and the Atlas team stands in solidarity with those protesting this unjust system and calling for transformative change. We are working hard to finalize the new Atlas system upgrade to share with you later this month, and have been partnering with other data providers to assess the unequal economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by race, gender, nativity, and occupation. Here are a few highlights:

        New Analysis: Disaggregated Data on Economic Impacts of COVID-19 for US and 10 Metros

        Today, in partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and JPMorgan Chase, we released the most comprehensive analysis to date of the labor market effects of the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to inform equity-focused relief and recovery strategies. In addition to the US, we analyzed 10 metro regions: Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, San Francisco, and Seattle. Our analysis reveals that people of color and immigrants are concentrated in occupations that have experienced the steepest declines in job opportunities and will likely be among the last to recover, putting Black, Latinx, and Native American workers at heightened risk of long-term unemployment. People of color are also overrepresented in low-wage essential jobs, and Native Americans and immigrants are most concentrated in essential jobs where opportunities are declining. Among the 10 regions, the economic impacts of the virus are uneven: metros with large tourism sectors (like Nashville and Miami) have been hit particularly hard, while diversified regional economies with strong tech sectors (like Seattle and SF) have fared somewhat better. Read the full analysis here.

        New Profile of Bay Area Essential Workers

        In May, the Bay Area Equity Atlas released three new analyses focused on frontline workers in the region, including two deep dives into workforce demographics in Sonoma and Santa Clara counties. We found that frontline workers in these counties and the Bay overall are disproportionately Latinx, Black, and women of color, which could help explain why these populations are more likely to contract COVID-19. Latinx workers represent 22 percent of workers in all industries but 31 percent of frontline workers while Black workers, who account for just 5 percent of all workers in the region, are concentrated in specific frontline industries including public transit (23 percent) and postal services (11 percent). These workers are more likely to live in poverty, lack health insurance, and have no internet access at home. Read our analyses here. Check out media coverage of this research from KQEDSF Gate, and La Opinion.

        National Equity Atlas In the News

        • Ron Brownstein at The Atlantic analyzed National Equity Atlas data and corresponded with Atlas team members to inform his new article about how racial inequity is “the crack in the foundation of cities’ new prosperity.” Looking at data on median wages for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, he found that racial wage gaps have grown in all of those cities between 1980 and 2015.
           
        • E&E News published an article describing the criticism and subsequent revision of CDC guidelines encouraging workers to commute alone in private vehicles to slow the spread of the coronavirus, lifting up Atlas data showing that nearly 20 percent of Black households and 12 percent of Latinx households do not have access to a car, compared to 6.5 percent of White households. "So yes, there is a race and class bias in saying, 'You can just drive to work,'" said Basav Sen, climate justice project director at the Institute for Policy Studies.

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        How Our Data Helped Advance the Equity Movement in 2020

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy Holidays from the National Equity Atlas Team! This has been a year of tremendous economic and social turmoil. From the unfathomable human and economic costs of the Covid-19 pandemic to the murder of George Floyd and the national outcry against police brutality that followed, systemic racism has been at the forefront of public consciousness. In this pivotal moment, we are proud to have deepened our work with community advocates, broadened the reach of the Atlas, and strengthened our capacity to democratize the power of disaggregated data. Here are a few highlights:

        Revamped Atlas Offers Updated Data, New Indicators and Features

        In July, we released comprehensive updates to the National Equity Atlas This refresh includes new data visualization and mapping infrastructure, two new indicators (life expectancy and the economic benefits of eliminating rent burden), data and powerpoint downloads, more contextual information and examples, and more robust and up-to-date data. Check out our webinar training, designed to equip Atlas users with the know-how to access, understand, share, and use our data tools.

        New Racial Equity Index Offers Comparative Snapshot of Equity in US Cities, Regions, and States

        Our new Racial Equity Index tool is designed to help advocates identify key issue areas and populations for advancing racial equity in their communities. Based on nine Atlas indicators scored by both prosperity and inclusion, the Index includes a summary score that provides a snapshot of how well a given place is performing compared to its peers. Start here to learn more. 

        Atlas Analyses Power Campaigns to Protect Renters from Eviction

        The Atlas team supported the Our Homes, Our Health housing justice effort by producing eviction risk fact sheets for local campaigns in states, counties, and cities throughout the US. These resources include data on how many households are currently at risk of eviction, which households are rent burdened and economically insecure by race/ethnicity and gender, and the first-hand experience of renters impacted by the economic downturn. Find our complete set of factsheets here.

        Bay Area Equity Atlas Provides Unparalleled Insights on Racial Equity in the Region

        Our landmark regional equity atlas produced a variety of analyses this year that shed light on ongoing inequities in the Bay Area. Our police use-of-force report revealed that Black residents in wealthy suburbs and core cities experience disproportionate levels of police violence while our diversity of electeds analysis found that 80 of the Bay Area’s 101 cities have no Black leaders. Finally, our regularly-updating Covid dashboard, which tracks case rates by Zip code, revealed the outsized impact of the pandemic on Black and Latinx communities. Check out all our analyses and sign up for our newsletter here.

        Disaggregated Data on Economic Impacts of Covid-19 Point the Way to an Equitable Recovery

        Throughout the year we released several reports analyzing the rapidly evolving Covid-19 economy, and the ways in which people of color have been disproportionately harmed. These efforts include our June analysis of the early labor market impacts of the pandemic and our recent report examining longer-standing racial gaps in labor market outcomes and access to good jobs as well as the economic impacts of Covid-19 and the racial equity implications of automation. Through the Bay Area Equity Atlas, we produced a profile of the Bay Area's essential workforce, and we also partnered with San Juan College to create a research brief on the impact of the Covid pandemic and resulting economic fallout in New Mexico.

        Atlas in the News

        Our data and reports have been covered by various local and national media outlets and articles, including The Atlantic, Fast Company, and Next City, which all reported on findings from our Racial Equity Index. Outlets such as Politico and SFGate covered findings from our analyses, including our reports on workforce equity and Covid labor market demographics. Eliza McCullough also wrote an op-ed for Fast Company that argues Smart Cities must do more to ensure that residents of color thrive. See a complete list of media coverage here.

        We have big plans for the coming year, including new analyses, data tools, and partnerships, so stay tuned. Thank you for your continued interest in our work!

        - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

        Just Released: New California Eviction Data and Five Regional Blueprints for Workforce Equity

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy 2021 from the National Equity Atlas team! While this new year brings changes in federal and local administrations, the devastating impacts of Covid-19 continue, particularly for communities of color. The Atlas team remains focused on leveraging our data capacity to support the movement for racial and economic equity—producing unique analyses, building partnerships, and sharing our work with the field to strengthen local organizing and policy efforts. Here are some updates:

        Five Regional Reports Highlight Workforce Inequities and Strategies for an Equitable Recovery

        As our nation faces overlapping and interconnected public health and economic crises, now is a critical time to move beyond a narrow skills-driven approach to workforce development and dismantle the structural and systemic barriers that lead to deep racial inequities in the labor market. This week, we released five new reports that will catalyze action on workforce equity in Boston (with SkillWorks), Chicago (with the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance), Dallas (with Pathways to Work), the San Francisco Bay Area (with ReWork the Bay), and Seattle (with the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County). These reports are part of the Advancing Workforce Equity project, a partnership between the National Equity Atlas, Burning Glass Technologies, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, and with support from JPMorgan Chase.

        On January 26, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions hosted a virtual launch event which featured local leaders from each community as well as Angela Glover Blackwell (PolicyLink), Amanda Cage (National Fund for Workforce Solutions), and Monique Baptiste (JPMorgan Chase & Co).

        Atlas Team Finds Over One Million Californians are Behind on Rent

        In partnership with Housing NOW! California, we produced a fact sheet that sheds new light on the magnitude of the rent debt challenge in California and its potential impacts on racial equity, household finances, and public health. Based on the latest Census Household Pulse Survey data, 1.1 million renter households in California—one in five—are currently behind on their rent. We estimate that the average rent debt per household is $3,400 and the total rent debt in California is about $3.7 billion. The vast majority of those behind rent are low-wage workers of color disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, revealing how clearing this debt is critical to prevent the growth of the racial wealth gap and make an equitable recovery possible. Our findings were covered by news stations including NBC Bay AreaKRON4CBS Local, and KION 546.

        Analysis Reveals Large Disparities in Unemployment Filings by Race and Education

        Using data from California Policy Lab, our recent analysis highlights how California’s Black workers are experiencing disproportionate unemployment in the Covid recession due to structural racism embedded in the labor market. About 85 percent of California’s Black workforce has filed for unemployment at some point since March 15, which is more than double the rate for White, Latinx, and Asian or Pacific Islander workers. Virtually all Black workers with no post-secondary education (99 percent) have filed for unemployment insurance since March. Immediate policy changes, from expanded unemployment insurance benefits to building worker power, is required to overcome these dramatic disparities driven by racism embedded in our labor markets and education system. Read the analysis here.

        - The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

        Tackling Structural Racism Key to an Equitable Recovery in California

        Data on unemployment filings in California reveals how the Black working class has been hardest hit by the Covid recession, underscoring the need for targeted, race-conscious recovery strategies. 

        By Eliza McCullough

        While the economic crisis has affected a startling number of workers, workers of color and low-wage workers have been hit the hardest. In California, 8.7 million workers (nearly 45 percent of the labor force) have filed for unemployment insurance (UI) since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. But job displacement has varied dramatically by race and education, as illustrated by the  California Policy Lab’s recent analysis of UI claims data. This post highlights how California’s Black workers are experiencing disproportionate unemployment in the Covid recession due to structural racism embedded in the labor market, and describes policy priorities to ensure an equitable recovery.

        About 85 percent of California’s Black workforce has filed for unemployment at some point since March 15th, which is more than double the rate for White, Latinx, and Asian or Pacific Islander workers. This includes workers who filed for either regular UI or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a program created by the CARES Act to extend benefits to workers not usually eligible for regular UI.* 

        This unemployment crisis for Black workers in a time of economic contraction threatens to increase already-wide racial inequities in employment. Structural racism embedded in the US labor market has created barriers to employment for Black workers that predate the current recession, ranging from employer bias and discrimination to residential segregation and mass incarceration. Black workers are typically the group hardest hit by economic downturns and are often the last to recover, as evidenced during the Great Recession when Black workers disproportionately suffered from long-term unemployment. The current economic crisis has most negatively impacted the hospitality, retail, and tourism sectors, industries in which Black workers are concentrated due in large part to discriminatory public policies that restricted Black workers’ access to better-paying jobs in other industries (a phenomenon known as “occupational segregation”). As these service sectors have gone through massive lay-offs, Black employees have been subject to the “last hired, first fired” phenomenon in which low-wage positions are the first to be eliminated.

        Further disaggregating the data by race and educational attainment, we see that racial inequities are particularly extreme among workers without four-year degrees. Workers of all races with lower education levels have been hardest hit by the Covid recession: More than half of California workers with a high school degree or less (who account for 38 percent of all workers in the state) have filed for unemployment since March 2020 compared to 13 percent of workers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher. But unemployment filings are particularly high for Black workers without post-secondary education: virtually all Black workers with a high school degree or less (99 percent) have filed for unemployment, along with 75 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander workers with this level of education, compared with 52 percent of White workers and 33 percent of Latinx workers.

        Black workers are overrepresented in lower education groups due to deep-seated structures of racial exclusion which have created significant barriers to accessing higher education. Residential segregation, perpetuated by exclusionary zoning, has led to the concentration of low-income Black children in schools with inadequate resources, which researchers have found is the key driver of the educational achievement gap. Along with the rising costs of college, these barriers prevent many Black students from accessing post-secondary education. As middle-wage jobs have shrunk in recent decades, Black workers with no higher education have been pushed into low-wage, ‘flexible’ positions with minimal protections. These jobs have been most impacted by wage cuts, diminished hours, and layoffs during the current economic crisis. 

        Toward an Equitable Economic Recovery

        Black workers and other workers of color are in dire need of increased supports in California and nationwide. Policymakers and business leaders must take action to address immediate economic needs as we enter the eleventh month of the pandemic. At the same time, they must launch forward-thinking, race-conscious strategies that lay the foundation for an equitable recovery and future economy. We recommend the following:

        1. Continue expanded UI benefits and provide direct cash support. Additional UI payments under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program should be increased back to $600/week (as provided from March to July). Additional and ongoing direct payments, such as the one-time $1,200 payments included in the CARES Act, could also provide a lifeline to unemployed workers and Black workers who are less likely to have adequate savings to fall back on.

        2. Prevent evictions and foreclosures and provide debt relief to Covid-impacted households. As unemployed workers are more likely to be behind on rent and California’s Black renters are already paying unaffordable rent, policymakers must extend eviction moratoriums and provide rent debt relief. Limited rental assistance funds should be targeted to the hardest-hit households, particularly those in predominantly Black neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color, to prevent displacement and homelessness.  

        3. Protect existing jobs. Multiple cities have passed legislation to ensure that laid-off workers in low-wage sectors can return to their former jobs. For example, Oakland’s Right to Recall policy requires employers in hospitality and travel to give laid-off workers priority when operations resume. Similar policies that protect jobs across sectors should also be implemented at the state and federal levels to ensure low-wage workers do not suffer from long-term joblessness or decreases in income and benefits. 

        4. Build worker power. Unions have been shown to reduce racial inequality and provide economic security for Black workers. California policymakers must repeal Prop 22, which misclassifies app-based drivers as independent contractors and prevents their access to basic labor protections. Legislation that empowers workers, such as AB3075 which holds employers more accountable for wage theft, should be strengthened and expanded to ensure that recessions are less catastrophic for low-wage workers. Finally, California must increase funding for enforcement of labor and employment laws while also making state financial support for businesses conditional based on compliance with those laws.

        5. Create high-quality public jobs accessible to unemployed workers. A Federal Job Guarantee would ensure everyone has access to living-wage jobs while meeting the physical and care infrastructure needs of disinvested communities. Policymakers should take immediate steps to support unemployed workers through direct job creation in crucial sectors, like the Public Health Jobs Corp program proposed by President-elect Biden. 

        6. Expand access to upskilling opportunities and stable career pathways. Policymakers should proactively connect unemployed workers to good jobs by investing in workforce development, including higher education and training programs that reach Black workers, and enacting community workforce agreements on state-funded projects. Programs such as California’s Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative, which funds workforce development programs for those with barriers to employment, should be strengthened and expanded while business leaders should commit to advancing equitable employment practices and offering good job opportunities to workers hard-hit by the pandemic.

           

        *The California Employment Development Department defines workforce as all individuals residing in California who worked at least one hour per month for a wage or salary, were self-employed, or worked at least 15 unpaid hours per month in a family business. Those who were on vacation or on other kinds of leave were also included. 

        Tackling Structural Racism Key to an Equitable Recovery in California

        By Eliza McCullough, Sarah Treuhaft, and Abigail Langston

        Data on unemployment filings in California reveals how the Black working class has been hardest hit by the Covid recession, underscoring the need for targeted, race-conscious recovery strategies. 

        While the economic crisis has affected a startling number of workers, workers of color and low-wage workers have been hit the hardest. In California, 8.7 million workers (nearly 45 percent of the labor force) have filed for unemployment insurance (UI) since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. But job displacement has varied dramatically by race and education, as illustrated by the  California Policy Lab’s recent analysis of UI claims data. This post highlights how California’s Black workers are disproportionately experiencing unemployment in the Covid recession due to structural racism embedded in the labor market and describes policy priorities to ensure an equitable recovery.

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        About 85 percent of California’s Black workforce has filed for unemployment at some point since March 15th, which is more than double the rate for White, Latinx, and Asian or Pacific Islander workers. This includes workers who filed for either regular UI or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), a program created by the CARES Act to extend benefits to gig and contract workers. 

        This disproportionate unemployment crisis for Black workers in a time of economic contraction threatens to increase already-wide racial inequities in employment. Structural racism embedded in the US labor market has created barriers to employment for Black workers that predate the current recession, ranging from employer bias and discrimination to residential segregation and mass incarceration. Black workers are typically the hardest hit group during economic downturns and are often the last to recover, as evidenced by the Great Recession when Black workers disproportionately suffered from long-term unemployment. The current economic crisis has most negatively impacted the hospitality, retail, and tourism sectors: industries in which Black workers are concentrated due in large part to discriminatory public policies that restricted Black workers’ access to better-paying jobs in other industries (a phenomenon known as “occupational segregation”). As these service sectors have gone through massive lay-offs, Black employees have been subject to the “last hired, first fired” phenomenon in which low-wage positions are first to go over higher seniority jobs.

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        Further disaggregating the data by race and educational attainment, we see that racial inequities are particularly extreme among workers without four-year degrees. Workers of all races with lower education levels have been hardest hit by the Covid recession: 52 percent of California’s workers with a high school degree or less (who account for 38 percent of all workers in the state) have filed for unemployment since March 2020 compared to 13 percent of workers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher. But unemployment filings are particularly high for Black workers without post-secondary education: virtually all Black workers with a high school degree or less (99 percent) have filed for unemployment, along with 75 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander workers with this level of education, compared with 52 percent of White workers and 33 percent of Latinx workers.

        Black workers are overrepresented in lower education groups due to deep-seated structures of racial exclusion which have created significant barriers to accessing higher education. Residential segregation, perpetuated by exclusionary zoning, has led to the concentration of low-income Black children in schools with inadequate resources (the school poverty indicator on the Atlas), which researchers have found is the key driver of the educational achievement gap. Along with the rising cost of college, these barriers prevent many Black students from accessing post-secondary education. As middle-wage jobs have shrunk in recent decades, Black workers with no higher education have been pushed into low-wage, ‘flexible’ positions with minimal protections. These jobs have been most impacted by wage cuts, diminished hours, and layoffs during the current economic crisis. 

        Toward an Equitable Economic Recovery

        Black workers and other workers of color are in dire need of increased supports in California and nationwide. Policymakers and business leaders must take action to address immediate economic needs as we enter the eleventh month of the pandemic. At the same time, they must launch forward-thinking, race-conscious strategies that  lay the foundation for an equitable recovery and future economy. We recommend the following:

        1. Continue expanded UI benefits and provide direct cash support. Additional UI payments under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program should be increased back to $600/week (as provided from March to July) while gig workers and independent contractors must remain eligible for unemployment assistance. Additional and ongoing direct payments, such as the one-time $1,200 payments included in the CARES Act, could also provide a lifeline to unemployed workers and Black workers who are less likely to have adequate savings to fall back on.

        2. Prevent evictions and foreclosures and provide debt relief to Covid-impacted households. As unemployed workers are more likely to be behind on rent, policymakers must extend eviction moratoriums and provide rent debt relief. Rental assistance funds must target limited resources to the hardest-hit households, particularly those in predominantly Black neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color to prevent displacement and homelessness.  

        3. Protect existing jobs. Multiple cities have passed legislation that ensures employers in low-wage sectors guarantee laid-off workers return to their former jobs, such as Oakland’s Right to Recall policy which requires employers in hospitality and travel to give laid-off workers priority when operations resume. Similar policies that protect jobs across sectors must be passed at the state and federal level to ensure low-wage workers do not suffer from long-term decreases in income, benefits, or joblessness. 

        4. Build worker power. Unions have been shown to reduce racial inequality and provide economic security for Black workers. California policymakers must repeal Prop 22, which misclassifies app-based drivers as independent contractors and prevents their access to basic labor protections. Legislation that empowers workers, such as AB3075 which holds employers more accountable to wage theft, should be strengthened and expanded to ensure that recessions are less catastrophic for low-wage workers. 

        5. Create high-quality public jobs accessible to unemployed workers. A Federal Job Guarantee would ensure everyone has access to living-wage jobs while meeting the physical and care infrastructure needs of disinvested communities. Policymakers should take immediate steps to support unemployed workers through direct job creation in crucial sectors, like the Public Health Jobs Corp program proposed by President-Elect Biden.

        6. Expand access to stable career pathways. Policymakers should proactively connect unemployed workers to good jobs by  investing in workforce development, including higher education and training programs that reach  Black workers, and enacting community workforce agreements on state-funded projects. Programs such as California’s Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative, which funds workforce development programs for those with barriers to employment, should be strengthened and expanded while business leaders should commit to advancing equitable employment practices and offering good job opportunities to workers hard-hit by the pandemic.

        New Report and Upcoming Webinar: Race and the Work of the Future

        Dear Atlas Users,

        The results of this year’s elections are largely due to a historic groundswell of activism led by people of color and grassroots community organizations across the country. As the movement for racial equity continues to build momentum, the Atlas team is proud to partner with local leaders at the forefront of policy change. Our research this month highlights the urgent need to center low-income communities and people of color in both the ongoing Covid-19 recovery and in the long-term vision for a just and fair society. Here are some updates:

        New Report Highlights Strategies for Inclusive Recovery and Equitable Future of Work

        Today, the National Equity Atlas, in partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, released our latest report, Race and the Work of the Future: Advancing Workforce Equity in the United States, a comprehensive analysis of long-standing racial gaps in labor market outcomes, the economic impacts of Covid-19, and the racial equity implications of automation. With in-depth analysis of disaggregated equity indicators and labor market dynamics, we found that White workers are 50 percent more likely than workers of color to hold good jobs, and that eliminating racial inequities in income could boost the US economy by $2.3 trillion a year. Read the full report here.

        You’re Invited: Race and the Future of Work

        Please join us on November 18 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern to learn about the findings of our new report: Race and the Work of the Future: Advancing Workforce Equity in the United States. We’ll also hear from workforce leaders moving equity-focused policies on the ground in Dallas and Seattle — including targeted strategies like skills-based hiring and apprenticeships and cross-sector partnerships that align workforce development with critical community supports like childcare, housing, and transportation. Register here.

        For An Equitable Recovery, Invest in New Mexico’s Workers

        Just like the coronavirus crisis itself, the economic crisis is hitting workers of color in New Mexico the hardest, particularly Native American workers, as they experience more layoffs and greater financial hardship than White workers. This new brief, authored by James Crowder of PolicyLink and produced in partnership with the Center for Workforce Development at San Juan College, describes conditions for New Mexico’s workers and presents a policy agenda for an inclusive recovery that leads with workforce equity.

        Eviction Risk Analyses Released for California and Washington

        The Atlas team has been supporting the Our Homes, Our Health housing justice effort by producing eviction risk fact sheets for local campaigns, advocating for strong renter protection and eviction moratorium policies across the country. This month, we published factsheets for California (with Housing NOW! California) and Washington (with Washington CAN), with many more in the works. Find them here.

        National Equity Atlas at KIDS COUNT

        The National Equity Atlas will be the featured data tool at a special session of the NY KIDS COUNT virtual conference, “All Data Are Local,” on December 2 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern. Registration is now open.

        Thank you.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute

        We’re Hiring! Build a Racial Equity Data Lab on the Atlas

        Dear Atlas Users,

        As we continue to support communities in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have spent the past month producing new analyses, trainings, and factsheets powered by Atlas data. Partnerships with community organizations are driving this work forward. Here are a few highlights:

        As the nation prepares for a historic election, the need for reliable, deeply disaggregated data to inform equity strategies is clearer than ever. The Atlas team has been hard at work this past month conducting unique analyses, building partnerships, and sharing our work with the field to strengthen local organizing and policy efforts. Here are some updates:

        We’re Hiring for an Exciting New Partnership with Tableau

        The Atlas team is excited to announce our new partnership with Tableau, a global leader in visual analytics. Through this partnership, we will build a new Racial Equity Data Lab on the Atlas, where users can create Tableau dashboards combining Atlas data with other data sources, and lead an Equity Data Fellowship to support leaders of color working in racial equity-focused organizations. We are recruiting a senior associate to lead this work. If you know of any candidates who are passionate about equipping equity advocates with data and visualizations, please send them our way. Read the full job description here.

        Eviction Risk Analyses Released for Colorado and Bedford County, TN

        The Atlas team has been supporting the Our Homes, Our Health housing justice effort by producing eviction risk fact sheets for local campaigns advocating for strong renter protection and eviction moratorium policies across the country. This month, we published factsheets for Colorado (with Colorado Homes For All, United for a New Economy, and 9to5) and Bedford County, TN (with the Bedford County Listening Project), with many more in the works. Find them here.

        Atlas Team Shares Data Insights to Support Community-Led Equity Efforts

        This month, Atlas team member Sarah Treuhaft participated in an SF Chronicle panel to discuss how the election could impact systemic racism in housing, criminal justice, and income inequality. She will also present today at the Center for an Urban Future policy forum to discuss municipal initiatives that can help build a more inclusive economy. Abbie Langston and James Crowder also presented to the Triangle J [North Carolina] Council of Governments, sharing the National Equity Atlas, the Racial Equity Index, and insights for policymakers from our equity data partnerships in the region.

        City of Seattle Draws on Atlas Data for Equitable Development Community Indicators Report

        The City of Seattle released an Equitable Development Community Indicators Report last month as part of its Equitable Development Monitoring Program. The report reveals key racial inequities in Seattle, finding that residents of color have longer commutes to work than their White counterparts, the city lacks adequate family-size rental housing, and people of color are underrepresented among business owners. The authors relied on Atlas data for many of the indicators. As lead author Diana Canzoneri notes, “One of the especially valuable aspects of the Atlas is the detailed disaggregation by race, ethnicity, and place of birth. This feature of the Atlas made it easy for us to find and integrate examples of disparities between subgroups that would have otherwise been masked.” Read the full report here.

        Thank you.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute

        Using Disaggregated Data to Advance an Equitable Recovery

        Dear Atlas Users,

        As we continue to support communities in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have spent the past month producing new analyses, trainings, and factsheets powered by Atlas data. Partnerships with community organizations are driving this work forward. Here are a few highlights:

        Atlas Analyses Power Campaigns to Extend Eviction Moratoriums Nationwide

        The Atlas team is supporting the Our Homes, Our Health housing justice effort by producing eviction risk fact sheets for local campaigns. These resources include data on how many households are currently at risk of eviction, which households are rent burdened and economically insecure by race/ethnicity and gender, and the first-hand experience of renters impacted by the economic downturn. This month, we published factsheets for Kansas (with Rent Zero Kansas) and Kentucky (with the Lexington Housing Justice Collaborative), with many more in the works. Find them here.

        Webinar Archive: Unlocking the Insights of Disaggregated Data

        This month, the Atlas team led a webinar training on how to unlock the power of disaggregated data for cities, regions, and states. We provided a step-by-step walk through of the newly revamped National Equity Atlas and our custom indicators database, which offers unparalleled data disaggregation by race/ethnicity, gender, nativity, ancestry, and more. This training was designed to equip Atlas users with the know-how to access, understand, share, and use disaggregated data to foster more equitable communities. Check out the recording here.

        You’re Invited: Policy Insights for an Equitable Economic Recovery with the NY Federal Reserve

        On September 24, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will lead a conversation about the impact of Covid-19 on communities of color. The forum will focus on key policy areas necessary for an equitable recovery, including credit markets, the racial wealth gap, and workforce equity. Sarah Treuhaft, vice president of research at PolicyLink, will participate in a practitioner panel with other racial and economic equity leaders to discuss findings and policy recommendations from our recent report, Race, Risk and Workforce Equity in the Coronavirus Economy. Register for the forum here.

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute

        The Racial Equity Index: A New Data Tool to Drive Local Efforts to Dismantle Structural Racism

        New index reveals significant racial inequities even in the most prosperous cities and metros; provides data to help leaders develop targeted strategies for inclusive prosperity

        By Sarah Treuhaft, Abbie Langston, Justin Scoggins, Joanna Lee, and Manuel Pastor

        Racial equity is the defining issue of our time. The brutal murder of George Floyd — amidst a pandemic disproportionately harming the health and livelihoods of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people — put dismantling structural racism at the center of our national policy debate.

        Against this long overdue nationwide reckoning, community leaders are searching for policy solutions that can transform systems and structures and make meaningful progress toward racial equity. Disaggregated data at the local level is crucial to this endeavor: achieving equity requires targeted solutions that address structural and institutional racism, eliminate the barriers that prevent people from thriving, and provide the resources and opportunities that people need to reach their full potential. And data that reveals which groups are being excluded, by how much, and in what policy areas is an essential ingredient to develop effective strategies that match the scale of the challenge.

        The Racial Equity Index is the nation’s first-ever tool designed to support communities in advancing equity solutions by measuring the state of equity in the 100 largest U.S. cities, the 150 largest metros, and all 50 states on key indicators of prosperity and inclusion by race. The Index is an integrated and holistic measure to compare the state of equity across different places, developed in response to the demand for a more comprehensive, summary picture of how communities were doing on our equity metrics. It provides a snapshot of how well a given place is performing on racial equity compared to its peers — comparing cities to cities, regions to regions, and states to states. Because equity means both closing racial gaps and ensuring that everyone is doing well, the Racial Equity Index is based on two components: an inclusion score that indicates the extent of racial gaps in outcomes for a series of nine equity indicators (wages, unemployment, poverty, educational attainment, disconnected youth, school poverty, air pollution, commute time, and housing burden) and a prosperity score that indicates how well the population is doing overall on those same indicators.

        This analysis shares insights from our analysis of the Index for cities and metros. Please see Introducing the Racial Equity Index to learn more about the Index and how to use it and explore the data for your community with the Index data tool.   

        Key findings from the Racial Equity Index include:

        1. Every community is hindered by systematic racial inequities. Even in the best-performing places on the Index, there are significant and preventable racial inequities.

        2. Inclusive prosperity remains elusive among America’s metros and cities. It is very rare for communities to have high levels of prosperity, in terms of overall performance on the indicators, and high levels of inclusion, in terms of low racial disparities. 

        3. Robust economic growth alone does not bring about racial equity and inclusion. While some of the regions with the most dynamic economies perform well on the Index, overall there is a weak relationship between traditional measures of economic development such as job growth, and racial equity and inclusion.

        4. Achieving racial equity requires improving conditions in the population centers where most people of color live. Few of the cities with the largest Black and Latinx populations perform well overall on the Index or on Black or Latinx prosperity.

        5. Racial equity is not a zero-sum proposition. Most of the cities and regions with the best outcomes for communities of color also have good outcomes for their White residents, and vice versa.

        Each of these is further described below.
         

        1. Every community is hindered by systematic racial inequities.

        The Index reveals just how far all cities and metros have to go to correct systems that are perpetuating racial inequities. Because it is a relative Index, even places that are the top performers have significant racial inequities. 

        Take the region of San Jose, California. The tech epicenter has the highest score on the Racial Equity Index because of its strong overall performance in terms of wages, poverty, educational attainment, and school poverty and relatively lower racial disparities on indicators of air pollution, commute time, educational attainment, and unemployment. 

        Yet, there are large racial inequities in San Jose. For example, even with the highest share of Black college graduates of any region (37 percent), there is a 23 percentage point Black-White disparity in terms of educational attainment, and the White-Latinx disparity is 44 percentage points (60 and 16 percent, respectively). And among college graduates, Black and Latinx workers earn $12-$17 less per hour than White and Asian or Pacific Islander workers. Note that while the regional median wage for the Asian or Pacific Islander population as a whole is $43, median wages vary significantly within that group

         

        2. Inclusive prosperity remains elusive among America’s metros and cities. 

        Equitable communities both have strong overall performance on indicators of well-being and low racial disparities, which is why the Racial Equity Index combines a prosperity score and an inclusion score. But what we see is that very few places are both doing well on prosperity and inclusion. 

        The metros that have the best overall performance on the indicators are not the most inclusive and tend to have wide racial disparities. Among top 25 regions on the prosperity score, none are also in the top 25 on the inclusion score, and only seven even make the top 100 on inclusion. Eighteen of them are in the bottom 50 on inclusion, including the Minneapolis-St. Paul region, which has the sixth highest prosperity score, but is second from the bottom in terms of its inclusion score.

         

        3. Robust economic growth alone does not bring about racial equity and inclusion.

        Over the past decade coming out of the Great Recession, growth in jobs and economic output has been concentrated in a small number of large metros, and within those places economic gains have largely gone to investors, corporations, and a small number of highly-educated knowledge economy workers.

        A look at post-recession job growth in regions in relation to the Racial Equity Index underscores the weak relationship between job growth and racial equity. While there is some correlation between job growth and racial equity performance, with some high-growth metros like Austin, Denver, Raleigh, and San Jose performing well on the Index, the connection is not strong. Similarly, strong job growth does not drive positive outcomes for Black and Latinx residents. Of the 25 metros with the highest post-recession job growth, only seven of them were among the top 25 regions on prosperity for Black residents (Austin, Denver, Dallas, Fayetteville, Raleigh, San Jose, and San Antonio). And only three of them were among the top 25 regions on prosperity for Latinx residents (San Francisco, Austin, and Provo).

        4. Achieving racial equity requires improving conditions in the population centers where most people of color live.

        About 29 percent of Black people in the United States live in just 50 cities, underscoring the importance of integrating place-based and people-focused solutions to advance racial equity. The concentration of different racial/ethnic groups in certain regions, cities, and neighborhoods is in large part a consequence of systems and policies that produced and reinforced racial segregation — and the persistence of inequities in those places follows from a long history of disinvestment and deprivation. Some of the highest scoring cities on the Racial Equity Index have the smallest Black populations: In seven out of the top 10 performers, the Black population is significantly underrepresented compared to the national share (Albuquerque, Chandler, Henderson, Honolulu, Irvine, Reno, San Jose). Similarly, the Latinx population is underrepresented in six of the top 10 cities on the Index (Chesapeake, Henderson, Honolulu, Irvine, Virginia Beach, St. Petersburg).

        Of the 12.9 million Black people living in the largest 100 cities, about 80 percent of them live in the 33 cities with at least 100,000 Black residents. Only two of these cities are among the top 20 performers on the Racial Equity Index (Nashville and Norfolk), and 10 are among the bottom 20 performers (Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Memphis, Newark, and New York). Only two — Durham and Raleigh, which are in the same region — are among the top 20 performers for Black prosperity, and wide racial gaps in prosperity are evident in these places:


        Similar trends hold for Latinx people. Among the 41 cities with at least 100,000 Latinx residents, only two (Albuquerque and San Francisco) rank in the top 20 prosperity scores for the Latinx population, while 12 (Charlotte, Dallas, Fresno, Hialeah, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Bernardino, Santa Ana, and Newark) are in the bottom 20.

        The cities with the best outcomes for Latinx residents tend to have relatively small Latinx populations: among the top 20 performers on Latinx prosperity, nine were among the 20 cities with the smallest Latinx populations and only five have Latinx populations at 50,000. The same dynamics are found at the regional level.

        In the 25 regions with the largest Latinx populations, only two ranked in the top 25 for regional prosperity scores on the Racial Equity Index (Boston and San Jose), and just three were among the top 25 performers for Latinx prosperity (Austin, San Francisco, and Washington DC). Even among those best performers, Latinx residents still face significant racial inequities on key indicators of prosperity.

        5. Racial equity is not a zero-sum proposition.

        Looking at the prosperity scores across racial/ethnic groups, we find that most of the cities and regions with the best outcomes for communities of color also have above-average outcomes for their White residents, and vice versa. Of the top 20 cities for prosperity for people of color, for example, all but two of them are in the top 40 for White prosperity, all but one are in the top 40 for Black prosperity (among the 16 with large enough Black populations to generate Black prosperity scores), and all but one are in the top 40 for Latinx prosperity.

        And of the top 20 cities for White prosperity, six — Anchorage, Austin, Denver, Durham, Plano, and Raleigh — are also in the top 20 for Black prosperity (among the 16 with large enough Black populations to generate Black prosperity scores) and six are in the top 20 for Latinx prosperity (Anchorage, District of Columbia, Irvine, Plano, San Francisco, and Scottsdale). Only one — Dallas — falls in the bottom 20 for both Black and Latinx prosperity.
         

        Making Progress on Racial Equity Will Require Tailored and Bold Solutions

        Our analysis of the Racial Equity Index for cities and metros reveals that even the best performing places exhibit significant racial disparities, and even the places with the most economic success post-recession fall short on equity. At a time when Black, Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander communities are the hardest hit by another recession, it is imperative that leaders at all levels recognize that targeted, race-conscious strategies are necessary to bring about an inclusive recovery. Doing so will create tremendous benefits that cascade up and out to the advantage of an entire community. Equity is the path to prosperity: By developing solutions that are informed by and effectively reach the people most impacted by structural racism and economic inequality, we can build an equitable, prosperous future economy.

        Identify Priority Issues for an Equitable Recovery with the New Racial Equity Index for Cities

        The Racial Equity Index is our newest data tool for local action, designed to provide a single comparative metric for racial equity across the United States. Here, we share the rankings and key insights from the Racial Equity Index for the 100 largest cities in the United States in 2017. Visit the Racial Equity Index to explore all of the available data, including data for regions, states, and other points in time.


        The 2017 Racial Equity Index rankings offer a unique snapshot of how US cities stack up on overall equity outcomes. Racial Equity Index values for the 100 largest cities ranged from 21 (Detroit, Michigan) to 76 (Irvine, California), indicating that no single place fared the best on every measure (which would have resulted in a score of 100), nor did any place perform the worst on all measures.

        It is important to note that because all values are relative — meaning they measure how well a city is doing compared to other cities — even the top performer has room for improvement. For example, the city-level inclusion scores, which indicate the relative size of racial gaps, ranged from 26 (Scottsdale, Arizona) to 81 (Garland, Texas). But even among cities with high inclusion scores, pronounced racial gaps are evident. In Garland, for example, prosperity is not equitably shared, as illustrated in the chart below. In every indicator category, scores for Black and Latinx residents trail those for the White population.

        Latinx residents in Garland experience the deepest inequities in Economic Vitality and Readiness indicators.

        The city-level prosperity scores span an even broader range, from 8 (Detroit, Michigan) to 78 (Fremont, California — a Bay Area suburb). This reveals the stark differences in economic and social outcomes in the wake of the Great Recession, as the recovery was very uneven and concentrated wealth and prosperity in a small number of regions (such as the San Francisco Bay Area) while legacy and post-industrial regions continued to struggle.

        Top 10 Cities Concentrated in the West and Southwest

        The table below shows the top 10 cities on the Racial Equity Index for 2017, as well as the inclusion and prosperity scores for each place. The cities on this list represent a diversity of local economies, from those dominated by manufacturing, transportation, and tourism to others specialized in financial services, energy technology, and aerospace.

        Some of the top 10 cities (such as Irvine and Virginia Beach) have high Racial Equity Index scores driven by high scores for both inclusion and prosperity. In these places, overall population outcomes are, on average, better and more racially equitable than in other cities.

        Other cities on the list (like Reno and Albuquerque) have high inclusion scores but much lower prosperity scores, indicating that while racial gaps are relatively small in these cities, overall population outcomes trail those in other places.

        1. Irvine, California

        Irvine earned the top spot on the Racial Equity Index for cities in 2017 with the sixth-highest inclusion score among cities and the third-highest prosperity score. In other words, it performed quite well in terms of both overall outcomes and in terms of racial inclusion.

        Irvine’s top ranking is driven by its standout scores in the Readiness category: educational attainment, disconnected youth, and school poverty. The city ranked #1 for prosperity (overall outcomes) in educational attainment (BA degree or higher), and #2 for racial inclusion in educational attainment. It was also at the top of the lists for overall lowest levels of school poverty (#1) and disconnected youth (#2).

        Yet Irvine is not without its challenges, with average or below-average prosperity scores in the Connected category: air pollution exposure (#51), commute time (#50), and rent burden (#74): more than half of renter households in Irvine spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. And while the city had a high prosperity score for poverty/economic insecurity (#10), it ranked #73 out of 100 for inclusion on the same indicator: 46 percent of Latinx immigrants in Irvine are economically insecure, meaning they have family incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level — about three times the rate of US-born White residents (16 percent).

        8. Albuquerque, New Mexico

        Albuquerque was ranked #8 on the 2017 Racial Equity Index, with the #17 inclusion score and the #32 prosperity score.

        The city had slightly above-average prosperity scores (overall outcomes) in median wages (#40) and unemployment (#46), but ranked in the top quarter of cities in terms of racial inclusion for these indicators. The city’s inclusion scores for median wages (#22) and unemployment (#21) signal that Albuquerque has smaller racial gaps for these important Economic Vitality indicators than most of its peer cities. Still, the median wage of Native American workers ($15 per hour) is far lower than that of White workers ($24 per hour). In fact, the median wage for Native American workers in Albuquerque is $2 less per hour than the national average for Native Americans, while the median wages for White, Black, and Latinx workers in Albuquerque are all higher than the respective national averages.

        On other measures, however, Albuquerque is less racially inclusive. The city’s inclusion scores were just above average for economic insecurity (#43) and disconnected youth (#44), although 24 percent of Native American youth in the city are neither working nor in school — twice the rate for White youth. And while it scored well on prosperity for air pollution exposure (#17), its inclusion score for that indicator was near the bottom of the list (#93) due to large racial gaps.

        9. St. Petersburg, Florida

        St. Petersburg ranked ninth on the 2017 Racial Equity Index for cities, with the #29 inclusion score and the #27 prosperity score.

        In 2017, St. Petersburg placed above the median prosperity score for seven of the nine indicators in the index, but landed in the bottom half of cities for disconnected youth (#57) and rent burden (#57).
        St. Petersburg’s most positive showing was on the Economic Vitality indicator of economic insecurity. Its prosperity score (#23) and inclusion score (#20) were both relatively high, landing the city in the top 25 for both overall population outcomes and relatively smaller racial gaps in economic insecurity, but steep inequities are still evident: 55 percent of US-born Black residents and 45 percent of US-born Asian or Pacific Islander residents in St. Petersburg are economically insecure, compared to 27 percent of the US-born White population.

        St. Petersburg had the nation’s fifth-highest inclusion score for educational attainment, but the share of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree ranged from 15 percent for Black men to 47 percent for Asian or Pacific Islander women.

        Many Legacy Cities Among the Bottom 10 on the Racial Equity Index

        The table below shows the bottom 10 cities on the Racial Equity Index for 2017, as well as the inclusion and prosperity scores for each place. Several of these places could be categorized as “Legacy Cities” that struggled to recover from the decline of manufacturing and significant population loss even before the Great Recession. While a few of these places — Newark and San Bernardino, notably — have high inclusion scores comparable to the top-ranked cities — their very low prosperity scores indicate that their smaller racial gaps are accompanied by widely shared hardship.

        94. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

        In 2017, Baton Rouge was ranked #94 on the Racial Equity Index for cities, with the #91 inclusion score and the #87 prosperity score.

        Baton Rouge simultaneously had the lowest prosperity score in the nation for air pollution exposure and the highest inclusion score for the same indicator, meaning the overall outcomes were the worst among the 100 largest US cities, and affected all racial/ethnic groups similarly.

        Baton Rouge’s highest prosperity scores were for commute time (#23) and disconnected youth (#29), indicators that returned two of the city’s lowest inclusion scores: #75 for commute time and #98 — last place — for disconnected youth. Overall, 11 percent of youth in the city are neither working nor in school, but the share varies tremendously by race: among Black youth in the city, 20 percent are disconnected from work and school — 10 times the rate of their White peers (2 percent).

        96. San Bernardino, California

        In 2017, San Bernardino had the ninth highest inclusion score among the 100 largest cities, but the third lowest prosperity score. San Bernardino trails behind almost every other large city for overall population outcomes.

        San Bernardino landed among the bottom five lowest prosperity scores on seven of the nine index indicators, but White residents — who make up just 15 percent of the city’s population — fare much better than other racial/ethnic groups. In 2017, the prosperity score for the White population in San Bernardino was 33 — far below the national median, but significantly higher than the scores for the Black (10) and Latinx (9) populations in the city.

        99. Detroit, Michigan

        Detroit ranked at the bottom of the 2017 Racial Equity Index for cities, with the lowest prosperity score and the 26th lowest inclusion score. In essence, overall population outcomes in Detroit are the worst in the nation, and racial inequities are especially pronounced.

        The city’s low prosperity score is driven by the Economic Vitality indicators (median wage, unemployment, economic insecurity) and the Readiness indicators (educational attainment, disconnected youth, and school poverty). Detroit ranked in the bottom seven out of 100 cities on all of these indicators. Economic insecurity has increased significantly for all racial/ethnic groups in Detroit over the past few decades: in 2017, 72 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander households and 72 percent of Latinx residents in the city had family incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, along with 62 percent of Black residents and 59 percent of White residents.

        Targeted Solutions that Prioritize the Most Impacted Communities Are the Key to Thriving, Equitable Cities

        Strategies tailored to advance just and fair inclusion for the communities most impacted by structural racism and economic inequality are not only the morally right thing to do — they are also the best way to ensure greater prosperity and well-being for all. Directing resources and innovation to where the need is greatest can create tremendous benefits that cascade up and out to the advantage of an entire city. But entrenched racial inequities are often obscured in policymaking and public discourse, making it difficult to home in on the systems and populations that ought to be prioritized. The Racial Equity Index offers an innovative tool to unlock the power of disaggregated data and make the case for policies to cultivate equitable cities where all people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

        Testing visuals

        Introducing the Racial Equity Index

        The National Equity Atlas team is excited to announce the launch of the Racial Equity Index, our newest data resource designed to provide a single comparative metric for racial equity in US cities, regions, and states.

        Six years ago, we created the National Equity Atlas as a tool to measure, track, and make the case for inclusive growth. With 30 indicators measuring demographic change, multiple dimensions of economic and social equity, and the economic benefits of racial economic inclusion, the Atlas presents deeply disaggregated data, and hundreds of customizable displays, for 301 geographies.

        Now, for the first time, it also includes an integrated and holistic measure to compare the state of equity across different places, developed in response to your call for a more comprehensive, summary picture of how communities were doing on our equity metrics. The Racial Equity Index is designed to support advocates, policymakers, and other leaders to quickly understand the issue areas where outcomes are most inequitable, and the populations who are most impacted. This innovative tool can help communities identify priority areas for advancing racial equity, track progress over time, and set specific goals for closing racial gaps.

        The Racial Equity Index is a summary score that provides a snapshot of how well a given place is performing on racial equity compared to its peers — comparing cities to cities, regions to regions, and states to states. Because equity means both closing racial gaps and ensuring that everyone is doing well, the Racial Equity Index is based on two components: an inclusion score that indicates the extent of racial gaps in outcomes for a series of nine equity indicators, and a prosperity score that indicates how well the population is doing overall on those same indicators.

        How It Works

        First, each geography is assessed based on a set of nine unique equity indicators from the National Equity Atlas, as shown in the table below. For every geography, each indicator is translated into an inclusion value, ranging from 1 to 100, where 100 indicates the most racially inclusive outcomes observed for the geographic type (city, region, or state). The composite inclusion value for all nine indicators becomes the inclusion score for that place. (For more information on the construction of the index, see the methodology.)

        Next, each indicator is converted into a prosperity value, also ranging from 1 and 100, where 100 indicates the most positive overall outcome for that geographic type. The composite prosperity value for all nine indicators is calculated for the whole population in that geography, and the result is the prosperity score for that place.

        Finally, the prosperity score and the inclusion score are averaged to derive the Racial Equity Index, reflecting overall population outcomes as well as racial/ethnic inclusion.


        We selected these indicators to capture a range of both people-focused and place-based equity metrics that are available for all geographies in the National Equity Atlas, to include a range of interrelated systems where structural racism is manifest, and to allow for tracking change over time (both retrospectively and in the future). This set of indicators does not encompass all dimensions of racial equity; notably, we are not able to integrate any measures related to the criminal-legal system or wealth due to limited data availability.

        What It Shows

        The Racial Equity Index is designed to compare equity outcomes — using a composite score for both inclusion and prosperity — for one type of geography at a time to see how a place is doing relative to its peers. Scores are calculated independently for each point in time reported in the Index, so changes over time should be understood as relative changes (that is, a change in ranking compared to the performance of peer geographies) rather than as absolute changes in indicator values.

        In addition to reporting the overall inclusion score and prosperity score for each place, the Racial Equity Index overview breaks down outcomes in each geography by the three indicator categories shown in the table above: Economic Vitality, Readiness, and Connectedness.

        Along with the raw indicator data included on the National Equity Atlas, this comparative analysis helps to identify the issue areas in greatest need of improvement for a given place. For instance, the Minneapolis metro has one of the highest prosperity scores among the 150 largest metropolitan regions (#6 out of 150), but one of the lowest inclusion scores (#149 out of 150). This indicates that while overall population outcomes are better in Minneapolis than in most other regions, racial gaps are more pronounced. A couple of examples can help illustrate this dynamic.

        In the Minneapolis region, the overall rate of poverty/economic insecurity (the share of people with household incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level) is 23 percent — one of the lowest in the nation. But this figure obscures tremendous racial inequities: just 16 percent of White residents in the Minneapolis metro are economically insecure, compared to 57 percent of Black residents and 50 percent of Native American residents. This is reflected in the region’s Racial Equity Index scores for poverty: a prosperity score of 92 (because the overall rate is better than in most other places), but an inclusion score of 1 (indicating that racial inequities for this indicator were worse than any other region). The Racial Equity Index reveals that in the Minneapolis metro, building an equitable economy will depend on solutions that reduce poverty, support economic security, and build pathways to the middle class targeted to the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx populations experiencing the greatest inequities. The differences between the region's prosperity and inclusion scores for each indicator are illustrated in the charts below.The Minneapolis region scores well for prosperity across all indicators, especially unemployment and poverty/economic insecurity, but is in the bottom half of regions for eight out of ten indicators.

         

        Note that the Racial Equity Index should not be used to compare different geographic types; for example, you can use the index to compare the performance of the largest cities in Texas, but you cannot use it to compare Houston’s performance to the state overall.

        Prosperity Scores by Race/Ethnicity

        The index also powers another unique metric for understanding equity within and across different places: prosperity scores by race/ethnicity. These scores offer a snapshot of prosperity score gaps between racial/ethnic groups, revealing which groups are doing well and which are not, providing deeper context for understanding the overall scores for a given place.

        Prosperity scores by race/ethnicity are derived for each geography for the six major racial/ethnic groups, and for all people of color combined. Because these scores are derived from the overall prosperity scores in each place, they can be used to make comparisons across racial/ethnic groups within a given place as well as between places (again, comparing cities only to cities, regions only to regions, and states only to states).

        For example, among the 100 largest cities, the prosperity score for the Black population is highest in Plano, Texas (with a score of 67), signaling that Black residents of Plano are faring better on the underlying indicators than their counterparts in other cities. Yet Plano’s Black population still experiences significant racial gaps in most index indicators, especially educational attainment and median wages, as shown in the chart below.

        The largest equity gaps facing Plano’s Black community are for the indicators of educational attainment, median wage, and poverty/economic insecurity. This snapshot can help advocates contextualize the more detailed data in the National Equity Atlas when comparing equity outcomes within their city and across neighboring or peer cities. Black workers in Plano have a median wage of $23 per hour — higher than the national average of $18 for all Black workers in the United States, but significantly trailing the city’s overall median wage of $29 per hour.

        To learn more, see our analysis for some of the key findings for cities and metros, or visit the Racial Equity Index summary page to explore the data for your city, region, or state.

        What’s New in the National Equity Atlas

        After months of rebuilding the National Equity Atlas, our team is thrilled to share this updated data resource with you!

        We are dedicated to maintaining the most comprehensive and user-friendly source of equity indicators deeply disaggregated by race/ethnicity, nativity, gender, ancestry, and income for communities across the nation. And we are committed to providing not just metrics but the story behind the data and trends, and the policy solutions that can work to close racial and economic inequities and move communities toward inclusive prosperity.

        Here are the new features and updates you will find in the Atlas:

        1. The Racial Equity Index: This new index — available for cities, metropolitan regions, states, and the US — allows you to track how well your community is doing on equity compared with other communities (and over time), and identify the most important challenges and areas of progress to develop targeted equity strategies.
           
        2. Updated and more robust data: All 30 indicators have been updated with the latest available data (generally 2017). We’ve also added new breakdowns to several indicators, including comparative rankings, disaggregation by race, gender, nativity, and ancestry, and historical data whenever possible.
           
        3. State-of-the-art data, visualization, and mapping infrastructure: The technological underpinnings of the Atlas have been upgraded based on the Bay Area Equity Atlas (named a Top Urban Planning Website of 2019 by Planetizen) to instantaneously put equity data at your fingertips to use in policy research, development, advocacy, and community organizing.
           
        4. Two new indicators: We added two brand-new indicators: life expectancy and the economic benefits of eliminating rent burdens. The life expectancy indicator replaces several health indicators (asthma, overweight and obese, diabetes) for which updated data was not available.
           
        5. More contextual information and updated strategies and examples: We’ve added an introductory page explaining our indicator framework and expanded our indicator pages to provide more information about why these metrics matter for communities and what are the drivers of inequities. We’ve also updated all of our strategies and examples.
           
        6. Data and PowerPoint downloads: For the first time, you can easily download all of the data behind the Atlas indicators in spreadsheet format to do your own analyses and create your own visualizations. You can also download PowerPoint slides to add local equity indicators to your presentations.

        We hope that you find these new features to be helpful in your equity efforts! We would love to hear your feedback via this short survey and you can always reach us at info@nationalequityatlas.org.

        Click Here! Six Key Features in the Updated National Equity Atlas

        Since 2014, the National Equity Atlas has served as the nation’s most detailed report card on racial equity. At a time when racial justice is (finally) at the center of our national policy debate, we are thrilled to share this completely updated and strengthened data and policy tool with you!

        The National Equity Atlas is a one-stop-shop for data and policy ideas to advance racial equity and shared prosperity. Our focus is providing equity metrics that are deeply disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, nativity, ancestry, and income for the largest 100 cities, 150 regions, all 50 states, and the United States as a whole.

        We built this site to democratize data and make the facts accessible and actionable to everyone — including the grassroots organizations that possess invaluable firsthand knowledge of inequities yet often lack the resources to gather, analyze, and display the quantitative data so crucial to policy campaigns to address them. At the click of a button, you can see how your community is doing in comparison to other communities according to our Racial Equity Index and 30 relevant, useful, field-tested indicators of racial and economic equity.

        Our updated Atlas builds upon our previous data infrastructure but provides a new holistic Racial Equity Index, new indicators, more detailed data for existing indicators, and additional ways to explore, share, and use the data.

        Ready to dig in? Here are six essential features to help you explore the indicators in the National Equity Atlas.

        1. Racial Equity Index: Start Here

        The new Racial Equity Index — available for all geographies in the Atlas — allows you to track how well your community is doing on a set of nine equity indicators compared with other communities (and over time). The index summarizes an inclusion score (which measures racial disparities on nine indicators) and a prosperity score (which measures overall performance levels on those same indicators), and can be further broken down into its components to help you identify the most important challenges and areas of progress to develop targeted equity strategies. You can also examine the prosperity score for each of six major racial/ethnic groups. Here is how to access the index:

        A) Go to the Racial Equity Index under Research
        C) Choose your geography type (Nation, State, Region, City)
        D) Choose your geography from the dropdown menu
        E) Explore the data
        F) Go back to Racial Equity Index to examine the Prosperity scores for the Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander, Mixed/other race, and White Populations.
         
        Here is how the index page looks for Minneapolis-St. Paul metro region.
         

        2. Indicator and Geography Selection Toolbar: Your Home Base

        Next, explore the individual indicators in the Atlas. Once you are on the page for any indicator, the first interactive element you will find is the Indicator and Geography Selection Toolbar. This toolbar allows you to choose which of our 30 indicators you want to explore for any of the 272 geographies in the National Equity Atlas. To do so, follow these five steps:

        A) Select any indicator, either from the dropdown menu under Indicators or from the Indicators introductory page
        B) Choose your indicator group (Demographics, Economic Vitality, Readiness, Connectedness, or Economic Benefits)
        C) Choose your indicator from the dropdown menu
        D) Choose your geography type (Nation, State, Region, City)
        E) Choose your geography from the dropdown menu
         
        Here is how it looks for our Race/ethnicity indicator for the Orlando region:
         
        Note that the number of geography types available to you will differ from indicator to indicator, based on data availability. For example, you will not see “City” for the Economic gains: Racial equity in income indicator because data is not available for those smaller geographies for that indicator.
         
        Also, once you are on an indicator page, scroll down for key insights about the indicator, the drivers of inequity, policy solutions to consider, and additional resources.
         
        • MASTER IT: Change the geography and pull up the trend data for a community. What groups are growing and which are shrinking?

        3. Chart Breakdowns and Filters: Explore the Data

        The Chart Breakdown and Filters feature is the true engine for data exploration in the National Equity Atlas. This is where you can disaggregate the data such as race/ethnicity, race and nativity, race and gender, ancestry, and poverty level. It is also where you can get indicator-specific breakdowns of the data, such as business ownership by race and by industry or commute time by race and transportation mode.

        Take these steps to use the Chart Breakdown and Filters feature:

        A) Select your breakdown
        B) Select one or more filters
         

        Here is how it looks for our Working poor indicator for the city of Albuquerque:

        • MASTER IT: Explore the different breakdowns and filters for this indicator. Which groups are most likely to be working full-time but still in poverty or economically insecure (living below 200 percent of poverty) in your community?

        4. Compare: See How Your Community Stacks Up

        A fourth essential feature — also in the Indicator and Geography Selection Toolbar — is the Compare function. Comparison is a very important method for analyzing equity metrics, allowing you to see how your community (or a group in your community) is doing in relation to other communities (or the same group in a different community). This can help you understand the extent of disparities, assess what are the drivers of inequities, identify strategies to remove barriers, and set goals for progress on eliminating inequities.

        Here is how to use the Compare function:

        A) Select compare
        B) Select a comparison geography type from the dropdown menu
        C) Select a comparison geography from the dropdown menu
         
        And this is how it looks for our Working poor indicator, comparing the city of Albuquerque to the state of New Mexico: 

        Note that the Compare function is not available for indicator breakdowns that contain multiple categories over multiple years (like the Race/ethnicity indicator you just looked at) because the display would not be legible.

        • MASTER IT: Compare working poverty trends in your city and your state.

        5. Map Filters and Full Extent: Visualizing Patterns

        Mapping data by geography puts spatial inequities — which are also racial inequities, due to housing segregation and discrimination — into stark relief. The National Equity Atlas team has worked hard to create a custom mapping system that enables clear visualization of patterns across communities and correlations between race, place, and income.

        Follow these steps to Map Filters and Full Extent features:

        A) In the chart breakdown, select the map breakdown
        B) Under map geography, choose your geography type (Nation, State, Region, City)
        C) Select map filters
        D) Select map full extent
        E) Select a demographic group
        F) Use the slider to see how communities with higher and lower shares of your selected demographic group perform on the indicator
         
        Here is how it looks for our Rent burden indicator for the St. Louis metro region, looking at majority Black communities by selecting Percent Black, 50% in the map filter:

        6. Downloads and Social Media Buttons: Share and Use Data Visualizations

        The National Equity Atlas is a tool for community action, and we wanted to make it easy for you to use the data to highlight issues of inequity, build support for campaigns, and make your case for solutions with policymakers and others in positions of power. We also believe in open data and know that you want to be able to explore the raw data yourself. That’s why we built more sharing and download functionality into the National Equity Atlas.

        Follow these steps to access our Download and Sharing features:

        A) Select download type (Image or Excel worksheet)
        B) Select sharing type (Facebook, Twitter, Email)
         
        Here is how it looks for our Rent burden map for St. Louis:

        • MASTER IT: Download an Excel file to examine the data behind a chart or map. Post a National Equity Atlas chart or map on your Facebook or Twitter page.

        Thank you for exploring the National Equity Atlas! We hope you are excited enough about these features to let your colleagues know about this new tool. We encourage you to join the discussion on social media using the hashtag #equitydata.

        The Coming Wave of Covid-19 Evictions: A Growing Crisis for Families in Contra Costa County

        Our analysis finds that 14,000 renter households are at imminent risk of eviction if the county’s eviction moratorium expires, with more waves of evictions close behind.

        By Jamila Henderson, Sarah Treuhaft, Justin Scoggins, and Alex Werth (East Bay Housing Organizations)* 

        In the Bay Area, as elsewhere, the coronavirus and its economic fallout have disproportionately impacted the very same people that were on the economic margins before the pandemic, including Black, Latinx, and immigrant communities (especially undocumented workers), and low-wage workers. And they are about to face an additional threat: the risk of being evicted when they can’t pay rent because they’ve lost jobs and income because of the pandemic. 

        Recognizing the immense harm posed by mass eviction amidst a global health and economic crisis, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors passed a moratorium on evictions and rent increases in April 2020, which it extended in May 2020. 

        Since then, the pandemic has not abated. In fact, the county is now slowing down reopening plans amid escalating infection rates. Yet Contra Costa’s county-wide eviction moratorium is set to expire July 15, placing scores of renters who’ve suffered economic losses during the pandemic at risk of losing their homes. 

        This analysis, produced in partnership with the Raise the Roof Coalition,** sheds light on the magnitude of this risk by estimating the number of renter households that could face eviction if the moratorium is allowed to expire. See the accompanying fact sheet.

        Tens of Thousands of Households at Risk from Coming Waves of Evictions

        Our analysis shows that lifting the moratorium at this moment would be disastrous, potentially unleashing a wave of evictions that would devastate workers, families, and their communities. We estimate that 14,000 Contra Costa County households are at imminent risk of eviction if the moratorium is allowed to expire because they include one or more workers who’ve lost their jobs and have no replacement income. Approximately 12,100 children living in these households would also face eviction.

        These imminently at-risk households include workers who were either not eligible for unemployment insurance, such as the county’s undocumented immigrant workers and informal workers, or believed they weren’t eligible or faced language and technology barriers and other challenges in filing for benefits. About 65,000 Contra Costa County residents are undocumented immigrants. This is a conservative estimate of those most at-risk: many other households could face eviction if unprotected by the moratorium.

        And this will just be the beginning. A second wave of evictions will occur when the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation – which provides a $600 weekly supplement to all workers receiving unemployment benefits – expires on July 31, 2020. Without these additional benefits, about half of workers on UI will have replacement incomes below the federal poverty level, according to the California Policy Lab. This would place an additional 8,700 Contra Costa households at potential risk of eviction due to substantial income loss.   

        These waves of evictions would come at a time when Contra Costa County is struggling with rising Covid-19 infections and unprecedented job losses. Contra Costa has seen a 65 percent weekly increase in infections as of July 7, one of the worst surges among the six Bay Area counties coordinating to fight Covid-19 (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara). The county was recently added to the California Department of Public Health’s watch list of high-risk counties because of its high case rates and hospitalizations. Contra Costa County is also one of the hardest hit by the recession: 13.6 percent of workers (72,500) were officially unemployed as of May 2020. An additional 26,700 workers have dropped out of the labor force since January and aren’t even included in the official unemployment numbers.

        Contra Costa County also has weaker emergency tenant protections than the other counties, except Marin, which is considerably more affluent. After the moratorium ends, Contra Costa renters will have just four months to repay the backlog of rent – potentially thousands of dollars on top of their regular rent – leaving tenants who face eviction with little recourse. In contrast, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties have repayment terms ranging from six to 12 months, with evictions for non-payment of rent due to Covid-19 banned altogether in Alameda and San Francisco. 

        Karen from Raise the Roof during Renter Protection Caravan

         

        Mass Eviction Would Devastate Families and the Community, Contributing to Rising Homelessness

        Eviction is financially and emotionally devastating to families. It can cause serious harm to mental and physical health, including depression, and negatively affect children’s education. Given that the families imminently at risk of eviction have no income coming in, and most have little to no savings, many could become unhoused. Examining eviction risk in Los Angeles County, UCLA professor Gary Blasi estimated that 10 percent of those evicted due to Covid-19 would become homeless. In 2018, Contra Costa County provided services to 5,846 individuals and families experiencing homelessness; if 10 percent of the currently at-risk households became homeless, that would lead to a 21 percent increase in homelessness. This would cause immeasurable despair and disruption for families. And it would exacerbate the county’s racial inequities: already, Black people represent 34 percent of the county’s unhoused population though they comprise just 8 percent of county residents.

        This steep rise in homelessness would also strain community resources, staff, and infrastructure. The county currently spends a minimum of $20,075 per year to shelter one individual. This expense would significantly increase with the potential rise in homeless individuals and families, and only represents a portion of the full costs of homelessness. Cities, nonprofits, housing agencies, and hospitals also provide many homeless services and would also need to allocate more resources to serve a larger number of people experiencing homelessness. Although not insignificant, monetary expenses understate the true costs and long-lasting repercussions of homelessness for individuals and families. 

        Exacerbating the Housing Crisis for Black, Latinx, and Immigrant Renters

        One in three Contra Costa households rent their homes, and this share has been on the rise. Even before the pandemic, the majority of renters in Contra Costa County were already being squeezed by stagnant wages and rising rents, with 53 percent of them rent-burdened, defined as spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. 

        Black, Latinx, and immigrant residents in Contra Costa County are not only more likely to rent versus own their homes, but also more likely to pay too much for their housing. Black and Latinx renters, especially women, face greater risks of eviction and homelessness, as they are more likely to be economically insecure and rent-burdened: 64 percent of renter households headed by Black women and 56 percent of those headed by Latina renters are economically insecure and rent-burdened. As a comparison, only 37 percent of renter households headed by White women and 38 percent of those headed by men of all races/ethnicities experience these conditions.

        Renters in Contra Costa continue to face rising economic and housing insecurity, which this crisis has underscored and exacerbated. To make matters worse, nationwide, rent-burdened households have an average savings of just $10, which is grossly insufficient to cover emergency expenses and contributes to the imminent risk of mass eviction. 

        A Preventable Crisis

        Without an effective eviction moratorium and tenant protections, vulnerable renters are at risk of losing their homes. Contra Costa County can only thrive if its renters thrive, and community leaders and policymakers must take every step possible to prevent this potential humanitarian crisis from occurring. 

        The county can protect renters with these key strategies:

        1. Extend the eviction moratorium until 90 days after the state of emergency ends. 

        2. Ban evictions for non-payment due to Covid-19, converting missed rent to consumer debt. 

        3. Increase rental assistance, tenant counseling, and legal services for low-income renters. 

        4. Pass just cause eviction protections and rent control to address gaps in state law. 

        5. Enact rent and eviction registries to evaluate current policies and ensure equity.

        For additional data, and to learn more about how to protect renters in this crisis, read the fact sheet. See the methodology for our data sources and methods of calculating these estimates.

        Last updated October 2, 2020.

        * Alex Werth, Policy Associate at East Bay Housing Organizations, serves on the Equity Campaign Leaders Advisory Committee of the Bay Area Equity Atlas. East Bay Housing Organizations is a member of the Raise the Roof coalition which produced this analysis in partnership with the Bay Area Equity Atlas. 

        ** Raise the Roof is a coalition of community, labor, and faith groups working to bring good jobs, immigrant protections, and affordable housing to the City of Concord and Contra Costa County. Members include ACCE, California Nurses Association, Central Labor Council Contra Costa County-AFL-CIO, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, East Bay Housing Organizations, Ensuring Opportunity, First Five/Central County Regional Group, Lift Up Contra Costa, Monument Impact, and Tenants Together. www.facebook.com/raisetheroofconcord.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        The brutal murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police was a stark reminder of the racism that permeates our institutions, threatens Black life, and diminishes us as a nation. We cannot achieve inclusive prosperity without addressing police brutality, and the Atlas team stands in solidarity with those protesting this unjust system and calling for transformative change. We are working hard to finalize the new Atlas system upgrade to share with you later this month, and have been partnering with other data providers to assess the unequal economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by race, gender, nativity, and occupation. Here are a few highlights:

        New Analysis: Disaggregated Data on Economic Impacts of COVID-19 for US and 10 Metros

        Today, in partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and JPMorgan Chase, we released the most comprehensive analysis to date of the labor market effects of the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to inform equity-focused relief and recovery strategies. In addition to the US, we analyzed 10 metro regions: Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, San Francisco, and Seattle. Our analysis reveals that people of color and immigrants are concentrated in occupations that have experienced the steepest declines in job opportunities and will likely be among the last to recover, putting Black, Latinx, and Native American workers at heightened risk of long-term unemployment. People of color are also overrepresented in low-wage essential jobs, and Native Americans and immigrants are most concentrated in essential jobs where opportunities are declining. Among the 10 regions, the economic impacts of the virus are uneven: metros with large tourism sectors (like Nashville and Miami) have been hit particularly hard, while diversified regional economies with strong tech sectors (like Seattle and SF) have fared somewhat better. Read the full analysis here.

        New Profile of Bay Area Essential Workers

        In May, the Bay Area Equity Atlas released three new analyses focused on frontline workers in the region, including two deep dives into workforce demographics in Sonoma and Santa Clara counties. We found that frontline workers in these counties and the Bay overall are disproportionately Latinx, Black, and women of color, which could help explain why these populations are more likely to contract COVID-19. Latinx workers represent 22 percent of workers in all industries but 31 percent of frontline workers while Black workers, who account for just 5 percent of all workers in the region, are concentrated in specific frontline industries including public transit (23 percent) and postal services (11 percent). These workers are more likely to live in poverty, lack health insurance, and have no internet access at home. Read our analyses here. Check out media coverage of this research from KQEDSF Gate, and La Opinion.

        National Equity Atlas In the News

        • Ron Brownstein at The Atlantic analyzed National Equity Atlas data and corresponded with Atlas team members to inform his new article about how racial inequity is “the crack in the foundation of cities’ new prosperity.” Looking at data on median wages for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, he found that racial wage gaps have grown in all of those cities between 1980 and 2015.
           
        • E&E News published an article describing the criticism and subsequent revision of CDC guidelines encouraging workers to commute alone in private vehicles to slow the spread of the coronavirus, lifting up Atlas data showing that nearly 20 percent of Black households and 12 percent of Latinx households do not have access to a car, compared to 6.5 percent of White households. "So yes, there is a race and class bias in saying, 'You can just drive to work,'" said Basav Sen, climate justice project director at the Institute for Policy Studies.

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        New Analysis Finds People of Color and Immigrants are Disproportionately Harmed by Labor-Market Impacts of COVID-19

        Dear Atlas Users,

        The brutal murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police was a stark reminder of the racism that permeates our institutions, threatens Black life, and diminishes us as a nation. We cannot achieve inclusive prosperity without addressing police brutality, and the Atlas team stands in solidarity with those protesting this unjust system and calling for transformative change. We are working hard to finalize the new Atlas system upgrade to share with you later this month, and have been partnering with other data providers to assess the unequal economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by race, gender, nativity, and occupation. Here are a few highlights:

        New Analysis: Disaggregated Data on Economic Impacts of COVID-19 for US and 10 Metros

        Today, in partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and JPMorgan Chase, we released the most comprehensive analysis to date of the labor market effects of the coronavirus pandemic, aiming to inform equity-focused relief and recovery strategies. In addition to the US, we analyzed 10 metro regions: Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, San Francisco, and Seattle. Our analysis reveals that people of color and immigrants are concentrated in occupations that have experienced the steepest declines in job opportunities and will likely be among the last to recover, putting Black, Latinx, and Native American workers at heightened risk of long-term unemployment. People of color are also overrepresented in low-wage essential jobs, and Native Americans and immigrants are most concentrated in essential jobs where opportunities are declining. Among the 10 regions, the economic impacts of the virus are uneven: metros with large tourism sectors (like Nashville and Miami) have been hit particularly hard, while diversified regional economies with strong tech sectors (like Seattle and SF) have fared somewhat better. Read the full analysis here.

        New Profile of Bay Area Essential Workers

        In May, the Bay Area Equity Atlas released three new analyses focused on frontline workers in the region, including two deep dives into workforce demographics in Sonoma and Santa Clara counties. We found that frontline workers in these counties and the Bay overall are disproportionately Latinx, Black, and women of color, which could help explain why these populations are more likely to contract COVID-19. Latinx workers represent 22 percent of workers in all industries but 31 percent of frontline workers while Black workers, who account for just 5 percent of all workers in the region, are concentrated in specific frontline industries including public transit (23 percent) and postal services (11 percent). These workers are more likely to live in poverty, lack health insurance, and have no internet access at home. Read our analyses here. Check out media coverage of this research from KQEDSF Gate, and La Opinion.

        National Equity Atlas In the News

        • Ron Brownstein at The Atlantic analyzed National Equity Atlas data and corresponded with Atlas team members to inform his new article about how racial inequity is “the crack in the foundation of cities’ new prosperity.” Looking at data on median wages for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, he found that racial wage gaps have grown in all of those cities between 1980 and 2015.
           
        • E&E News published an article describing the criticism and subsequent revision of CDC guidelines encouraging workers to commute alone in private vehicles to slow the spread of the coronavirus, lifting up Atlas data showing that nearly 20 percent of Black households and 12 percent of Latinx households do not have access to a car, compared to 6.5 percent of White households. "So yes, there is a race and class bias in saying, 'You can just drive to work,'" said Basav Sen, climate justice project director at the Institute for Policy Studies.
           

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas: Join Us to Talk Disaggregated Data and COVID-19 This Friday

        Dear Atlas Users,

        We hope that you and your families are staying strong through this difficult time. Our team is in the process of determining how we can best support communities in their response to the outbreak, aligned with the solidarity economics prerogative laid out by PERE director Manuel Pastor in this this new op-ed. We hope you will join us on Friday to inform our approach.

        Register Now: Community Listening Session Friday at 12 PT/3 ET
        As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, its effects are highlighting and deepening the racial inequities entrenched in our economic system. We know that disaggregated data is a crucial tool to push forward policy solutions that center equity in the short-term and lay the foundation for an inclusive recovery. Please join this listening session with Manuel Pastor, Sarah Treuhaft, and others from the Atlas team from 12-1 PT/3-4 ET this Friday, April 3rd to hear how we are responding to rapidly changing conditions and share your data needs and interests to inform our approach going forward. Register here.

        New Fact Sheet: Fair Labor Practices Benefit All New Mexicans
        When New Mexican employers deny workers their earnings, they harm families and prevent wages from circulating through the local economy. The New Mexico Worker Organizing Collaborative (NMWOC) works to combat this wage theft, and the Atlas team worked with them to develop a fact sheet showing how Latinx immigrant and Native American workers are disproportionately vulnerable to employer theft and highlighting the challenge of weak enforcement. Our analysis found that twenty percent of open wage theft cases without any activity or investigation have been open for over a year. NMWOC will be using this data in their advocacy to protect workers and take back lost wages. Learn more here.

        New Brief: Disrupting the Drivers of Inequity in Biloxi
        As wages have stagnated for the majority of workers in the U.S. and inequality has skyrocketed, racial inequity has grown. In Biloxi, Mississippi, these inequities are deep, leaving many Black and Latinx households facing racial and geographic barriers to economic opportunity. The coastal community of East Biloxi has the potential to address some of these inequities through investment in the federal Opportunity Zone program. However, this will only happen if there is an intentional focus on lifting up the most vulnerable communities. Download the brief published in partnership with the East Biloxi Community Collaborative to learn more about how to leverage the Opportunity Zones program to benefit low-income residents and people of color.

        Access New Local Data on Life Expectancy
        Through the United States Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project’s (USALEEP) new data tool, you can measure and compare differences in life expectancy in nearly every neighborhood across the country with an easy-to-use interactive map. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) also released updated data for their life expectancy tool which allows users to compare life expectancy in their neighborhood to national averages. These tools will help community leaders examine the factors that may be influencing health differences – such as access to health care, affordable housing, child care, educational opportunities – and target solutions more effectively. Learn more about the USALEEP tool and RWJF tool.

        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Our team has been busy behind the scenes getting our new data and interface ready for you, but also made it to DC last month to share our work at Datapalooza. And we are excited to share new research on race and political power in the Bay Area, revealing how one of the nation’s most diverse regions is making some progress, yet has a long way to go toward political inclusion.

        New Analysis: Bay Area Diversity Not Reflected Among Top Elected Officials
        With all eyes on the presidential primaries, it is easy to forget about what is happening at the local level — yet local electeds make crucial decisions in arenas like policing, housing, and land use that can have significant equity implications. And while the race and gender of elected officials does not alone determine whether they will advance equitable policies, representation matters. This is why the Bay Area Equity Atlas includes the diversity of electeds as a key measure of community power. Today, the Atlas released new data covering the November 2018 and 2019 elections, and a comprehensive analysis in partnership with Bay Rising. While the region has made some progress on political representation over the past two years, it is still lagging behind: people of color hold 29 percent of top elected offices despite making up 60 percent of the population. API and Latinx community members are particularly underrepresented; they make up 50 percent of the population but hold just 20 percent of elected offices. Read more here

        On the Road: The Atlas at Health Datapalooza
        Earlier this month, the Atlas team headed to Washington, D.C. for the 2020 Health Datapalooza, a convening of policymakers, regulatory leaders, data analysts, tech start-ups, and community members committed to using data to improve health. To an audience of roughly 50 people, alongside our colleagues from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps and the City Health Dashboard, we discussed data challenges when it comes to existing national surveys and reporting as well as what to do when the most important data does not exist. We highlighted our collection of diversity of electeds in the Bay Area Equity Atlas as one response to this challenge.

        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy Holidays from the National Equity Atlas team! We are proud of the work we did in 2019 to advance the conversation on equitable growth and equip community leaders with data to power campaigns for racial and economic equity. Here are a few highlights:
         

        We launched the Bay Area Equity Atlas!
        On June 5th, we released our first local data and policy tool: the Bay Area Equity Atlas. Created in partnership with the San Francisco Foundation, the Atlas includes 21 metrics across the foundation’s People, Place, and Power equity framework and covers 271 geographies in the nine-county region. We’ve been thrilled to see communities using the data to protect renters from displacementimprove outcomes for the Latinx population, and develop equity strategies in the suburbs/exurbs, as well as to read the in-depth stories written by local journalists incorporating our data.

        Leveraging Data for Local Policy and Systems Change
        The dozens of equity profiles we have produced with local partners over the years continue to inform decision-making, organizing, and policy campaigns. Data from the Cincinnati Equitable Growth Profile helped advocates successfully pass a wage equity policy this March, and that same month our Omaha partners received an American Planning Association award for their work using the profile data to drive equitable planning for health, housing, and transportation. In 2019, we worked with community partners in Long Beach (CA), Orange County (CA), and Pinellas County (FL) to develop equity profiles that are now informing local policy discussions.

        New Data Driving the Policy Debate on Inclusive Growth
        This year, we added data to the Atlas tracking racial equity in entrepreneurship and business growth. We also produced an analysis that classifies regions according to how their economies are shifting with the rise of tech-driven industries, and what strategies can foster shared prosperity, including case studies of Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Stockton. And, we produced fact sheets to inform the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty’s campaigns to protect families from predatory financial services.

        Atlas in the News
        Our data and reports have been covered by various local and national media outlets and articles, and journalists, as well as community leaders, have used our data in op-eds and articles. See this media coverage here.

        Thank you for your interest! We are working hard to bring you updated data and a brand new interface in early 2020, and we are excited to reconnect in 2020.

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Updates

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy Halloween! Our team is busy updating our data, upgrading our technology backbone, and creating a new Equity and Prosperity Index to release early next year. We are happy to see our data being used in opinion pieces making the case for inclusive growth in Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Orange County.

        New Report: Regional Economies in Transition

        Earlier this month, with support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we released Regional Economies in Transition: Analyzing Trends in Advanced Industries, Manufacturing, and the Service Sector to Inform Inclusive Growth Strategies, a report that classifies the 150 largest U.S. regions according to three major labor market trends to examine how these evolving conditions are shaping economic opportunity at the regional level. To provide an in-depth illustration of how these interrelated dynamics manifest at the local level, the report is accompanied by case studies of Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Stockton.

        What We Heard from You

        Thanks to all of you who shared your feedback and ideas on the future of the Atlas last month when we sent out our user survey! Most of you said that you appreciate the site and want to see more of what is available: New indicators and analyses, additional geographies, and more examples of how people are using the data to drive policy change. Some of you mentioned more updated data, which we are working on, and more of a summary of the data, which we hope the forthcoming index will provide. Others asked for more networking and learning opportunities. We will be using this information to develop our fundraising strategy going forward. Missed the opportunity to share feedback? You can still take the survey.

        Atlas In the News

        Our analysis revealing that Cleveland’s GDP could grow 12 percent per year with racial equity in income was mentioned twice in Crain’s Cleveland Business: first in an editorial for a more dynamic vision for the local economy; and then again in an op-ed connecting the legacy of slavery with present-day racial disparities. An article in Voice of OC in Orange County, California connects equity with the conversation around recasting Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day by lifting up racial disparities highlighted in our equity profile of the region. A KCET article profiling LA County’s Center for Financial Empowerment (CFE) uses our equity profile of Los Angeles to make the case for building economic security in low-income communities. Finally, Tracey Ross from PolicyLink uses the statistic that 106 million people — or one in every three U.S. residents — can be considered economically insecure in her essay in ESSENCE about Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ “A Just Society” legislative package; she adds this and other findings from our report, 100 Million and Counting: A Portrait of Economic Insecurity in the United States, to argue for additional ambitious policies to address inequality at the state and local level.

        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Updates

        In the coming weeks, our team will be updating all of our data and technology infrastructure to make the Atlas an even more powerful tool for local action. What should we focus on to make it work better for you? Please take a moment to inform the future of the Atlas by filling out this short (4 question) survey.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        When you sign up for our email list (below right), you will receive updates about new Atlas content, events, and examples of equity data in action. 
         
        Dear Bay Area Equity Atlas Users:
         
        Happy July and welcome to our first monthly update! It has been a terrific first month for the Atlas. Since our June 4th launch, more than 3,000 people have visited the site and we are beginning to hear stories about how people are using Atlas data to inform their work to advance equity. Here is a roundup of our forthcoming events and latest activities.
         
        Upcoming Webinar: Using Bay Area Equity Atlas Data to Prevent Displacement and Protect Renters
        Data on how the housing crisis is affecting renters is a key ingredient in winning the strong tenant protections needed to stabilize renters and halt displacement. On July 23rd, from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. PST, join the Atlas team and tenant advocates working in Concord, Hayward, Oakland, and San José to learn about how these local leaders are using Atlas data in their organizing and policy campaigns and what renter data you can find on the Atlas. Register here.
         
        New Analysis: Bay Area Diversity Not Reflected Among Top Elected Leaders
        The Bay Area is one of the most diverse regions in the country, but our analysis of the unique diversity of electeds dataset in the Atlas reveals that Whites (especially men) were overrepresented among elected officials while Latinx and Asian or Pacific Islanders were underrepresented. As of May 2018, 74 percent of top elected officials were White, while 40 percent of the population is White, and only 19 percent of electeds were Latinx or API, although those two groups represent half of the population. Read more.

        Data Storytelling: New Partnership with Bay City News 
        Helping journalists incorporate a strong equity analysis into their reporting through the use of disaggregated data is one of the Atlas team’s goals, so we are thrilled about our new partnership with Bay City News Service and sister LocalNewsMatters.org website to produce a series of 10 stories drawing on Atlas data. Check out the first two stories: Equity Ripples: Concord Feels the Weight of Bay Area Housing Crisis and Communities of Color Shifting to Suburbs, and follow #BayAreaEquityAtlas for upcoming stories.

        Spreading the Equity Data
        Our team was happy to conduct a training for the Northern California Grantmakers’ Racial Equity Action Institute cohort of leaders in business, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy. We also presented to the Power of 9 Committee and the Contra Costa Budget Justice Coalition workshop in Antioch. Interested in hosting a presentation or training? Drop us a line at info@bayareaequityatlas.org.
         
        Atlas In the News
        The launch of the Bay Area Equity Atlas was covered by SFGate, CBS San Francisco, Napa Valley Register and SF Bay. It’s mission, background, and features were also highlighted by Philanthropy News Digest.
         
        Thank you!
         
        The Bay Equity Atlas team

        National Equity Atlas: July Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Greetings from the National Equity Atlas team! This month we are excited to release the first of five data projects we are working on in partnership with community coalitions in New Mexico and Mississippi, with support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Stay tuned for more releases in the coming months.
         
        New Fact Sheets Support Economic Justice Policy Campaigns in New Mexico
        With the third-highest level of working poverty in the country, many New Mexican families are already struggling to make ends meet, and predatory financial services further strip their wealth and exacerbate financial insecurity. The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty is working to protect low-income communities from predatory lenders and tax preparation services. To support their policy campaigns, the Atlas team produced two fact sheets: one highlighting the impact of predatory lenders on Native American communities, and one describing how expensive tax preparation services cost New Mexican families up to $54 million in 2015. Download the fact sheets here.

        Webinars: Data for Inclusive Entrepreneurship and Tenant Protections
        Last month, the Atlas team hosted two webinars: Local Data and Strategy for Equitable Entrepreneurship, which took a look at our new entrepreneurship indicators and the strategies that support equitable entrepreneurship, and Using Bay Area Equity Atlas Data to Prevent Displacement and Protect Renters, where tenant advocates working in Concord, Hayward, Oakland, and San Jose presented about how data fits into their organizing and policy campaigns. Both are archived on the PolicyLink YouTube page.
         
        In the News
        Last month, the St. Pete Catalyst released an interview with Tim Dutton, executive director of Unite Pinellas, about the findings of “An Equity Profile of Pinellas County” and the systemic issues they are planning to address as a result. Data from the Bay Area Equity Atlas informed reporting in articles about: communities of color moving to the suburbs in SF Bay, the housing crisis in Concord in Claycord News & Talk, the lack of affordable housing in Oakland in California Patch, and the lack of diversity of elected officials in the region in SF Gate
         
        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Among the 10 Most Populous Cities, African Americans Remain Underrepresented in Business Ownership

         
        Examining data on business diversity and growth for 2007 and 2012, we find large Black/White gaps in business ownership across all the 10 largest cities and declining revenues and wages for Black-owned businesses in most of the cities. San Antonio stands out for having positive performance among Black-owned businesses across all indicators.
         

        Removing barriers that prevent people of color from starting and growing successful businesses is a crucial inclusive growth strategy. Entrepreneurship is an important pathway for building wealth and addressing the racial wealth gap, as well as for providing self-employment and income. Entrepreneurs of color also play a major role in creating employment opportunities: research shows that entrepreneurs of color are more likely to hire people of color and locate their firms in communities of color.

        While businesses owned by people of color today make up a significant and growing share of businesses in cities across the country, entrepreneurs of color remain underrepresented in business ownership – particularly among high-revenue firms and firms with paid employees. Historic and present-day racial discrimination has contributed to racial inequities in business ownership and growth. The racial wealth gap makes it more difficult for people of color to start a business in the first place, and lack of access to capital adds to the challenge.

        To help communities understand how they are doing on racial equity in entrepreneurship, the National Equity Atlas now includes four new indicators of entrepreneurship. These indicators are based on data  from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners, a twice-a-decade survey designed to paint a picture of all firms — incorporated or not, with and without paid employees — with annual receipts of $1,000 or more by race, ethnicity, and gender. This survey represents the only data source with sufficient sample sizes to examine race and gender equity in entrepreneurship for all the geographies available in the Atlas, including the largest 100 cities. The latest data on the Atlas is from 2012 – after which point the survey was discontinued and is soon to be replaced by the Annual Business Survey.

        Using this data, we examined the representativeness and growth rates of Black-owned businesses in the nation’s 10 largest cities (based on 2010 population) from 2007 to 2012. We focused on cities because many policies that foster entrepreneurship, from tax incentives to small business loan programs operate at the city level. We examined how the largest 10 cities measure up when it comes to measures of growth and success for Black-owned business. We focused only on firms with paid employees due to their greater economic impact on local economies.

        Uneven Growth in Black-Owned Firms and Labor Force

        Nationally, the average growth rate for black-owned businesses with employees across the top 100 most populous cities was 19 percent. Across the top 10 cities, growth rates ranged from an increase of 18 percent in San Antonio to a decrease of 31 percent in New York City. Phoenix and Houston also had high growth in Black-owned businesses, while San Diego saw a decline of 19 percent.

        Comparing the growth of Black-owned firms with the growth of the Black labor force (a proxy for potential business owners), we see that the two cities with the most firm growth also had the greatest labor force growth; San Antonio and Phoenix experienced growth rates upwards of 10 percent in both Black-owned firms and in the size of Black labor force. In Houston, however, there was strong growth in firms but minimal growth in the Black labor force, indicating a rise in the rate of business ownership. On the other end of the spectrum, New York and San Diego saw rapid declines in the number of Black-owned firms alongside growth in the labor force, suggesting a decline in the rate of business ownership. Overall, the relationship between the two measures is weak, suggesting that growth in Black-owned firms is not simply a function of growth in potential business owners.

        Black/White Differences in Business Ownership

        To compare rates of Black and White entrepreneurship across cities, we can look at the number of firms per 1,000 people in the labor force. Examining the 10 largest cities, there is variation in the rates of entrepreneurship in general — that is, rates for both the Black and White populations are relatively higher in Los Angeles and Houston, and relatively lower in Philadelphia and Chicago – but also the rates for the White population are substantially higher than those for the Black population. Los Angeles is the city with the highest number of Black-owned firms with paid employees per 1,000 in the civilian labor force but it also has the largest Black/White entrepreneurship gap at 70 points — meaning that there are 70 more business owners per 1,000 people in the labor force among the White population. This racial gap appears to be driven by the level of White entrepreneurship — influenced by the fact that often White entrepreneurs have more generational wealth and easier access to the financial capital needed to start a business. Philadelphia has the lowest rates of entrepreneurship for both the White and Black populations, along with the smallest entrepreneurship gap of 36 points.

        Declining Revenues for Black-owned Firms

        Our most populous cities had mixed success in terms of revenue growth for Black-owned firms, but they declined in eight of the largest 10 cities between 2007 and 2012. The only two cities that saw increases in (inflation-adjusted) revenues per firm for Black-owned firms with paid employees were San Antonio at 26.7 percent (an average increase of about $140,000 per firm) and Phoenix at 1.5 percent (an average increase of about $12,000 per firm). Austin and Philadelphia saw the largest declines in revenues at 41.0 percent and 24.7 percent.

        Diverging Growth in Employee Pay Among Black-owned Firms

        Another important measure of understanding how well Black-owned businesses are doing is whether they are able to increase pay for their workers over time. This is particularly important given that employee pay among Black-owned firms is generally much lower than in other firms, and because Black-owned firms are more likely to hire Black workers, the ability to increase pay can have a positive impact on the racial earnings gap. For a sense of how far behind Black-owned firms are in the wages they are able to provide, the Survey of Business Owners reports average pay per employee for the United States in 2012 of about $37,400 and the average pay per employee for Black-owned firms of only about $28,400.

        Looking at inflation-adjusted annual pay per employee for Black-owned firms between 2007 and 2012, we see that annual pay per employee for Black-owned firms only grew in three of the largest 10 cities — San Antonio (32.9 percent ), New York (17.5 percent), and San Diego (13.2 percent). In contrast, Black-owned businesses saw the greatest declines in annual pay per employee in Philadelphia (-16.1 percent), Phoenix (-14.3 percent), Dallas (-13.5 percent), and Chicago (-13.0 percent).

        In addition to per employee pay, San Antonio also scored well on other metrics including experiencing the greatest growth in annual sales for Black-owned firms, one of the lowest White/Black Entrepreneurship gaps, and among the largest increases in the number of Black-owned firms and the size of the Black labor force. This diverged from New York and San Diego where annual pay per employee grew despite declines in the labor force. New York was a particularly interesting case because wages grew even while the city had the seventh highest Black/White entrepreneurship gap.

        A Need for Equitable Entrepreneurship Strategies

        Across the 10 largest cities, there were large racial gaps in Black and White business ownership everywhere, but some cities did show better performance than others. San Antonio showed consistent positive signs for Black-owned businesses on all measures examined: growth in firms, revenues per firm, employee pay, and Black/White gap in entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, New York showed consistent negative signs with the greatest decline in the number of firms, declining revenues per firm, and one of the largest Black/White entrepreneurship gaps.

        Certain factors that are associated with increased success in entrepreneurship include wealth, access to capital, and formal and experience-based human capital, which can consist of formal education or experience running family-owned business. Policies and programs that address any of these barriers should help to increase the number of Black business owners and support their long-term success. Finally, incentive programs that lower financial barriers to entry for Black entrepreneurs could help foster business ownership.

        To access data on entrepreneurship for your city, region, or state; and to learn more about policies to expand business ownership for entrepreneurs of color, see the four new indicators available in the Atlas: Firm Diversity, Revenues, Business growth, and Revenue growth.

        Employment Equity A Key Theme at Atlanta’s Just Opportunity Summit

        June 21, 2019: Just Opportunity Summit morning panel on leveraging and mitigating public incentives for economic inclusion. Credit: Kelly Jordan

        If there were employment equity "More people with jobs will have enough money to spend in their communities, moving everyone up the socio-economic ladder" writes Nathaniel Smith, Founder and Chief Equity Officer of the Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE) in The Atlanta Voice. "The opportunities are going to those who have access to them — and that's disproportionately not the members of communities of color."

        Referencing the report published by the National Equity Atlas in partnership with PSE, Smith states that "the Just Opportunity Summit is grounded in the belief of equity and hard data. According to the Employment Equity Report, 'achieving true 'full employment' across all racial and gender groups — bringing 384,000 more workers into employment — would add $2.4 billion in new state and local tax revenue annually'. The hypothesis is that the more people with jobs will have enough money to spend in their communities, moving everyone up the socio-economic ladder. The Just Opportunity Summit is aimed at making this into a reality, not just for Georgia, but throughout the American South." The same report also states that employment equity would lead to almost 115,000 fewer residents living in poverty; and more than $2.4 billion in additional tax revenue. 

        Racial equity in employment, economic mobility, and wealth were key themes of the inaugural Just Opportunity Summit held June 20-21 at Morehouse College hosted by PSE and the Just Opportunity Circle. Partnership for Southern Equity is a nonprofit advocacy organization that advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South, and the Just Opportunity Circle represents an organized group of key regional economic development leaders from the private, nonprofit, and government sectors. The Summit included workshops and panel discussions on topics such as closing the racial wealth gap, leveraging public incentives for economic inclusion, and expanding access to capital for entrepreneurs of color.

        Click here to learn more about the Just Opportunity Summit, or here to see photos and recordings from the event.  

        National Equity Atlas Update

         

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy Summer! Early in June, we were thrilled to launch the Bay Area Equity Atlas as a new local and data policy tool. Join us for a webinar next month to explore its housing indicators and how the data can be used to prevent displacement and protect renters. This month, the National Equity Atlas team added new entrepreneurship indicators, which we will be exploring in a webinar on Thursday. We hope you will join us!
         
        Join Us for the Launch of Equitable Entrepreneurship Indicators
        Businesses owned by people of color make up a significant and growing share of companies in cities across the country, yet the racial wealth gap and lack of access to capital stifle entrepreneurs of color and communities lose out on the jobs, services, and financial security that come with business development and growth. To equip communities with data on entrepreneurship, we are adding four indicators of business growth and diversity to the Atlas based on the Census Bureau’s 2007 and 2012 Survey of Business Owners. Join our webinar on Thursday, June 27 to learn about these indicators and hear from Gary Cunningham, president-elect of Prosperity Now, and janera solomon, executive director of Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, about local strategies to foster equitable entrepreneurship. Register here.
         
        Advancing Racial and Economic Equity at Atlanta’s Just Opportunity Summit
        Racial equity in employment, economic mobility, and wealth were key themes of the inaugural Just Opportunity Summit held June 20-21 at Morehouse College in Atlanta hosted by the Partnership for Southern Equity and the Just Opportunity Circle. Last year, we released Employment Equity: Putting Georgia on the Path to Inclusive Prosperity with Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE) and Nathaniel Smith, the organization’s founder and chief equity officer, remarked that “the Summit is grounded in the belief of equity and hard data.” Read more in our Data in Action post here.

        Using Bay Area Equity Atlas Data to Prevent Displacement and Protect Renters
        The housing crisis is a key equity challenge in the Bay Area, and to support communities in protecting renters from rising rents and displacement, Bay Area Equity Atlas includes indicators such as market rent, rent burden, gentrification risk, and the potential economic gains of eliminating rent burden. Join us for a webinar on July 23 to learn about these indicators and hear from community groups working on tenant protections campaigns in Concord, Hayward, Oakland, and San Jose. Register here.
         
        In the News
        The launch of the Bay Area Equity Atlas was covered by SFGate, CBS San Francisco, Napa Valley Register and SF Bay. It’s mission, background, and features were also highlighted by Philanthropy News Digest.
         
         
        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Bay Area Equity Atlas today! This new local data and policy tool includes several new and upgraded features we will be transferring to the National Equity Atlas later this year. Join tomorrow’s webinar to take a tour of the Atlas and see a preview of what is to come. We are also excited to share new data on entrepreneurship with you on our webinar June 27th.

        Introducing the Bay Area Equity Atlas
        Produced in partnership with the San Francisco Foundation, the Bay Area Equity Atlas brings the power of the National Equity Atlas down to the local level. This new community data resource provides 21 equity metrics disaggregated by race, gender, and income and tracking change over time for 272 geographies across the Bay Area region, including 220 cities and Census Designated Places. Fourteen are new indicators that are not included in the Atlas, including voting, diversity of electeds, and police use of force. Read the team’s welcome blog post about how this tool helps to democratize power, then learn about five essential features that makes the Bay Area Equity Atlas a next-generation community data tool. There’s also still time to sign up for tomorrow’s webinar.

        Join Us for the Launch of Entrepreneurship Indicators
        Businesses owned by people of color make up a significant and growing share of companies in cities across the country, yet the racial wealth gap and lack of access to capital stifle entrepreneurs of color and communities lose out on the jobs, services, and financial security that come with business development and growth. To equip communities with data on entrepreneurship, we are adding four indicators of business growth and diversity to the Atlas based on the Census Bureau’s 2007 and 2012 Survey of Business Owners. Join us on this webinar to learn about these indicators and hear from Gary Cunningham, president-elect of Prosperity Now, about strategies that support work to foster equitable entrepreneurship.

        In the News
        In early May, Tampa Bay Newspapers highlighted the findings from An Equity Profile of Pinellas County. Later in the month, Streetsblog USA covered a Salud America! report that used Atlas data to detail transportation equity challenges in Latinx communities. This nola.com article also focuses on transportation equity, but uses Atlas data about housing burden to make the case for housing and infrastructure investments to ease the burden.

        On the Road
        The Atlas team had a busy month presenting our data and insights at the Rise Together Opportunity Summit in San Jose; the GEO Conference in Seattle; the Madison Region Economic Development & Diversity Summit in Madison, Wisconsin; and the National Academies’ Committee Informing the Development of Healthy People 2030.


        Thank you for your interest in our work.

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy Spring! Our team is excited to see our data informing comprehensive equity strategies in Pinellas County, FL and water equity efforts in Buffalo, NY. And we are hard at work getting ready to launch the Bay Area Equity Atlas!
         
        Pinella County Equity Profile Release
        This month, in partnership with UNITE Pinellas, our team released a new equity profile and summary of Pinellas County, FL. The release event drew over 400 people, ranging from high school students to community and organizational leaders eager to understand the data and take action. Anand Subramanian of PolicyLink presented the keynote and moderated a panel with representatives from the City of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County Commission, A New Deal for St. Pete, and the St. Petersburg Police Department. The report serves as a launching point for UNITE Pinellas and the members of its collaborative to orient their policy, systems, and narrative change strategies moving forward. The release event was covered in the St. Pete Catalyst and the Tampa Bay Times.
         
        Buffalo’s Equitable Water Future
        Earlier this month, the US Water Alliance and Buffalo’s Water Equity Task Force released “An Equitable Water Future: Buffalo,” a first-ever report on the connections between water management and equity in the city. The report uses Atlas data to make the connection between disparities in wealth and housing, and how those factors affect water systems. It argues that making water systems more equitable means ensuring that all people have access to safe, affordable water, and benefit from high-quality infrastructure and public amenities like waterfront parks.
         
        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Greetings from the National Equity Atlas team! This month, we released a new equity profile for Orange County, California. And we were thrilled to see our data on wage disparities used to power policy advocacy in Cincinnati!
         
        Orange County Equity Report Release
        On March 26, about 300 people gathered at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana for the release event for An Equity Profile of Orange County, completed in partnership with Orange County Grantmakers. The presentation of data revealing stark inequities within the wealthy county made many participants uncomfortable — and ready to take action. Reacting to the presentation of the data by Dr. Manuel Pastor, Rosie Perez of Mission Integration at Providence St. Joseph Hospital said “I am motivated by the findings. I think it can bring all of us together to work toward equity.”

        Cincinnati Leverages Equity Data to Win New Wage Equity Policy
        On March 13, Cincinnati City Council barred employers from asking applicants about their salary history in an attempt to reduce wage disparities between men and women in the region. This was the direct result of advocacy by the Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s Women’s Fund, using data from our equity profile along with coalition building support from the PolicyLink All-In Cities initiative. The Cincinnati Business Courier and CityBeat covered the passing of the new ordinance.

        Omaha Equitable Growth Profile Wins Planning Award
        Our partners at the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency and the Heartland 2050 initiative received an award from the Nebraska chapter of the American Planning Association for their work using the Equitable Growth Profile of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Region to drive equity planning in the region. Since the profile was released in July, local leaders have used the data to inform multiple planning efforts spanning health, housing, transportation, and leadership development, including the United Way of the Midland’s Community Food Plan, the Douglas County Community Health Improvement Plan, and the City of Omaha’s Transit Oriented Development Initiative.

        Join Our Team: PolicyLink is Hiring a Director for Our Equity Data Team
        Love the Atlas? Come work with us! PolicyLink is seeking a director to lead our growing portfolio of work that leverages data to advance racial and economic equity. The director will have principal responsibility for the day-to-day management of the National Equity Atlas and the forthcoming Bay Area Equity Atlas and lead the development of other high-impact quantitative and mixed-methods analyses and data tools. Find the job description and instructions on how to apply here.

        In the News
        The Los Angeles Times used Atlas data on the housing burdens faced by minimum wage workers in Oakland in an article about the Athletics baseball team building housing units alongside their new stadium.

        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Greetings from the National Equity Atlas team! This month, we released a new equity profile for the city of Long Beach. We are also happy to see our research on Sacramento and Long Island being used to advance equitable growth policies in those communities.
         
        Long Beach Equity Report Release
        On February 5, the National Equity Atlas team, in partnership with Citi Community Development, the Long Beach Office of Equity, and Councilmember Rex Richardson’s Office, released an Equitable Growth Profile of the City of Long Beach at Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus. One hundred participants attended the event, including residents, nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, city officials, and staff. Dr. Manuel Pastor gave the keynote address, highlighting the benefits of racial economic inclusion and the importance of using data not only disaggregated by race/ethnicity, but also by immigrant status and ancestry to advance equity and shift policy. “These aren’t crazy things,” said Brian Addison in an article about the report’s policy recommendations in the Long Beach Post. “They’re doable. They’re respectable. And if we want to keep Long Beach, well, Long Beach, we have to actually start implementing them.”
         
        Join Our Team: PolicyLink is Hiring a Director for Our Equity Data Team
        Love the Atlas? Come work with us! PolicyLink is seeking a director to lead our growing portfolio of work that leverages data to advance racial and economic equity. The director will have principal responsibility for the day-to-day management of the National Equity Atlas and the forthcoming Bay Area Equity Atlas and lead the development of other high-impact quantitative and mixed-methods analyses and data tools. Find the job description and instructions on how to apply here.

        California Data Sources
        The Atlas was included in a crowdsourced compilation of data sources advocates turn to when they need publicly available data about California. Originally created for the communities participating in the California Accountable Communities for Health Initiative, Hillcrest Advisory currently maintains the regularly updated catalog.
         
        In the News
        Atlas data was used in the first of six longform reports by Hawaii Business magazine about families struggling to get by in the state. Sacramento News & Review provided coverage on a white paper released by the Sacramento Housing Alliance that included Atlas data on local rent increases. Our fact sheet on rent burdens in Chicago was cited in an In These Times cover article on grassroots organizing in the city. Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman released a report on Black economic equity in the Long Island, NY county, which references a National Equity Atlas report from 2017. Newsday and The Island Now wrote about the report and its release event.
         
        Thank you for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update: Year in Review

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy Holidays from the National Equity Atlas team! We are thankful for another fruitful year of collaborations with local coalitions and community leaders on data projects that empower collective action, undergird advocacy, and inform policies to advance racial equity and inclusive prosperity. Here are some highlights from the past year:

        Employment Equity in Southern States

        In partnership with collaboratives and organizations in each state, we released a series of five briefs that lay out policy roadmaps for Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Louisiana. These briefs were all based on data analyses and modeling of a “full-employment economy,” defined as when everyone who wants a job can find one, as well as focus groups with workers seeking good jobs These reports are undergirding the employment equity work of our partners, Partnership for Southern Equity, Alabama Asset-Building Coalition, Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, Rural Forward NC, the NC Budget & Tax Center, and the Louisiana Power Coalition for Equity and Justice.

        New Equity Profiles

        Continuing our work to inform equitable growth strategies locally, we developed equity profiles for Sacramento, Albuquerque, Cincinnati, and Omaha. As always, each profile was produced in partnership with local leaders who are using the data in their collective action efforts. In Albuquerque, the profile data will serve as a guide for the city’s Office of Equity and Inclusion as they develop their action agenda. In Cincinnati, the profile is informing the All-In Cincinnati coalition which is focusing on increasing housing affordability and stability for Black women in the city.

        Other Reports and Publications

        In April, we released Solving the Housing Crisis Is Key to Inclusive Prosperity in the Bay Area, produced in partnership with The San Francisco Foundation. Analyzing Zillow data on median rents, we found that two minimum-wage workers earning $15/hour can find affordable rentals in just 5 percent of the Bay Area’s 1,500 census tracts. Last month, in partnership with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we released 100 Million and Counting: A Portrait of Economic Insecurity in the United States, which sheds new light on the 106 million Americans — nearly a third of the nation — who are living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Register here for an upcoming webinar on the report and its findings taking place on Monday, January 14, 12:00 - 1:00 pm PT / 3:00 - 4:00 pm ET.

        Data in Action/Atlas in the News

        Our team has also shared several blog posts adding equity data to the national dialogue about inclusive economies; those posts and our monthly email updates are archived here. And throughout the year, Atlas data and reports have also been covered by various local and national media outlets and articles, radio interviews, and more are available here.

        Thank you once more for your interest in our work!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Atlas Air Pollution Data Used in Sustainable Development Index

         

        “Sustainable development is the enigmatic challenge of our time,” writes Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in the report Sustainable Development Report of the United States 2018 written in partnership with SDG USA. “Our global economy has created great wealth and technological wonders, but it has also created societies that are deeply divided between the haves and the have-nots, and economies that are destroying the natural environment and threatening humanity even as they spur economic growth.”

        SDG USA is a think tank dedicated to researching and working towards sustainable development in the United States. This report is the first of an annual index which ranks the 50 states on progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

        There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals used as the baseline for the state ranking system, including ensuring clean water and sanitation for all, building resilient infrastructure, and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. The report compiles the data from many sources, including the National Equity Atlas. Our data on unequal burden of air pollution was used for their Pollution Burden indicator as a measure of progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced inequalities. This indicator measures the difference between people of color’s population share and people of color’s exposure to cancer-causing pollutants. In 2015, New York State ranked highest in this pollution burden, while Montana ranked the lowest.

        Read the report here. You can also explore and download the data on their interactive webpage.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Greetings from the National Equity Atlas team! We are busy at work crunching data for forthcoming analyses and tools that we will be rolled out in the next couple of months. In the meantime, we are happy to share news about our most recent equity profile release in Cincinnati.

        Advancing Health Equity and Inclusive Growth in Cincinnati

        On October 19, over 200 people gathered at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center for the release event for the new equity profile; its accompanying policy brief, All-In Cincinnati: Equity is the Path to Inclusive Prosperity; and one-page fact sheet which were written in partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and Interact for Health.

        PolicyLink President and CEO Michael McAfee gave a keynote speech about how the city is poised to lead the nation on equity, and Senior Associate James Crowder presented data findings and potential policy solutions to the audience. These data and accompanying policy recommendations will help to inform the work of the All-In Cincinnati coalition. That coalition is using the PolicyLink All-In Cities policy framework as they move towards policy and systems change.

        Local news station WCPO Cincinnati covered the report in a TV segment and accompanying article that highlight key data points that have informed the coalition to work towards removing barriers for women of color to participate more fully in, and benefit from the region's economy. Reporter Lucy May writes, "All-In Cincinnati's policy recommendations aim to help black women, who often feel the region's racial and economic inequities most acutely." Nick Swartsell from CityBeat also wrote about the release, lifting up, "the cascading effect economic and racial inequality have on Hamilton County residents."

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy fall! This month, the Atlas team hit the road, with presentations and equity profile community engagements from Orange County, California to Pinellas County, Florida and many more stops in between. In all of the places we are working, we are impressed by our community partners who are bringing together diverse leaders to effect policy changes to reduce racial and economic inequities.

        #EquityData at Mile High Data Day

        On September 20, about 180 Coloradan community leaders gathered for the third annual Mile High Data Day, held by Shift Research Lab, to gain new ideas, insights, and connections for using data to power their community change efforts. Sarah Treuhaft, managing director at PolicyLink, gave the keynote address, lifting up how the Equity Atlas team weaves story, data, and community partnerships together to drive equitable growth policy changes and sharing the Denver Renter Fact Sheet created in partnership with the Right to the City Alliance. At the conference, we were happy to learn that the Colorado Office of Health Equity used our data in its new Equity Action Guide.

        Equity Profiles Underway for Long Beach, Orange County, and Pinellas County

        We are busy gathering data and speaking with community leaders about key equitable growth challenges and opportunities in three very different coastal communities: the port city of Long Beach, California, located in Los Angeles County; Orange County, just to the east of Long Beach; and Pinellas County, Florida, home to St. Petersburg and Clearwater. The Long Beach profile will be released later this year with the others scheduled for release in early 2019.

        Milwaukee Renter Data In Action

        In July, the YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin requested a renter fact sheet to support its economic opportunity work. The data revealed that Milwaukee renters already spend $2.8 billion to the local economy every year, but could contribute an additional $352 million per year if six in 10 renters were not rent burdened. The YWCA has been using the data to make the case that better job opportunities and wage increases for disenfranchised communities of color would have broad benefits for the city, to push for quality homeownership opportunities for renters, and to counter the myth that renters are not concerned about their neighborhoods and do not contribute to the Milwaukee economy.

        Atlas Team on the Road

        The theme of this year's Community Indicators Consortium conference, held in Minneapolis, was "Community Indicators in Action" and we were happy to host a workshop on leveraging data and narrative to advance equity locally at the event. Sarah Treuhaft also delivered the Impact Award to the MAP Dashboard Project in Southern Arizona, whose data on teacher wages helped Tucson for Teachers win higher teacher pay as a part of the #RedforEd movement. This month, our team is looking forward to the EARN Conference in Chicago and the National Neighborhood Indicators meeting in Los Angeles.

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Greetings! As we move into fall, our team is expanding. We are happy to welcome Joanna Lee and Arpita Sharma to PERE, and are also excited for Huibin (Amee) Chew to join PolicyLink as an American Council of Learned Societies Equitable Economy Fellow, beginning September 4.
         

        New Community Data Projects
        Over the next year and a half, the National Equity Atlas team will be working with five community organizations and coalitions in New Mexico and Mississippi on data projects to advance equitable growth locally. The partners and their projects include: the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty (predatory storefront lending), the New Mexico Worker Organizing Collaborative (wage theft), Doña Ana Communities United (equity policies in Las Cruces), San Juan College (equitable economic development in Farmington), and East Biloxi Community Collaborative (equitable opportunity zones). We are grateful to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for supporting this project and excited to get started!

        Join Us at the 2018 CIC Impact Summit in Minneapolis!
        From September 17-19, the Community Indicators Consortium (CIC) will host its annual impact summit in Minneapolis, with the theme of "Community Indicators in Action." One of our longtime collaborators, Dr. Chris Benner of the University of California, Santa Cruz, will deliver the keynote, and Sarah Treuhaft will lead a workshop on leveraging data and narrative to advance equity locally on September 19. Register here.

        Seeking a Communications Strategist in Oakland
        Are you a communications expert passionate about racial and economic equity and empowering community changemakers with data? PolicyLink is looking for a part-time strategist in our Oakland office to implement our communications and outreach strategy for the National Equity Atlas and the forthcoming Bay Area Equity Atlas. Apply here.

        In the News
        Kevin Alin and Peter Truog of The Fund for Our Economic Future cited our data estimating that Cleveland's regional economy could be $15 billion stronger each year with racial equity in income in their blog post encouraging cities to advance racial equity through their opportunity zone investments.

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas: July Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Greetings! July has been a month for making progress on a number of exciting projects we will roll out in the fall and winter. We are thrilled to welcome our newest team member, Michelle Huang, who has joined PolicyLink in our Oakland office. We also wish our teammate Ángel Ross well as they begin a doctorate program in sociology at UC Berkeley!
         

        Seeking a Communications Strategist
        Are you a communications expert passionate about racial and economic equity and empowering community changemakers with data? PolicyLink is looking for a part-time strategist in our Oakland office to implement our communications and outreach strategy for the National Equity Atlas and the forthcoming Bay Area Equity Atlas. Apply here.

        Advancing the Conversation on Employment Equity
        James Crowder recently participated in a radio interview with NC Policy Watch to describe the findings and recommendations of our report, "Advancing Employment Equity in Rural North Carolina." And he and Sarah Treuhaft penned an op-ed for the News & Observer lifting up the challenges posed by the proliferation of temporary employment in the state’s rural areas.

        Charts of the Week: #EquityABQ and Health Equity in Michigan
        Following up on the Equity Profile of Albuquerque released last month, summer intern Maryjane Bermudez took a closer look at the gender wage gap in the Albuquerque metro, where just 45 percent of Native American women earn at least $15 per hour compared with 56 percent of Native American men and 80 percent of White men. Last week, Maryjane explored how the expansion of Michigan’s 10 cents a meal program could advance health equity.

        Better Data for Better Health
        We are honored to be among several tools featured in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's on its “Better Data for Better Health” web collection, which is also summarized in this handy brief. Check it out to explore other data tools for health equity!


        In the News
        As a part of the Bay Area Equity Atlas project, the Atlas team provided data to EBASE to incorporate into its report about the growing housing crisis in Concord, California. The data revealed how the majority of Concord renters have annual incomes below $50,000 yet in the vast majority of Concord neighborhoods, renters need an income of at least $75,000 to find affordable housing. Our data was included in articles about the report printed in the San Francisco Chronicle and The Mercury News.


        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: Michigan’s 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farmers Program Promises to Boost Health Equity

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about inclusive economies, the National Equity Atlas team regularly shares charts produced with data from the Atlas related to current events and issues. Join the conversation on social media using #equitydata.

        Last month, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a bill that expands the 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program. The program, which began in 2016 and is endorsed by the Michigan Good Food Charter and supplements the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, provides participating school districts with up to 10 cents in match funding per meal to purchase and serve locally produced fruits, vegetables, and legumes. A 2016-2017 report on the program’s pilot found that it promoted both health and gave a boost the local economy: over $100,000 was spent on local produce from farms while school meals incorporated a wider range of fruits and vegetables. By the second year, the program introduced 95,000 students to 65 different types of healthy food options. 

        This week’s chart illustrates how the expansion of the 10 cents program will advance health equity by supporting the state’s youth and farmers, regardless of race or income. Initially serving Northwestern Michigan, the program expansion covers counties in the Southeastern region, including the cities of Flint, where 67 percent of youth of color are living under 150 percent of the poverty level, and Battle Creek, where Black, Latinx, and Mixed children are almost twice as likely as White children to live in poverty. The pilot program operated in Regions 2, 4, and 9 where the percentage of people of color is as low as five percent in Waxford County. The expansion will include Regions 6 and 8 where it will have the potential to serve more low-income, students of color. Importantly, the program does not include Wayne County (home to Detroit), where the population is over 50 percent people of color.

        Studies show that when students are offered a healthier school lunch, they begin to adopt healthier eating behaviors. Children who are exposed to fresh produce early in life are likely to continue healthy eating patterns into adulthood and access to fruits and vegetables is a major component of preventing chronic health conditions like obesity.

        The expansion of the program is one of many necessary solutions to ensure that all state residents can live a healthy life, regardless of racial identity or income. Across the country, advocates and organizations are seeking and developing strategies to ensure that students have access to local, healthy foods in and out of the classroom.  Michigan ranks 16th in percent of adults who are overweight or obese, and people of color are more likely to be obese compared to their white counterparts. Expansion into Southeastern Michigan will reach more youth of color and is an intervention to lower future rates of adulthood obesity. Addressing and eliminating the persistent health disparities among racial groups would further racial and ultimately economic equity.

        To see how race is distributed by county in your state, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your state. Download and share your map on social media using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Closing the Gender Wage Gap in Albuquerque Using an Equity Lens #EquityABQ

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about inclusive economies, the National Equity Atlas team regularly shares charts produced with data from the Atlas related to current events and issues. Join the conversation on social media using #equitydata.

        Last month, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and New Mexico Voices for Children, we released an equitable growth profile of Albuquerque showing that the region’s GDP would increase by almost $11 billion if there were no racial disparities in income. The profile will serve as a guiding document for the city’s restructured Office of Equity and Inclusion, which has revitalized the city’s commitment to racial and economic equity through actionable goals that address the issues head on.  Albuquerque’s Pay Equity Initiative, for example, requires businesses interested in contracting with the City to report their pay scales by gender and job category, with preference given to businesses whose pay scales are more equitable. The policy addresses one aspect of the gender pay gap by contracting with entities that ensure employees, regardless of gender identity, are paid equally.

        This week’s chart highlights the gender wage gap in the Albuquerque metropolitan region by exploring the share of workers, disaggregated by race and gender, who earn at least $15/hour. To fully address the gender pay gap, it is imperative to acknowledge the racial inequities that exist across gender. One important caveat to this analysis: the Atlas datasets are drawn from national surveys like the American Community Survey, which only offers two gender options — female and male — effectively excluding the experiences of people who do not identify within the gender binary.

        Among all racial groups, men are more likely than women to earn at least $15/hour. Among women, three quarters of White women earn at least $15/hour yet only 56 percent of Latinx women and less than half of Native American women reach the $15/hour threshold. White women still earn more than people of color, regardless of gender identity. Overall, White men are 1.5 times more likely to earn $15/hour compared to women of color. This phenomenon is not limited to the Albuquerque metropolitan region. In the United States, 56 percent of women of color earn $15/hour, compared to 80 percent of White men.

        Latinx and Native American people make up over half of the population in the Albuquerque metropolitan region and experience the highest rates of poverty. To afford basic necessities in Albuquerque, a single adult with one child would need to make at least $25/hour. An hourly wage of less than $15 keeps individuals and families economically insecure, and families of color are more at risk. Economic insecurity can lead to worse health outcomes and stunts an entire region’s economic growth, as illustrated by the recent equity profile. Another report found that if women received equal pay, the United States’ GDP would increase by $513 billion. To further extend pay equity, Albuquerque can look to the city of Philadelphia who extends its equitable contracting policies to focus on businesses owned by people of color and people with disabilities, in addition to women.

        To see how the gender pay gap varies in your community in addition to solutions and strategies, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city, state, or metropolitan region. Download and share the chart on social media using #equitydata.

        National Equity Atlas: June Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        Happy summer! June was a busy month for our team with new reports released with partners in Omaha, Albuquerque, and North Carolina. And we were thrilled to see our data on the potential economic benefits gained by eliminating the rent burden used to power advocacy in New Orleans and Louisiana!

        Equity Atlas Renter Data Helps Secure Policy Wins in Louisiana
        Timely, local data can strengthen advocacy, as we saw last month when the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA) used our “When Renters Rise, Cities Thrive” fact sheets to help secure two policy wins. GNOHA used the New Orleans data to advocate in support of a temporary ban on short-term rentals to halt the loss of affordable homes. And they used the Louisiana data to advocate against a state preemption bill that would have banned local governments from adopting inclusionary zoning policies. Gambit Weekly and Biz New Orleans wrote about the new data. Read more here and contact us if you would like a similar fact sheet for your city or state.

        Equity in the Heartland: Updated Omaha Equity Profile
        On June 6, the National Equity Atlas team, in partnership with Heartland 2050, released an updated equitable growth profile of the Omaha-Council Bluffs region at “Everyone Prospers: The Path to Equity,” a gathering hosted by the United Way of the Midlands and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency. Car access stood out as a challenge to economic opportunity in the region, with Black households three times as likely to be carless as the average household, as Jamila Henderson writes in this Chart of the Week.

        Toward One Albuquerque
        We also released an equity profile of the City of Albuquerque (along with this summary) at an event jointly held by Mayor Tim Keller and community partners including New Mexico Voices for Children. The equity profile data will serve as a guide for the city’s Office of Equity and Inclusion as they develop their action agenda. The mayor tweeted: “We’re taking action to close these gaps to create an economy that works for everyone.” The event was covered by the Albuquerque Journal and TV news station KRQE.

        New Report: Advancing Employment Equity in Rural North Carolina
        Our last release of the month took place in Raleigh, where we joined our partners at Rural Forward NC and the NC Budget and Tax Policy Center to share our analysis of how much stronger the state economy would be with employment equity in its rural areas. One of the challenges repeatedly brought up by focus group participants in three rural towns was the replacement of regular jobs with temporary jobs that offer lower pay and benefits for the same work. Leaders from the state’s workforce development and community college system, as well as other anchor institutions, discussed potential policy solutions at the release event. Read the report and fact sheet.

        Join Our Team: Seeking a Senior Associate in the PolicyLink Oakland Office
        Are you a data geek passionate about racial and economic equity and empowering community changemakers? Or, do you know someone who is? PolicyLink is seeking a senior associate to join the National Equity Atlas team and manage a project supporting community partners to develop equity data tools. Apply or share with your networks and on social media.

        New #EquityData Resources
        The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Altarum released a national study, The Business Case for Equity: A Strategy for Growth, estimating that closing long-standing racial inequities in health, education, employment, and incarceration would boost the nation's economy by $8 trillion by 2050. Companion reports are also available for Mississippi, New Mexico, and New Orleans. Also, the newly launched City Health Dashboard provides data on 36 measures of health for the 500 largest U.S. cities, and includes data disaggregated by race/ethnicity for absenteeism, high school graduation, low birthweight, prenatal care, and more. Both items (and much more!) can be found on this Resources page on the Atlas.

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: Mayor De Blasio’s New Specialized High School Admission Policy is a Step Toward Educational Equity

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about inclusive economies, the National Equity Atlas team regularly shares charts produced with data from the Atlas related to current events and issues. Join the conversation on social media using #equitydata.

        Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to phase out the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test in an effort to increase access to the city’s highest performing public high schools for low-income students who are disproportionately underrepresented students of color. Instead of the high-stakes standardized test, where test preparation is not offered in public elementary or middle schools, students will be admitted based on their academic achievements. The proposal addresses persistent racial disparities: Latinx and Black students make up 70 percent of the city’s public-school population, but only 10 percent of students at the eight specialized high schools. The administration expects that after the policy is fully enacted, admission offers to Latinx and Black students will increase from 9 percent to 45 percent of total offers.

        But with more than 400 high schools in the district serving over 240,000 students, increasing accessibility to these elite high schools is only the first step toward achieving an equitable public-school system. This week’s chart highlights the pervasive racial and economic segregation of public high schools in New York City, using the percentage of students who qualify for the free and reduced-price school lunch program as a measure of “school poverty.”

        Research indicates that students who attend high poverty schools, regardless of family socioeconomic status, fare worse than students attending low poverty schools. In New York City, nearly half of Latinx, Black, and Native American high school students attend high poverty schools where more than 75 percent of students are low-income, compared with just 16 percent of White students. Students of color in New York City, overall, are nearly three times as likely as their White counterparts to attend a high poverty high school.

        Three quarters of New York City’s youth are people of color: for the city to thrive, these youth must be able to access a high-quality education that prepares them for college and the workforce. Yet they are disproportionately stuck in segregated, inadequately funded schools. To build a strong workforce for the future, and deliver on the promise of education for all, New York City should adopt strong policies to ensure equitable school funding, prioritize training, hiring, and retaining highly qualified teachers for hard-to-staff schools, and implement local measures to increase school integration. The city can take its cue from California, where implementation of an equitable school funding policy in 2013 has led to improvements in graduation rates and academic achievement for Latinx, Black, and low-income students.

        To see how school poverty varies in your community in addition to solutions and strategies, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state.

        Chart of the Week: Transportation Equity is Key to Inclusive Prosperity in the Omaha Region

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about inclusive economies, the National Equity Atlas team regularly shares charts produced with data from the Atlas related to current events and issues. Join the conversation on social media using #equitydata.

        On June 6, the National Equity Atlas team (and Heartland 2050) released an updated equitable growth profile of the Omaha-Council Bluffs region at “Everyone Prospers: The Path to Equity,” a gathering hosted by the United Way of the Midlands and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency. In reviewing the data, one of the indicators that stood out as a major challenge to economic opportunity in the region was car ownership.

        Reliable and affordable transportation is critical for meeting daily needs and accessing educational and employment opportunities. For households living in regions without robust transit systems, access to a car is critical, but lower-income people, people of color, and some immigrant communities are more likely to be carless.

        In the Omaha-Council Bluffs region, spanning 8 counties in Nebraska and Iowa, most households—94 percent—have at least one car (or truck or van). This is similar to other Midwestern metros like Kansas City and Des Moines (see this ranking chart). But there are wide differences by race: Black households are 3 times as likely as the average household to be carless. Furthermore, the Black community is geographically concentrated in the neighborhood of North Omaha where there are fewer employment opportunities and limited transit options.

        Living outside major job centers with limited transportation options puts these households at a unique disadvantage, especially given that 93 percent of work trips in the region occur by private vehicle. This is according to the region’s Long Range Transportation Plan (which covers the 3 most populous counties in the 8-county Omaha-Council Bluffs Region).

        This phenomenon is not unique to Omaha-Council Bluffs. The share of Black households without a car stands at 20 percent for the nation, slightly higher than in Omaha Council-Bluffs (19 percent). Looking at the share of Black households without a car in Omaha-Council Bluffs and over a dozen neighboring regions, Omaha-Council Bluffs falls somewhere near the middle, faring better than some communities (27 percent of Black households are carless in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area) and worse than others (15 percent of Black households are carless in the Des Moines metro area).

        We also see disparities in car ownership for other communities in Omaha-Council Bluffs. Looking at immigrant and U.S.-born households, the biggest disparity is among White residents: 10 percent of White immigrant households are carless compared with only 5 percent of White U.S-born households.

        Bus rapid transit is one strategy to better connect residents to opportunities, and other regions such as the Cleveland metro area, have seen success. In 2008, the city launched its bus rapid transit system, successfully linking the high unemployment, predominantly Black city of East Cleveland to the region’s two largest job centers. To learn more, click here.

        To see how car access varies in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state. Download and share the chart on social media using #equitydata.

        Equity Atlas Rent Burden Data Helps Secure Double Policy Wins in Louisiana

         

        Our goal is to put timely local data in the hands of advocates working to make the case for inclusive prosperity in their communities. So we were thrilled to learn that last month, the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA) used data from our “When Renters Rise, Cities Thrive” analysis to secure policy wins at both the state and local level.

        The analysis of New Orleans shows that renters make up the majority of the city’s residents, but 60 percent of them are rent burdened, meaning they pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. If no renters paid more than they could afford on housing in the city, they would see an average increase of $7,200 per household each year.

        Last month, the New Orleans City Council addressed one piece of the housing affordability puzzle by banning new entire-home short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods. GNOHA used the fact sheets to advocate in support of the temporary ban (officially called an interim zoning district), highlighting the severity of the rental affordability crisis and the economic benefits of reducing rent burdens across the city.

        As Andreanecia Morris, president and Chairwoman of GNOHA, explained to Gambit:

        “We are at an important crossroads. We can choose to stabilize our citizens, allow them to contribute to the local economy and change the course of New Orleans’ next 300 years, or we can allow this trend to continue and undoubtedly force more of our people out of the city they call home.”

        Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, GNOHA used the same data points for Louisiana to advocate against a state preemption bill (Senate Bill 462) that would have banned local governments from adopting inclusionary zoning policies. The law was an attack on the growing movement to codify New Orleans’ Smart Housing Mix Ordinance, and would have made affordable housing policies voluntary rather than mandated as recommended by the New Orleans’ City Planning Commission and City Council.

        Our data shows that renters now make up one in three Louisiana residents, but more than half pay too much for housing. If no renters were housing burdened, they would collectively have an additional $1.5 billion dollars to spend in their communities every year. GNOHA’s arguments did not convince the legislature, which passed the bill. But Governor John Bel Edwards, in response to the tireless advocacy of GNOHA and other local organizations, vetoed the bill last Saturday.

        View all of the publicly available fact sheets here

        National Equity Atlas: May Update

        We hope you enjoyed the long weekend! Our team has been on the road a lot this month, working with partners on the ground in Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, and North Carolina in addition to the Bay Area and Long Beach, and presenting on the Atlas at the National League of Cities in DC. We have also been busy getting ready for some upcoming report releases and crunching data for forthcoming analyses and tools. And we were happy to welcome Sabrina Kim to our team as a data analyst at PERE.

        • Join Our Team: Seeking a Senior Associate in the PolicyLink Oakland Office
          Are you a data geek passionate about racial and economic equity and empowering community changemakers with data? PolicyLink is seeking a senior associate in their Oakland office to join the National Equity Atlas team and manage a project supporting community partners to develop equity data tools. Apply here.

         

        • The Case for Employment Equity in Mississippi
          Last week we were in Jackson for the release of our new report produced in partnership with the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative. We found that the state economy could be $2.5 billion stronger each year if unemployment was 4 percent or less for all gender and racial groups and more workers were brought into the labor force. At the event, our partners highlighted how increased funding for child care and more career pathways into good, "middle-skills" jobs for women of color would improve opportunities for those women, their communities, and the state economy. Read Boosting Economic Growth in Mississippi through Employment Equity here.

         

        • Designing Local Health Equity Atlases in Louisiana and Buffalo
          Earlier this month, we traveled to Louisiana and Buffalo, to facilitate data design sessions with local partners to inform the development of local health equity atlases. In Louisiana, we are working with the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice to develop an online data tool that informs and mobilizes voters across the state. In New Orleans, the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance is already using data from our renter fact sheets to advocate for renter protections locally and against a state preemption bill. In Buffalo, we are working with Open Buffalo to develop a tool that democratizes data and builds a better understanding of housing, poverty, and transit access as health issues.

         

        • Chart of the Week: #APAHeritageMonth
          In honor of Asian/Pacific American Heritage month, Jamila Henderson wrote about differences in educational attainment among the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community in the Los Angeles metro area, where 62 percent of all API working-age adults have at least an Associate's degree, but only 21 percent of those are of Samoan ancestry and 27 percent of those with Cambodian ancestry. In another chart of the week Sarah Treuhaft, highlighted how renter spending power in the Bay Area would increase by $4.4 billion if no renters paid more than 30 percent of their income on housing cost.

         

         

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        We're Hiring a Senior Associate, Equitable Economy/National Equity Atlas

         

        PolicyLink is seeking a full-time Senior Associate to join the Equitable Economy team and the formal research partnership with the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at the University of Southern California. The ideal candidate is passionate about producing data and research that is relevant and actionable for those working on the frontlines to advance racial economic equity. 

        To learn more about the position visit, careers

        National Equity Atlas Webinar Archive

        The National Equity Atlas team and partners host webinars on a regular basis to share new data, indicators, and functionalities and to highlight ways of using Atlas data to advance inclusive growth. Below are our webinar archives, organized chronologically by year.

        2017

        Using Data to Support Organizing and Policy Advocacy: 2017 Renter Week of Action (December 7, 2017) This webinar highlights how data supported and amplified 2017 #RenterWeekofAction efforts in which thousands of people in dozens of cities across the country held actions and assemblies to demand better protections for renters. The National Equity Atlas team partnered with Right to the City Alliance to support these local mobilizations by creating 38 fact sheets highlighting renter economic power and what cities gain by ensuring renter affordability.

        Targeted Strategies to Reduce Employment Inequality (March 24, 2017) This webinar highlights findings from the policy brief, Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros, paired with example of effective jobs strategies being implemented by the Northside Funders Group in Minneapolis and the Network for Economic Opportunity in New Orleans.

        Beyond a People-of-Color Majority: U.S. Demographic Projections to 2050 (February 15, 2017) This webinar looks at the changing demographics of the U.S. beyond 2044, the year in which the nation will be majority people-of-color, providing a live demo of four indicators that include updated demographic projections to 2050: People of color, Race/ethnicity, Population growth rates, and Contribution to growth: People of color.

        2016

        Exploring New Neighborhood Maps Added to the Atlas (November 2, 2016) This webinar explores new mapping breakdowns by four indicators (People of color, Race/ethnicity, Unemployment, and Disconnected youth); how to create your own custom maps; and how you can use them to advance equitable growth strategies.

        Special Preview: Neighborhood Mapping on the Atlas (October 6, 2016)­ This webinar offered a special preview of new maps will allow users to understand how selected equity indicators vary across neighborhoods within a city or region and can help inform targeted strategies and investments.

        3 Ways to Use the New Chart Downloads (September 1, 2016)­ Spotlighting new gender breakdowns for three indicators (Working poor, disconnected youth, and Education levels and job requirements), this webinar describes three simple ways you can use chart downloads available in the Atlas to advance equity in your community.

        Explore New Data on Immigrants in the National Equity Atlas (August 8, 2016) This webinar offers tips for accessing disaggregated data in the Atlas to assess how immigrants are fairing in your community, and to develop strategies for immigrant integration and inclusion in your community.

        Explore New Equity Atlas Indicators on Poverty and Working Poor (July 12, 2016) This webinar reviews two indicators available on the Atlas - Poverty and Working poor- and further explores policy strategies that can advance racial economic inclusion and equitable growth in your community.

        Introducing the National Equity Atlas Data and Policy Tool (June 22, 2016) This webinar features a live demonstration of the Atlas for the grantees of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

        Exploring New Equity Indicators for Detailed Racial Ethnic Subgroups (May 26, 2016) This webinar reviews detailed racial/ethnic breakdowns to several economic opportunity indicators available on the Atlas, including: Unemployment, Wages: Median, Wages: $15/Hour, Disconnected Youth, Educational Levels, and Homeownership.

        2014-2015

        Data Tools for Policy Change: Paid Family Leave Policies to Advance Health Equity and Build an Inclusive Economy (December 14, 2015) This webinar was presented by PolicyLink, diversitydatakids.org, and Family Values @ Work, highlighting family and medical leave indicators available on diversitydatakids.org that underscore the intersection of public health and work-family policies as well as the importance of rigorous data on state-level access to family and medical leave.

        The National Equity Atlas: New Equity Data for the 100 Largest Cities (September 30, 2015) This webinar highlights the release of data available for the largest 100 cities in the nation to help city leaders champion policies and strategies to counter deepening inequality and build “all-in cities” where all residents—especially those who’ve long been excluded—can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

        Introducing the National Equity Atlas (December 9, 2014)­ This webinar introduces the National Equity Atlas, a first-of-its-kind online resource for data and policy ideas to build an equitable economy in your region, state, and nationwide.

        Data Tools for Change: The Child Opportunity Index (March 18, 2015) This webinar highlights the Child Opportunity Index – a tool from diversitydatakids.org and the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity- and how, in conjunction with other neighborhood-level indicators of wellbeing, can arm leaders with data to advance cross-sector efforts centered around child health equity.

        Tools for Social Change: The National Equity Atlas (January 28, 2015) This webinar, co-hosted with the National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy, describes the equity framework that undergirds the Atlas, offers a tour of the Atlas, and shares examples of how foundations can employ equity data and policy strategies to foster inclusive growth.

        Chart of the Week: Breaking Down Education Data for the API Community in Los Angeles Shows Stark Education Gaps

         

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Disaggregating data to understand the diversity of experiences and outcomes within large populations is critical for crafting policies to build an equitable economy. In honor of the 40th anniversary of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, this week’s chart examines the vast differences in educational attainment among the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community in the Los Angeles metro area.

        Asian and Pacific Islanders are a large and growing demographic in the Los Angeles region and make up 15 percent of the population. By 2020, the LA area is projected to have the fourth largest API population among the largest 150 metros in terms of the API share of the total population (after Honolulu, San Jose, and San Francisco). Between 2000 and 2010, the API community had the fastest population growth among all groups, increasing 23 percent to nearly 1.9 million residents (the Latino population had the second largest rate of growth at 11 percent).

        With API communities driving growth in the region, ensuring that API workers have the skills and education needed for the jobs of the future is essential for a strong and prepared regional workforce. By common measures of social and economic success, the API community often fares very well. However, looking at the API community as a whole obscures important differences and masks challenges faced by certain subgroups.

        By 2020, an estimated 44 percent of jobs in California will require at least an Associate’s degree. Comparable with the national average, 62 percent of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the LA metro area hold at least an Associate’s degree, signaling that overall this community possesses the skills to meet the demands of the changing economy. Although this figure is above average, there are wide disparities in educational attainment: Only 21 percent of working-age people with Samoan ancestry, 27 percent with Cambodian ancestry, 31 percent with Other Pacific Islander ancestry, 34 percent with Laotian ancestry, and 36 percent with Native Hawaiian ancestry hold at least an Associate’s degree. By comparison, 58 percent of White, 37 percent of Native American, 35 percent of Black, and 17 percent of Latino working-age adults in the LA metro area hold at least an Associate’s degree.

        America's future jobs will require ever-higher levels of skills and education, but our education and job training systems are not adequately preparing all workers—particularly those growing as a share of the workforce—to succeed in the knowledge-driven economy. Closing wide and persistent racial gaps in educational attainment will be key to building a strong workforce that is prepared for the jobs of the future. Important strategies include creating cradle-to-career pipelines for vulnerable youth and investing in universal pre-K, reforming harsh, “zero tolerance” school discipline policies to keep youth in school and on track to graduate, implementing sector-focused workforce training and placement programs that connect workers to good jobs, ensuring access to higher education for immigrant students by providing in-state tuition rates regardless of immigrant status, and increasing access to financial aid or scholarships. For more on these strategies please visit the National Equity Atlas here.

        Additional indicators, analyses, and resources for the API community can be found at AAPI Data, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC), and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).

         

         

         

        Chart of the Week: Rent Burden and Racial Equity in the Bay Area

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        When skyrocketing rents force individuals and families to spend an increasingly larger share of their income on housing, it doesn’t just strain household budgets, it can limit growth for the entire region and exacerbate existing racial inequalities. This week, we are highlighting this interplay between housing, economic growth, and racial equity by looking at the Bay Area, where rising housing costs and stagnant wages have hit low-income communities and communities of color hardest, making it difficult for many residents to care for their families, contribute to the local economy, or invest in their future.

        Though the Bay Area has never been a low-cost housing market, over the past three years rents have increased precipitously, forcing many households to spend far above the federal standard for affordability: households that spend 30 percent of income on housing are considered “rent burdened.” In the Bay Area, fully half of all renters, and 60 percent of low-income, Black, Latino, and Native American households fall into this category.

        If regional, state, and national leaders implemented strategies to promote housing affordability and rising incomes, however, the impact on racial and economic equity would be dramatic. Because rent burdens have increased disproportionately for people of color, rental affordability would translate into substantial increases in disposable income for individuals and families of color, especially those who are economically insecure. For example, a housing burdened low-income family of three would recover $9,000 a year -- enough to cover an entire food budget, all transportations costs, or even a year of tuition at a California state university!

        Considering the collective spending power that renters have in the Bay Area, this economic boost to individual households would have ripple effects throughout the region. Renters already contribute $70 billion to the regional economy, but if economically insecure renters paid only what they could afford, their spending power would grow by $4.4 billion -- more than San Jose’s annual budget.

        So how can we realize these gains? Rent burdens are a function of stagnant wages and rising costs, so we need a multifaceted approach including comprehensive housing solutions (including protection, preservation, inclusion, and production), efforts to ensure economic security and rising incomes, and building renter and community power. We outline these strategies—and additional analyses—in our latest report, Solving the Housing Crisis Is Key to Inclusive Prosperity in the Bay Area, developed through our Bay Area Equity Atlas partnership with The San Francisco Foundation. And momentum is growing for solutions: advocates are working to repeal California’s Costa-Hawkins law, which restricts local municipalities’ ability to protect residents from exorbitant rent increases. So far, they’ve collected 588,000 signatures to place the repeal on the November ballot—far above the 365,880 needed to qualify the measure.

        To see how renter burden affects different members of your community, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state. You can also download and share these charts on social media, tagging it #equitydata so we can follow along.

         

        SaveSave

        National Equity Atlas: April Update

        Dear Atlas users:

        Happy Spring from the National Equity Atlas team! We are feeling refreshed and inspired by Equity Summit 2018 and were happy to see some of you there. For those who could not join us in Chicago, Atlas team member Ángel Ross of PolicyLink has written a recap of our equity data-related sessions and you can find our livestream archive of the plenaries and more here.

        • New Bay Area Housing and Economic Insecurity Report and Local Analyses
          At the Summit, our team released Solving the Housing Crisis Is Key to Inclusive Prosperity in the Bay Area. This report, produced in partnership with The San Francisco Foundation, presents new data and analyses that illustrate how rising rents and stagnant incomes are straining household budgets and stifling opportunity in the Bay Area, jeopardizing the region's diversity, growth, and prosperity. To show how these dynamics are playing out in two Bay Area cities, we teamed up with Working Partnerships USA in San Jose and the Raise the Roof coalition in Concord to produce localized analyses. Read more about those analyses and how these groups are taking action to address the crisis and protect tenants from displacement here.

         

        • Partnership Opportunity for Equity Data Projects in Select Communities
          The National Equity Atlas team is accepting proposals from community organizations or collaboratives in the 10 priority communities of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Albuquerque, NM; Farmington, NM; Las Cruces, NM; Detroit, MI; Battle Creek, MI; Grand Rapids, MI; Jackson, MS; Sunflower County, MS; Biloxi, MS; and New Orleans, LA) to co-develop equity data projects that advance inclusive prosperity. We will work with five community partners on community-owned data projects that empower collective action, undergird advocacy, and inform policy. Applications are due by May 25. Learn more during our informational webinars on May 3 at 12 p.m. PT/ 3 p.m. ET and May 4 at 12 p.m. PT/ 3 p.m. ET.

         

        • Chart of the Week: Alabama Transit Justice
          In this week's Chart of the Week, James Crowder of PolicyLink highlights one of the major barriers to employment identified in our recent report Advancing Employment Equity in Alabama. In cities and regions across the country, low-income residents and residents of color face limited public transit options as dwindling public transportation resources leads to reduced schedules and fewer service access points. For example, in Alabama the average commute time for Black workers on public transit (47 minutes) is almost 20 minutes longer than it is for White workers (28 minutes).

         

        • In the News…
          A reporter for the Winston-Salem Chronicle highlights a new analysis from the North Carolina Justice Center that uses Atlas data on school poverty to show the correlation between the expanding achievement gap between Black and White students in North Carolina and the increasing segregation in local public schools. Similarly, an op-ed that was published in the Atlanta Daily World and the Dallas Examiner uses the school poverty indicator to advocate for investments in majority Black schools and new curriculum models. Finally, "Solving the Housing Crisis Is Key to Inclusive Prosperity in the Bay Area" was featured in Philanthropy News Digest and Planetizen, and World Journal, the largest Chinese newspaper in America.

         

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Exploring Equity Data for Change at Equity Summit 2018

         

        From April 11-13, PolicyLink welcomed over 4,000 equity advocates to Chicago for #EquitySummit2018. It was an inspiring and productive convening, and you can (re)watch the three main plenary sessions here. The Atlas team also organized two equity data workshops, including a pre-summit institute and a strategy session. Here is our recap of the sessions.

        Data for Racial Economic Inclusion: Make Your Case

        It was a packed house at the pre-summit equity data institute, with more than 100 attendees gathered to learn the opportunities and limitations of local disaggregated data, where they can find publically available local data, and how to build the case for racial equity and inclusion using detailed demographic and economic data.

        We began with some education on using disaggregated data. Justin Scoggins, Data Manager at the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE), shared his list of top ten considerations when it comes to working with local and disaggregated data. They include:

        • When calculating percentages, try swapping rows with columns (i.e. within the white population in the U.S., only 10 percent are poor. But 44 percent of the poor are white.)
        • Showing disproportionality by comparing statistics to a relevant broader population (i.e. If we were looking instead at the share of voters that are people of color, then the more relevant broader population would be all people who are eligible to vote, or perhaps registered voters.)
        • Use common sense and intuition. A famous PERE saying: “If you find something interesting/surprising, you are probably wrong!”
         

        Sarah Treuhaft, Senior Director at PolicyLink, welcoming participants to the pre-Summit Equity Data Institute

        Jamila Henderson, Senior Associate at PolicyLink, followed Justin’s presentation with a live walk-through of the Atlas, highlighting unemployment maps of the Chicago region. She showed how even among majority white neighborhoods with relatively low overall unemployment rates, people of color face unemployment rates greater than 20 percent in over two dozen of these neighborhoods.

        Following a small group activity, we heard presentations from Adrian Dominguez at the Urban Indian Health Institute and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia from the Institute for Child Youth and Family Policy at Brandeis University. Adrian shared how there are nearly 1.3 million American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States today and 71 percent live in urban areas. He also shared an overview of the recently released Urban Indian Health Dashboard. Dolores shared about diversitydatakids.org, underscoring how neighborhoods, which are highly segregated by race/ethnicity, are an integral developmental context for children. And a growing body of research suggests that neighborhood environments (e.g., poverty) influence children’s long-term outcomes (e.g., future earnings, college attendance, etc.).

        We closed the session in five breakout groups. Dolores led a session on diversitydatakids.org, Adrian led a session on the new dashboard, and we also had a few guest facilitators. Jessica Mindnich and Sepi Aghdaee from The San Francisco Foundation shared about a new project with PolicyLink and USC PERE to build an online Bay Area Equity Atlas covering the nine-county Bay Area region. Karen Shaban and Karla Bruce from Fairfax County, Virginia discussed building the economic case for equity inside county government and their work to get the Board of Supervisors and the School Board to jointly adopt One Fairfax, a racial and social equity policy that applies to all publicly delivered services. Ángel Ross, Program Associate at PolicyLink, shared the Renter Week of Action analysis and how data can support efforts to build renter power in cities across the country.

        Leveraging Data to Move Equity Campaigns in an Era of “Alternative Facts”

        In this strategy session, we highlighted the work of local leaders crafting data-driven narratives and campaigns despite general hostility towards equity data efforts at the federal level. Participants gathered to strategize on how to better use data to strengthen their work to advance equity and share examples of how they have used data to frame an issue.

        We began by sharing our 2017 report on 10 design principles for online health equity data tools. They include the importance of making data actionable through policy and systems change, emphasizing assets and opportunities not just disparities, and honoring indigenous data sovereignty.

        Vicki Quaites-Ferris, from the Empowerment Network, presented on how they used the Equitable Growth Profile to inform the Heartland 2050 regional plan in the Omaha-Council Bluffs region. They also created the STEP-UP Omaha initiative, a summer training employment pathway, to reduce unemployment, which was correlated with a decline in gun violence. Go to empoweromaha.com for more on the Empowerment Network, including the upcoming release of an updated profile on June 6.

        Later, Neeraj Mehta, from the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), shared about how their research approach flips the traditional research approach on its head. Rather than focusing on concentrated poverty, they focus on concentrated White wealth. And rather than relying on research questions generated within the academy, they rely on research questions posed by community members outside the university. Neeraj also shared about a new gentrification analysis in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which found that gentrified census tracts tended to be located along transit corridors. For more on CURA, visit http://www.cura.umn.edu/program-overview. To view Neeraj’s slides, click here.

        Jihoon Woo, a producer, writer, and artist from New Jersey, opened the session with a powerful piece on truth and facts. Also pictured: Neeraj Mehta and Vicki Quaites-Ferris.

         
         
         

        Co-Develop Community Data Tools with the National Equity Atlas

        A Request for Letters of Interest to Partner with the National Equity Atlas to Co-Develop Community Data Projects (PDF)

        Across the country, local organizations are leading collaborative, cross-sector efforts to advance equity-driven strategies for inclusive prosperity. Data disaggregated by race, geography, and other demographics is foundational to their efforts, both to build a shared narrative about how and why equity matters to their community’s future and to inform community action and measure progress toward results. When informed by the voice, wisdom, and experience of those most impacted by structural racism and systemic bias, data projects can empower collective action, guide decision-making, undergird advocacy, and inform policy development and investment.

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California (PERE) invite local partners working in the ten priority communities of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to submit proposals to work with our team on data projects to inform their equity initiatives.[1] This opportunity builds on the series of community equity profiles we produced in 2017 and focuses on supporting local leaders in developing more effective data-driven narratives, community-owned data projects, and knowledge products that strengthen and accelerate their equity efforts.

        Over the next two years, we will partner with five community organizations or collaboratives to co-develop data projects that advance equitable growth strategies locally. We can support three types of data projects.

        • Customized online equitable growth data dashboards. These interactive dashboards would include a set of 5-7 locally-prioritized indicators for monitoring progress on equitable growth, along with a narrative framing the data and solutions being advanced by the community partners. They would include indicators of demographic change, economic equity, transportation justice, housing, education, or other indicators for which data are available via the National Equity Atlas/our equity indicators database (see the “Data and Methods” page). We could possibly include 1-2 indicators from local sources depending on availability and need. Example: Data Summaries page on the National Equity Atlas.

         

        • Responsive data analyses to support policy campaigns related to housing, health equity, equitable development, and economic security. These analyses could be a series of short and sharable fact sheets or infographics that frame an issue with local data in support of a campaign. They might include data for a series of geographies ranging from the county or regional-level down to the neighborhood or provide data across a set of issues like housing affordability or employment equity. Example: Renter Week of Action fact sheets.

         

        • Data-driven narratives to make the case for racial and economic equity. This could be a short report or a web page detailing the economic imperative of racial equity, providing key indicators, and highlighting effective strategies and policies to achieve equity. Example: California’s Tomorrow.

         

        Prospective applicants are encouraged to propose tools that support efforts to drive policy and systems changes that advance racial equity and inclusive growth in their communities. For more examples of existing tools developed in partnership with community organizations, please visit the National Equity Atlas at http://nationalequityatlas.org/reports. Also see our report presenting 10 design principles for health equity data tools.

        The National Equity Atlas team will work with a lead community-based organization or collaborative in five of the priority communities over a six-month period during 2018-2019 to co-design a data product and engage other community partners in the process. We seek local partners who are interesting in producing this tool or analysis to inform their policy work and raise their profile on equity policy issues. During the tool development process, community partners would be asked to:

        • Offer an initial vision for a data tool or product (through this application);
        • Co-develop the tool or analysis with the National Equity Atlas team;
        • Convene other local organizations, leaders, and residents to inform the design and development of the tool;
        • Regularly communicate with the National Equity Atlas team via email, phone, and videoconference;
        • Lead the planning of a local release event to share the produce more broadly with community leaders, policymakers, business leaders, and the media; and
        • Participate in two brief survey assessments to help gauge the effectiveness of the project, shortly after the tool’s release and one year after the release.

         

        About the National Equity Atlas

        The National Equity Atlas (www.nationalequityatlas.org) is a comprehensive online resource that shares indicators of demographic change and economic equity for 301 different U.S. geographies (the 100 largest cities, 150 largest regions, all 50 states, and nationwide). Maintained through a partnership between PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE), the Atlas draws on a unique indicators database that incorporates hundreds of data points from public and private data sources and includes historical data as well as demographic projections through 2050. Through timely analyses, reports, and blog posts, the Atlas provides local leaders with data to track, measure, and make the case for inclusive prosperity.

        Submission Deadline and Selection Process

        There will be two informational webinars about the project, where interested partners can learn more about the types of tools and analyses that the Atlas team has produced and ask any questions related to the project.  These webinars will take place on Thursday, May 3 at 12pm PT/3 pm ET and Friday, May 4 at 12pm PT/3 pm ET. The Atlas team is also available to vet project ideas with community partners.

        Organizations interested in this opportunity should complete the online application by May 25, 2018 to be considered. Please direct all questions to James (james@policylink.org) via email, specifying “Data Tool LOI Question” in the subject line.

        PolicyLink and PERE will review and evaluate all applications and select two projects to work on in mid-2018 and three projects to work on in early 2019. All applicants will be notified if they are selected by June 8, 2018.

        Selection Criteria

        Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

        1. Potential to support community-driven policy and systems change to advance racial and economic equity. We are looking for data projects that aim to leverage data to influence public policy, resource allocation, and decisionmaking. This includes all points in the policy process from informing and framing the debate to monitoring progress toward equity results. We seek partners that have a track record of building inclusive coalitions that advance equity solutions.
           
        2. Potential to build community power and capacity. We are looking for data projects that engage impacted communities in the tool development process and increase community capacity to influence the policy debate by strengthening their use of data to track, measure, and make the case for equity solutions. We believe that communities that bear the brunt of inequities should be at the forefront when creating data tools, both to inform tools with community knowledge and ensure tools meet community needs and aspirations. We are looking for projects and partners that will undertake this data project in a way that engages communities of color, low-income communities, and other vulnerable populations, such as the transgender and/or disabled community, in the process

        In addition, we will consider the diversity of places, projects, populations of focus, and levels of community data capacity across the five projects.

        Download this request for letters of interest as a PDF.

        [1] The ten priority communities are: Albuquerque, NM; Farmington, NM; Las Cruces, NM; Detroit, MI; Battle Creek, MI; Grand Rapids, MI; Jackson, MS; Sunflower County, MS; Biloxi, MS; and New Orleans, LA

        Is Any Bay Area Neighborhood Affordable to Low-Income Families? A Look at San Jose and Concord (Hint: No)

         

        On April 10, we released “Solving the Housing Crisis Is Key to Inclusive Prosperity in the Bay Area” in partnership with The San Francisco Foundation. The report underscores the relationship between housing and economic insecurity, and the threat that the housing affordability crisis poses to the region’s economic sustainability. The central analysis draws on neighborhood-level Zillow rent data and shows that a family of two full-time workers making $15/hour can afford the median market rent in only 5 percent of the 9-county Bay Area’s 1,500-plus neighborhoods. The vast majority (92 percent) of these affordable neighborhoods are rated “very low” in opportunity on a comprehensive index of neighborhood opportunity from diversitydatakids.org.

        To show how these dynamics are playing out in two Bay Area cities, we teamed up with Working Partnerships USA in San Jose and the Raise the Roof coalition in Concord.

        More than half of renters in San Jose today pay too much for housing, defined as paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. Not a single neighborhood in the city has a median market rent affordable to a family with two $15/hour workers. In fact, it would take an annual income of at least $70,000 to be able to afford market rent. To view the full fact sheet from Working Partnerships, click here.

        Sixty miles north of San Jose is the city of Concord. Located in East Contra Costa County, Concord is a more suburban city with a median household income lower than San Jose but higher than Oakland. Renters make up 41 percent of households and most renter households have annual incomes below $50,000. Yet no Concord neighborhoods have a median market rent affordable to families with an annual income less than $50,000. And only six neighborhoods in the city are affordable to families with incomes up to $75,000. The majority of Concord neighborhoods require an annual income greater than $75,000. For more information about the Raise the Roof campaign, click here and visit their Facebook page.

        Solving this crisis won’t be easy, but we recommend comprehensive housing solutions (including protection, preservation, inclusion, and production), building renter and community power, and increasing economic security. In San Jose, Working Partnerships are working to stop illegal utility charges by preventing landlords from using Ratio Utility Billing Services (RUBS) to increase rents, to add protections for immigrants under just cause eviction, and to stop unfair evictions and harassment of tenants by opposing a redundant and discriminatory “criminal activity” policy. In Concord, Raise the Roof is ramping up efforts on a campaign for more tenant protections. Follow their Facebook page for the latest announcements.

        For the full report on the Bay Area housing crisis, visit PolicyLink.org or http://www.policylink.org/resources-tools/solving-housing-crisis-bay-area.

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        Chart of the Week: Alabama Transit Justice

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        This week we are highlighting the importance of public transportation in connecting low-income residents and people of color to quality jobs. In cities and regions across the country, rapidly increasing housing costs and stagnant wages have forced many residents to move further away from the urban core in order to find affordable housing options. As a result, these residents must navigate a “spatial mismatch,” or making choices between neighborhoods with affordable housing or with employment opportunities that pay family-sustaining wages. This spatial mismatch can be a barrier to employment for many, particularly those reliant on public transit.

        Over the last year, PolicyLink and PERE have been working with nonprofit partners in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana as part of a project to advance employment equity in southern states. The disparities in commute time in Alabama illustrate how important access to public transportation is in leveling the playing field for having access to quality jobs. Alabamians who travel to work in a private vehicle have comparable commute times regardless of race. However, those residents that get to work on public transit have a markedly different commute. The commute time for Black Alabamians is almost 20 minutes longer than that of their White counterparts.

        Alabama is one of only five states that provide no state funding to supplement federal and local transportation funding. Without any state investment in the public transportation infrastructure, transit operators have been forced to cut service to certain neighborhoods and steadily increase fares in order to make necessary repairs. This lack of connectivity also further isolates rural residents and hinders their ability to access employment centers. Given that people of color are more likely to rely on public transit to get around in Alabama, disinvestment and underfunding of the state’s bus systems creates an additional barrier to employment and achieving economic security.   

        Thankfully, there are policy alternatives that could enhance the public transit infrastructure in Alabama. Advocates there are promoting a public transportation trust fund to supplement the federal allocation that the state receives. The legislation recently passed the state house of representatives and is currently pending approval in the state senate.

        To see the average commute time for your community, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state. Download and share the chart on social media.

        National Equity Atlas: February Update

        Dear Atlas users:

        Greetings from the National Equity Atlas team! We have been busy updating all of our indicators and are excited to share this new data with you. We are also relaunching our Chart of the Week series adding equity data to the discussion about current events and issues. And we welcomed two new staff to our team: Jamila Henderson, a senior associate at PolicyLink, and Edward Muna, a data analyst at PERE, who you can expect to hear more from in the coming weeks.

        Access 2015 Data for Your Community
        In September, $201 billion: That's the potential economic boost that the Houston metro economy could have gained in 2015 if there were racial equity, up from $165 billion in 2010. Go to the Atlas to get this data point - and many more - for your community. Most of our 34 indicators are now updated to reflect the latest Census microdata release (the 2011-2015 pooled data from the American Community Survey), and in many case you can see change over time between 2000, 2010, and 2015. Visit http://www2.policylink.org/e/78532/indicators/681q6h/356661236.

        Join Our Team this Summer!
        PolicyLink is accepting applications from current graduate students for a full-time Equity Atlas summer internship in our Oakland office. Help us produce new equity analyses and build new community equity data tools with partners in the Bay Area, Buffalo, Louisiana, or elsewhere. Apply here by March 9 and share this opportunity with your networks.

        Equity Data Informing Community Action in Battle Creek
        Last week, the Atlas team was in Battle Creek, Michigan presenting the findings from the Battle Creek Equity Profile to leaders of the BC Vision initiative during their steering committee retreat. We were happy to share data insights and support the group as they worked with the Kellogg Community College Center for Diversity and Innovation to more deeply embed an equity approach throughout its efforts to build an equitable, thriving city.

        Chart of the Week: #BlackFuturesMonth
        For the final week of Black History Month/Black Futures Month, Atlas team member Ángel Ross of PolicyLink analyzed the gains in Black income nationally and in Oakland, California if the vision of racial equity were achieved—if we lived in a society where all Black people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

        In the News…
        In an article for Los Angeles Times, L.A. Tenants Union member Tracy Jeanne Rosenthal uses "An Equity Profile of Los Angeles Region" in her opinion piece arguing that planning for transit and affordable housing should focus on the needs of low-income tenants of color, not the production of units, writing, "Without adequate protections to keep low-income tenants in their homes, transit-oriented development might as well be called transit-rider displacement."

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: #BlackFuturesMonth

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Just in time to celebrate the culmination of Black History Month and Black Futures Month, the National Equity Atlas team is thrilled to relaunch the Chart of the Week series. This week, we are honoring the reality of Black existence and Black joy. Our vision of equity is a society where all Black people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. To put a dollar amount to the potential gains for the Black population if this vision of equity were achieved, we compared actual Black income to a scenario of racial equity in income for the population ages 16 and older.

        Nationally, average Black income was $24,928 in 2015 (as the chart below details). But if Black people had the same age-adjusted income distribution as non-Hispanic Whites, average Black income would be nearly $41,000, an increase of 64 percent. In the City of Oakland, California, average Black income was $30,072 in 2015. But with racial equity, this number would have been over $71,000, a staggering 137 percent increase. The potential gains in Oakland are substantially higher than the national gains because average White income in Oakland is nearly double the average White income nationally. But average Black income in Oakland is just $6,000 more than average Black income nationally, despite being in one of the most expensive metro areas in the country.

        Closing racial gaps in wage and employment can be achieved by eliminating discrimination in pay and hiring, boosting educational attainment, and ensuring strong and rising wages for low-wage workers. Policies that focus on these goals are good for families, good for communities, and good for the economy. National Equity Atlas data show that in Oakland, income gains for the Black population are evenly split between an increase in wages and employment, which we measure by the number of hours worked. Strategies that address both factors include ending wage theft and strengthening workers’ rights to organize as well as helping Black entrepreneurs start and scale-up their businesses. With racial equity in wages and employment, Black families would have more money to not just survive, but thrive and plan for the future.

        To see the newly updated gains in Black income with racial equity for your community (we just released the 2015 data!), visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state. Download and share the chart on social media using#BlackFuturesMonth and #equitydata.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas users:

        This year, the National Equity Atlas team was fortunate to work with some of the most talented and devoted equity leaders and advocates across the country to bolster community action with robust data. As 2017 comes to a close, we would like to thank you for being part of our community and share some of the highlights from our year:

        • Data for Community Organizing: When Renters Rise, Cities Thrive
          In September, dozens of cities participated in the #RenterWeekofAction to demand solutions to the renter affordability crisis. Our team partnered with Right to the City, Homes for All, and CarsonWatch to support these actions by producing fact sheets for the nation and 38 cities, and found that if renters paid only what they could afford on rent, they would have an extra $124 billion in their pockets each year, or $6,200 per rent-burdened household. View the fact sheets and check out media coverage in Next City, CityLab, Truthout, and LA Weekly.
        • Advancing Equitable Growth Solutions: Reports and Analyses
          We released several original research reports powered by National Equity Atlas data to make the economic case for racial equity and support the development of the data, tools, and policies that can make it a reality.

        Informing Community Action: Equity Profiles

        In 2017 our team worked with community partners of cities, counties, and regions from coast to coast to produce 15 equity profiles:

        In 2018, we will be deepening and expanding our comparative and place-based research, as well as strengthening the National Equity Atlas tool to further democratize data. We look forward to sharing it with you.

        With best wishes for the new year,

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas users:

        Happy November from the National Equity Atlas team! We are busy behind the scenes this month updating our data to 2015 for release early next year. We also launched our first report in our employment equity in Southern States series and are gearing up for next week’s webinar focused on data for advocacy. We hope you will join us!

        Webinar: Using Data to Support Organizing and Policy Advocacy
        Thousands of people in dozens of cities across the country participated in this year’s #RenterWeekofAction, holding actions and assemblies to demand better protections for renters. Join the National Equity Atlas team and Right to the City on December 6 at 12 p.m. P.T. / 3 p.m. E.T. for a webinar about how data supported these efforts. Equity Atlas team members Pamela Stephens and Ángel Ross will describe our analysis, Malcolm Torrejón Chu of Right to the City will discuss communications and messaging strategy, and Josh Butler of Housing Long Beach and Issac Simon Hodes from Lynn United will describe how they used the data in their local campaigns. Register here.

        Employment Equity: Putting Georgia on the Path to Inclusive Prosperity
        Yesterday, as a part of our work to advance economic inclusion in the South, we released a new report and fact sheet highlighting the importance of employment equity in Georgia. The Atlas team, along with our partners from Partnership for Southern Equity, shared our findings and held a panel discussion with leaders from The Urban League of Greater Atlanta, the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Decide Dekalb Development Authority, and the Atlanta Federal Reserve. Community mobilization was a key theme: panelists and audience members agreed that the data was powerful, and the most pressing need is for community members to use it to demand job solutions from their elected representatives.

        In the News…
        This past month, National Equity Atlas data was used:

        • To make the case to preserve and expand affordable housing in Texas neighborhoods through proactive policies in The Daily Texan.
        • To demonstrate the school poverty challenges the Denver Public School District is trying to tackle with some of its recent reforms in The Denver Post’s online news hub.
        • To explain how wage disparities between White employees and employees of color can be addressed through empowering youth of color in Vice Impact.


        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas users,

        Happy October! We’ve had a busy month finishing up several reports, sharing the Atlas with the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network, and supporting the data capacity of the PolicyLink All-In Cities initiative local partners. We are also searching for a new team member and gearing up for several upcoming webinars and events (hope to see you there!) Also, please note that scholarship applications for the PolicyLink Equity Summit 2018 are due November 3.

        TODAY: Equitable Economic Development as a Health Equity Strategy
        Interested in the intersection between economic inclusion and health equity? Join today’s County Health Rankings & Roadmaps webinar, “Improving Health through Equitable Economic Development and Strategic Partnerships” from 12-1 Pacific/3-4 Eastern. Equity Atlas team member Ángel Ross will share a framework for equitable economic development and the Atlas tool, and the Urban Health Plan located in the Bronx will describe their community-based strategies to improve health by improving livelihoods. Register here.

        Webinar: Using Data to Support Organizing and Policy Advocacy
        Join the National Equity Atlas team, Right to the City, and CarsonWatch on November 7 at 12pm P.T. / 3pm E.T. for a webinar about how data supported this year’s #RenterWeekofAction efforts. Equity Atlas team members Pamela Stephens and Ángel Ross will describe our analysis, Right to the City Communications Strategist Malcolm Torrejón Chu will discuss messaging strategy, and local community organizers will describe how they used the data in their campaigns. Register here.

        Join Our Team: PolicyLink is Hiring a Program Associate
        Love the Atlas? Come work with us! PolicyLink is looking for a full-time program associate in our Oakland office to join the National Equity Atlas partnership and Equitable Economy team. The associate will work with community partners in the Bay Area and elsewhere to develop local equity atlases and analyses to inform policy campaigns; produce innovative research on issues of race, place, and economic equity; and further develop the National Equity Atlas. Find the job description and instructions on how to apply here.

        Community Indicators Consortium 2017 Summit: November 15-17 St. Petersberg
        Gather with other community leaders using data for community action at the annual Community Indicators Consortium conference. The theme of this year’s even is “Information is Power.” Equity Atlas team member Sarah Treuhaft will lead a pre-conference workshop on November 15th on Data Tools for Equity Action. Register here.

        In the News…
        National Equity Atlas data was used to …


        Thank you!
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas users:

        It has been an incredible month for getting equity data in the hands of advocates working to build inclusive cities! We were thrilled to provide powerful data to support the #RenterWeekofAction and hope that you find these fact sheets useful as well. We also released two new reports, including a set of design principles for online data tools advancing health equity, and an analysis of how changing demographics by age and race affects education spending. Enjoy!

        When Renters Rise, Cities Thrive: National and Local Fact Sheets
        Last week, dozens of cities participated in the #RenterWeekofAction to demand solutions to the renter affordability crisis. Our team partnered with Right to the City, Homes for All, and CarsonWatch to support these actions by producing fact sheets for the nation and 38 cities.* While renters are now the majority in the largest 100 cities, they are burdened by rising rents and low wages. If they paid only what they could afford on rent, they would have an extra $124 billion in their pockets each year, or $6,200 per rent-burdened household. View the fact sheets here and check out media coverage in Next City, CityLab, Truthout, and LA Weekly.

        Register Now: Webinar on Improving Health through Equitable Economic Development
        On October 24, Angel Ross will share the National Equity Atlas and discuss why equitable economic development is critical to advancing health equity on a webinar hosted by the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps project. Join the webinar from 3-4 p.m. Eastern/12-1 p.m. Pacific to learn more about this important intersection between racial economic inclusion and health, and hear about how Urban Health Plan in the Bronx is using economic development as a strategy to improve community health. Register here.

        Powering Health Equity Action with Online Data Tools: 10 Design Principles
        This month we released a new report in partnership with EcoTrust, Powering Health Equity Action with Online Data Tools. We offer 10 design principles for creating online data tools that can drive community action for health equity, such as: address the root causes of health inequities, disaggregate data to the maximum extent possible, and honor indigenous data sovereignty. The report also shares examples of tools that embody these principles, and tips for applying these principles. As part of the release, we hosted a Twitter chat about the principles, which you can check out (and add to!) here.

        New Report: Bridging the Racial Generation Gap Is Key to America's Economic Future
        On September 6, we released new analysis examining how the “racial generation gap” between a growing senior population that is predominantly White and a rapidly diversifying youth population affects spending on public education in counties and states. We find that every percentage-point increase in the racial generation gap is associated with a decrease in state and local per-child education spending of around 1.5 percent. Angela Glover Blackwell and Manuel Pastor describe how this relationship increases the urgency of investing in youth in an op-ed in The Hill and journalist Ron Brownstein wrote about our findings in The Atlantic.


        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)
         

        *City fact sheets are available for: Alameda; Atlanta; Baltimore; Birmingham; Boston; Bowling Green, KY; Brooklyn; Charlotte; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Durham; El Paso; Jackson; Long Beach; Los Angeles; Lynn, MA; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville; Newark; Oakland; Philadelphia; Portland; Providence; Reno; Rochester; San Diego; Santa Ana; Santa Barbara; Santa Rosa; Seattle; Spokane; Springfield; St. Paul; Washington, DC.

        National Equity Atlas Updates

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        From Detroit to Raleigh, we are thrilled to be working with so many incredible community leaders and advocates who are innovating new, data-driven approaches to equitable growth. We are also excited about the analyses we are working on to support the upcoming #RentersWeekofAction, and that registration is now open for Equity Summit 2018.

        Detroit Equity Profile Powers FoodLab Detroit’s Good Food, Good Jobs Strategy
        FoodLab Detroit recently released a photo essay series about its “Good Food, Good Jobs” strategy, which highlights how Detroit food entrepreneurs are using the data in the recent National Equity Atlas Detroit equity profile to inform their definition of success: “We’ve been focused on working with disconnected youth, and we have grown in part specifically because of that,” said Shannon Byrne from Slow Jams at a recent FoodLab Network Gathering. The PolicyLink team is working with FoodLab to support and amplify their triple-bottom-line business model in communities of color. Learn more and see the photo essays here.

        Register Now for Equity Summit 2018: Our Power. Our Future. Our Nation
        Join PolicyLink and the National Equity Atlas team in Chicago April 11-13, 2018 to envision with 2,000+ other equity advocates, policymakers, and community leaders how to advance transformative change this moment of backlash and regression at the national level. Using data to bolster the case for equity as a moral and economic imperative and advance equitable growth strategies at scale will be a theme throughout the conference. The Equity Atlas team is developing a hands-on Equity Institute training for the Summit and other relevant content which we will share in the coming months. Read the Summit Vision today and register here.

        Data for Action: Designing Employment Equity Strategies in the South
        The Atlas team has been continuing our research to inform employment equity strategies in five Southern states. This month, we launched our partnership with Rural Forward and the North Carolina Justice Center to develop an agenda for North Carolina. And with our partners the Alabama Asset-Building Coalition and the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Coalition, we held focus groups in Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, and Atlanta and Douglas County, Georgia to hear directly from residents facing barriers to employment. This qualitative research will complement rigorous data analysis PERE is completing on the potential economic and social benefits of full employment.

        Get Ready for #RenterWeekofAction
        During the week of September 18-24, members of the Homes for All campaign are calling for renters and all people who believe that housing is a human right to stand up for our communities, defend our homes, and fight for a world where all people have dignified and affordable homes. In preparation for the Renter Week of Action and Education, the National Equity Atlas team is crunching the numbers to include in fact sheets on the importance of renters in 38 cities where actions will be taking place. Click here to learn more about how you can participate.

        Online Data Tools Twitter Chat
        On September 13, the Atlas team and Ecotrust will be releasing Powering Health Equity Action through Online Data Tools. Authored by Ángel Ross, the report offers up a set of 10 design principles for online data tools intended to advance health equity. It was developed for researchers, advocates, community members, planners, funders, and others interested in building, improving, or investing in such data tools. On September 14 at 2pm E.T. / 11am P.T., join @PolicyLink and @Ecotrust for a Twitter chat with national leaders who are using and designing data tools to drive health equity and community action by following #equitydata.

        In the News…
        National Equity Atlas data was used to make the case for fair housing policy change, close racial economic gaps, and more this month:


        Thank you!
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        FoodLab Detroit Uses Equity Data to Power Its Good Food, Good Jobs Strategy

        FoodLab Detroit is a community of food entrepreneurs designing, building, and maintaining a diverse ecosystem of triple-bottom-line food businesses as part of a good food movement that is accountable to all Detroiters.

        At their recent Annual Network Gathering, designers, policy experts, food justice activists, FoodLab member businesses and community leaders were invited to brainstorm about how to solve the problem of economic inequality and the rise of the working poor in Detroit by ensuring that good food and good jobs are accessible to all people.

        At the beginning of the gathering, Chris Schildt from PolicyLink presented the recently-published Detroit equity profile and key metrics related to the city's demographics, economic vitality, workforce readiness, connectedness and economic benefits. Specifically, that:

        • Poverty rates, including rates of working poverty, are growing throughout the city. 64 percent of residents in 2014 lived living below 200 percent of the poverty level.
        • People of color continue to earn the lowest wages. Since 2000, white workers have seen an average decrease in wages by $2/hour, whereas non-white workers (including black and Latino) have seen an average decrease in wages by $5/hour.
        • Roughly 30,000 youth (95 percent of which are people of color) are disconnected from work or school. Detroit is the city with the largest share of disconnected youth in the United States.
        • The average income for people of color in Detroit would increase by 25 percent with racial equity.

         

        In their recap of the event, organizers write, “Armed with this data, we discussed how to build a new economy in Detroit that is equitable, sustainable, prosperous and provides opportunities to restore power and agency back to those communities most marginalized.”

        FoodLab Detroit documented the gathering in the photo essay, “Food as a Catalyst for Community Change.”

        They have also created a three-part photo essay series about their Good Food, Good Jobs strategy, in which food entrepreneurs are creating an inclusive food economy that empowers individuals and supports their community's vision for a vibrant, thriving economy:

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        We hope you are enjoying the end of summer! We had a busy month with the release of five new equity profiles, a national convening on how to design equity data tools for community action, and the release of the All-In Cities Policy Toolkit.

        New Equity Profiles Released for Five Communities
        Understanding the state of equity in your community is a crucial first step to developing equitable growth strategies, but such comprehensive assessments are rare, especially for smaller communities. With support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Equity Atlas team recently released equity profiles for five smaller communities: Las Cruces and Farmington, New Mexico; Biloxi and Sunflower County, Mississippi; and Battle Creek, Michigan. During our June 29 webinar, Jessica Pizarek and James Crowder of PolicyLink shared key findings with the field and local leaders from the five communities described how they would use the data to advance equity efforts.

        Powering Health Equity Action with Online Data Tools Convening
        On July 10, the National Equity Atlas team and Ecotrust hosted a convening in Portland focused on how data tools like the Atlas can power community action towards health equity. About 40 researchers, advocates, data users, and funders shared learnings and workshopped a set of design principles for online data tools for health equity. One of the panels featured Nathaniel Smith from the Partnership for Southern Equity, Sam Sinyangwe from Campaign Zero/Mapping Police Violence, Julia Sebastian from Race Forward, Cat Goughnour from Prosperity Now, and Antwi Akom from Streetwyze, ISEEED, and the Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab at the University of California, San Franiciso and San Francisco State University. Watch that panel discussion here and look out for a final report on the convening and design principles in the fall.

        Chart of the Week: Rollback of St. Louis Minimum Wage Hike Drags Down Missouri Economy
        Come August 28, St. Louis’s minimum wage will drop from $10/hour to $7.70/hour, thanks to a new Missouri law that prevents municipalities from enacting higher minimum wages than the state standard. This shortsighted policy harms workers and ultimately the state’s economy since lower wages translate into less spending and higher levels of public assistance for the working poor. It also hinders sorely needed progress toward racial equity, as illustrated by our chart of the week. In St. Louis, median hourly wages for full-time workers has remained $18/hour since 1990, while the wage gap between Black and White workers has doubled. To be the first to view each week's chart, follow @PolicyLink on Twitter and visit the Data in Action section of the National Equity Atlas.

        New Resource: All-In Cities Policy Toolkit
        Interested in learning more about policy solutions to advance racial inclusion and equitable growth? Check out the new All-In Cities Policy Toolkit released July 13. It provides more information on many of the policy strategies shared on the Atlas including living wage provisions, local and targeted hiring, summer youth employment, housing trust funds, racial equity impact assessments, and more. Click here to view the toolkit launch webinar with a demo on how to navigate the site, and stay tuned for new content!

        New Study Shows Less Income Inequality = Greater Economic Resilience
        A new article in Regional Studies, by three economists at the University of Idaho exploring the relationship between income equality and economic resilience, found that the risk of recession was lower for more equitable counties during the Great Recession. Why was this the case? Because higher-income households are less likely to spend money locally than lower-income households and because growing consumer debt makes the middle-class more vulnerable. Check out this overview in CityLab, and find this and other resources to make the economic case for equity on the Atlas.

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: Missouri Rolls Back St. Louis Minimum Wage Hike

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Today, minimum-wage workers in St. Louis make $10/hour. This is only after a two-year battle in the courts in which the Missouri Supreme Court ultimately upheld the City of St. Louis’s authority to raise its minimum wage following a suit brought by business owners against a 2015 city ordinance. But come August 28, their wages will drop to $7.70/hour thanks to the state government – costing the average full-time, minimum-wage worker in St. Louis about $4,600 per year in lost pay.

        Income inequality in the city was higher than the nation in 1990 and has only increased since. Rising inequality does not only hurt low- and middle-wage workers; it also acts as a drag on economic growth for the whole region. More equitable economies, on the other hand, are more resilient and experience more sustained economic growth. Still, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens claimed, without evidence, that the city ordinance “will take money out of people’s pockets,” while allowing a bill that will literally take money out of worker’s paychecks to become law. As State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, whose district includes St. Louis, points out: “Missouri taxpayers shell out $2.4 billion per year in public assistance to make up for the fact that big companies like McDonald’s and Walmart don’t pay their workers enough to survive. Governor [Eric] Greitens and Republican legislators in Jefferson City may be content to let taxpayers subsidize poverty [to] pay for big business, but St. Louis is choosing a different path. One way or another, we are going to save this raise.”

        This week’s chart shows how even though there has been no real increase in the median hourly wage since 1990, the Black-White wage gap as doubled. While the median wage captures workers in the middle of the wage distribution, research has shown that minimum wage increases produce “ripple effects” or increases in those earning above the minimum wage. More importantly, a living wage for a family consisting of one adult and one child in St. Louis is over $20/hour, but the median wage has remained $18/hour since 1990. At the same time, the Black-White wage gap has doubled. White workers experienced a $2/hour increase in median wages from 1990 to 2014 while the Black median wage declined $1/hour. Despite stagnant wage growth among all workers, the state of Missouri is still working to suppress wages for low-wage workers.

        In an equitable city and state, wages would reflect differences in education, training, experience, as well as pay scales across occupations and industries, but would not vary systematically by race or gender. But National Equity Atlas data shows that full-time White workers have a higher median wage than Black workers in St. Louis and Missouri at nearly every education level. Importantly, this law will hurt all low-wage workers throughout the state, taking hard-earned money of out people’s paychecks in order to deepen the pockets of large businesses.

        To see how median wages have changed in your city or state, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state. Download and share the chart on social media using #equitydata.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        June 27, 2017

        Dear Atlas User,

        Summer is here, and the demand for data to drive community action for health equity and inclusive growth continues to grow! We are busy preparing for two important events: the release of five new equity profiles for smaller communities and a national conversation about data tools for health equity action in Portland. We were also thrilled to see our data on working poverty used in an op-ed for Teen Vogue refuting HUD Secretary Ben Carson's claim that poverty is "a state of mind."

        July 10 Webcast: Data Tools for Health Equity Action

        Join us on July 10 at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT for a livestreamed panel discussion in Portland with national leaders who are using and designing data tools to drive health equity action. Speakers include Nathaniel Smith from the Partnership for Southern Equity, Sam Sinyangwe from Campaign Zero and Mapping Police Violence, Julia Sebastian from Race Forward, Cat Goughnour from Radix Consulting and Right 2 Root, and Antwi Akom from Streetwyze, ISEEED, and the Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab at UCSF and SFS. PolicyLink Senior Director Sarah Treuhaft will moderate. The event is co-hosted by PolicyLink and Ecotrust and generously supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. REGISTER NOW.

        June 29 Webinar: Disaggregated Data for Equitable Growth in Smaller Cities

        On Thursday, June 29 (11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT), the Equity Atlas team is holding a webinar highlighting the release of new equity data profiles for five smaller communities: Las Cruces and Farmington, New Mexico; Biloxi and Sunflower County, Mississippi; and Battle Creek, Michigan. Local community leaders, including Rodolfo Acosta-Perez from the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico, Josh Davis, Delta Health Alliance, Allytra Perryman of the East Biloxi Community Collaborative, and Jorge Zeballos, Center for Diversity and Innovation at Kellogg Community College, will share how they plan to use the data to advance their work. These profiles were developed with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Register here.

        New Detroit Equity Profile

        After decades of job and population loss, the City of Detroit has shown recent signs of growth, yet deep racial inequities, declining wages, and a hollowing out of middle-wage, high-opportunity jobs threaten the city's rebound and economic viability. Developed with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this new equity profile highlights how pursuing equitable growth can benefit all residents and businesses in Detroit. For example, had racial inequities in income been eliminated in 2014, the Detroit region's GDP could have been $29 billion larger, a 13 percent increase. We released this profile at a gathering of community leaders on June 13 and also presented our findings at the Allied Media Conference Good Food Good Jobs Network Gathering hosted by FoodLab Detroit.

        Chart of the Week is Back!

        After a brief hiatus, the Atlas Chart of the Week is back! This week's chart #ProtectMedicaid shows the states with the highest share of people living below 150 percent of the federal poverty line, highlighting those who have expanded Medicaid. To be the first to view each week's chart, follow @PolicyLink on Twitter and visit the Data in Action section of the National Equity Atlas.

        In the News…

        • In a recent op-ed for Teen Vogue, writer Lincoln Blades shares our data on working poverty to dispute the perception that poverty is a mindset, responding to HUD Secretary Ben Carson's comment, "I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind."
        • The Long Island Equity Profile released April 24 continues to gain traction. As reported by Newsday, Theresa Sanders of the Long Island Urban League presented the findings to the Long Island Regional Planning Council, the Long Island economy could be $24 billion stronger with racial equity. The council's chair found that statistic "startling" and sought solutions to advance equitable growth in the region.

         

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: #ProtectMedicaid

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Last week, Senate Republicans unveiled their health care bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Like the ACA, the House and Senate bills provide health insurance subsidies through tax credits. But they also roll back federal money to states that opt-in to the Medicaid expansion through the ACA and end Medicaid as an open-ended entitlement.

        This week’s chart highlights the share of people living below 150 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and the states that have expanded Medicaid coverage. For states that have expanded coverage, individuals in a household with an income below 138 percent of the FPL are eligible for Medicaid. As the chart below shows, among the five states with the highest share of people of color below 150 percent of the FPL, only Arkansas and Montana have elected to expand Medicaid. The two states with the highest share of people of color below 150 percent of the FPL —South Dakota and Mississippi, where more than half of people of color live below this poverty threshold — have not expanded Medicaid. At the same time, the three states with the highest share of White people below 150 percent of the FPL — West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas — have expanded Medicaid.

        As the Senate prepares to bring the health care bill to the floor this week, call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 to encourage them to save Medicaid, which insures nearly one in five Americans.  

        To see how poverty varies in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas and share the chart of your community using #ProtectMedicaid and #equitydata.

        Atlas Data Helps Make the Case that Poverty Is More Than A “State of Mind”

        Atlas Data Helps Make the Case that Poverty Is More Than A “State of Mind”

        In a recent op-ed for Teen Vogue, writer Lincoln Blades disputes the perception that poverty is a mindset, responding to Ben Carson’s comment during a radio interview, “I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.”

        Blades uses National Equity Atlas as a resource to outline the extent that Americans experience poverty as a tangible, lived reality, showing:

        • There are more than 100 million Americans living at or below 200 percent of the poverty line.

        • The share of Americans working full-time and landing in poverty increased between 2000 and 2012.

        He writes, “Poverty in America is less about something that you do to yourself, and more about something that is done to you, either against your will or without your knowledge and consent. Poverty isn't about your state of mind as much as it is about policy and plunder.”

        Read the full story in Teen Vogue.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Atlas Users,

        It has been a busy month! We released new profiles in Buffalo and Grand Rapids, and are working to finalize several others while doing some strategic planning for the next few years of the Equity Atlas. We are also beginning to think about the equity data elements of the upcoming Equity Summit 2018 to be held in Chicago April 11-13. Mark your calendars now!

        Data Driving Health Equity Action in Buffalo
        With millions in public and private investments on the horizon, Buffalo is poised for resurgence. But the city’s long-term prosperity hinges on addressing its wide racial and economic inequities in health, wealth, and opportunity. On May 8, in partnership with Open Buffalo and through the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we released a profile and policy brief showcasing health equity as the path to stronger and more inclusive growth in Buffalo. At the event, Atlas team member Ángel Ross shared data showing how Buffalo’s economy could have been over $4 billion stronger in 2014 absent its racial gaps in income, and community leaders discussed how strategies such as inclusionary zoning, community land trusts, and anchor investments in health and economic inclusion can move the city forward for all.

        Grand Rapids Equity Profile Released at Facing Inclusion Event
        On April 26, An Equity Profile of Grand Rapids was released during a panel discussion and community forum at 2017 FORUM: Facing Inclusion, a convening held by Partners for a Racism-Free Community focused on elevating issues of equity in the city. The profile lends new analyses to support important action already being lead by local advocates to create more equitable opportunities for all residents of the city. Since January, PolicyLink and PERE have been working with advocates in Grand Rapids to develop an equity profile of the city, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

        In the News…
        Several local and national news outlets covered the Long Island and New Orleans profiles that were released last month:


        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        Happy April! It has been a busy month with the release of three new equity profiles for Fresno county, New Orleans city, and Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties). We have enjoyed working with many local partners to produce critical data to inform equitable growth strategies in these very different communities.

        Kicking Things Off in Fresno
        Since January, PolicyLink and PERE have been working with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability to develop an equity profile of Fresno County, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The profile and policy brief were released on April 11 at a forum and panel discussion focused on the implications for this research in health equity campaigns. In addition to the unique data analysis, the documents contain actionable solutions for residents, advocates, business leaders, and policymakers seeking to reduce racial inequalities and build a stronger Fresno. The Leadership Counsel intends to use the information in the profile to mobilize residents and advocates around California’s Transformative Climate Communities Program.

        New Data Profile Supports City of New Orleans Equity Strategy
        On April 20, the City of New Orleans officially launched its Equity Strategy, describing how local government will do its part to build a stronger, more inclusive city by advancing equity through its operations and decisionmaking. At the event, PolicyLink and PERE released an equity profile of New Orleans, the first of a series of ten new equity profiles produced with the support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. PolicyLink has been working with the Office of Mayor Landrieu to provide assistance with developing its equity strategy for the past year through its All-In Cities initiative, and Senior Director Sarah Treuhaft participated on the panel at the launch event and then held a session to share the findings of the equity profile.

        Empowering Black Long Island
        An Equity Profile of Long Island was released today in partnership with the Long Island Urban League and through the support of Citi Community Development, the Long Island Community Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The profile and policy brief, Empowering Black Long Island: How Equity Is Key to the Future of Nassau and Suffolk Counties highlight how Long Island is rapidly growing more diverse, yet persistent racial inequities thwart inclusive prosperity in the region. Black Long Islanders in particular, who were largely excluded from the massive federally subsidized suburban development that characterizes Long Island, continue to face barriers to full social, economic, and political inclusion. These inequities put the region’s long-term economic future at risk: Long Island’s economy could have been nearly $24 billion stronger in 2014 alone if racial gaps in income were eliminated. Check out the conversation that took place on social media at #EquityLongIsland.

        Atlas Data Supports Argument against State Preemption in Facing South
        In a recent op-ed, Allie Yee of the Institute for Southern Studies details how Republican-controlled statehouses in the South have been pushing to undermine local authority in liberal-leaning cities. She uses National Equity Atlas data to prove that workers of color bear the brunt of the consequences of Georgia’s bans on local minimum wage increases and local requirements for paid leave. To learn more about the working poor in your state, explore the working poor indicator on the Atlas.

        Thank you!
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Atlas Data Supports Argument against State Preemption

        In a recent op-ed published in Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies, Allie Yee details how Republican-controlled statehouses in the South have been pushing to undermine local authority in liberal-leaning cities. Moreover, that, “the brunt of those consequences are borne disproportionately by women, people of color, LGBT people, low-income communities, immigrants and those at the intersection of these identities.”

         

        She uses National Equity Atlas data to show who suffers the consequences of Georgia’s bans on local minimum wage increases and local requirements for paid leave, writing:

        In 2014, according to the National Equity Atlas, 16.6 percent of women of color and 17.7 percent of men of color in the state were considered working poor, defined as those working full-time and living below 200 percent of the poverty level. That compares to only 7.8 percent of white men and 6.1 percent of white women.

        To learn more about the working poor in your state, explore the working poor indicator on the Atlas.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        Spring is a busy time for equity data! Our team is hard at work producing 15 new equity profiles, most of which will be released in April and May. We also began digging into our new project focused on employment equity in southern states, and hosted a webinar sharing local jobs equity strategies in New Orleans and Minneapolis.

        Employment Equity in Southern States Project Launched
        Quality employment is the foundation of a thriving, shared prosperity economy, but even in today's nearly "full employment" economy, many workers of color remain jobless, underemployed, or struggling to get by in low-wage, precarious jobs. With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, PolicyLink and PERE are working to build employment equity in five southern states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina. We will analyze the potential economic gains of realizing full employment for workers of every race and gender and work with local partners in each state to effectively frame the research, understand barriers to employment, and present policy solutions at the state and local level. Last week marked the official launch of the project in Alabama, where we are partnering with the Alabama Asset Building Coalition; and Georgia in with the Partnership for Southern Equity.

        Webinar Recap: Targeted Strategies to Reduce Employment Inequality
        U.S. unemployment rates have fallen across the board, but joblessness remains a pressing challenge for workers of color in many metros. Building on the analysis in our recent brief, Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros, the National Equity Atlas team hosted a webinar on March 23 to lift up local approaches and strategies to close the employment gap in areas of racially concentrated unemployment. Our guest speakers were Asali Ecclesiastes, Claiborne Corridor program manager at the Network for Economic Opportunity (an initiative of the City of New Orleans), and Tawanna Black, executive director of the Neighborhood Funders Group in Minneapolis. You can view the webinar recording online and download the slides now.

        #DayWithoutAWoman and St. Louis’s Minimum Wage Win
        In the latest Chart of the Week posts, PolicyLink Research Associate Ángel Ross looked at two issues critical to advancing equitable growth locally.

        • For International Women’s Day and in solidarity with the #DayWithoutAWoman campaign, this analysis of the gender wage gap in Oakland highlights the racial and gender-based discrimination that continues to relegate women of color to the lower rungs of the economic system.
        • After the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the city of St. Louis’s authority to raise its minimum wage to $11/hour by 2018 earlier this month, this chart underscores the importance of this victory. Black and Latino full-time workers in the city are 2.5 to 3 times more likely than White full-time workers to live in poverty.


        Thank you!
        --The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        #ADayWithoutAWoman Highlights Racial and Gender-Based Discrimination

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Today is International Women’s Day and folks across the country are participating in the Women’s March #DayWithoutAWoman and the International Women’s Strike. Both efforts are focused around the economy—highlighting the lower wages, lack of job security, and greater vulnerability to harassment that many women and femmes face as well as the various forms of unpaid emotional labor expected of women and femmes on the job and at home.

        In solidarity with #DayWithoutAWoman, this week’s chart highlights the racial and gender-based discrimination that continues to relegate women of color to the lower rungs of the economic system. The chart below shows median hourly wages of full-time wage and salary workers ages 25 to 64 by race/ethnicity and gender in the city of Oakland, California. Surprisingly, there is no gender wage gap if we do not break down the population by race: the median wage of all women in Oakland is $24/hour, the same as it is among all men. But when we factor in race, the largest gender wage gaps are among White workers. The median wage of White male workers in the city is $4/hour more than the median wage of White female workers.  But White women have a median wage that is $9/hour more than that of Black men and women and $16/hour more than the median wage of Latino men and women. The gender wage gaps are nonexistent among Black and Latino workers and Asian or Pacific Islander women and women of mixed/other races actually have a slightly higher median wage than their male counterparts. Importantly, women of color are more likely than men of color to have an associate’s degree or higher.

        Policies to ensure living wages for all workers include raising the floor on low-wage work by increasing the minimum wage or enacting living-wage laws, requiring paid sick days, ending wage theft, strengthening workers’ rights to organize, and ensuring fair scheduling. Businesses in King County (Seattle), Washington are signing on to an initiative pledging to identify internal gender equity issues, share lessons with other employers, and implement best practices to close the gender wage gap.

        To see how median wages vary by race/ethnicity and gender in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city, region, or state, download and share the chart using #DayWithoutAWomen and #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: St. Louis Wins Court Battle to Raise Minimum Wage

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        On Tuesday, in a victory for working families, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the city of St. Louis’s authority to raise its minimum wage to $11/hour by 2018. The decision reverses the 2015 ruling of a lower court judge who sided with business groups that sued the City in response to the ordinance. The Missouri Supreme Court judge who presided over the case reiterated that the city law does not conflict with state minimum wage laws: “[The state law’s] purpose of protecting employees is served by setting a floor for minimum wages; nothing in the law suggests the state also wanted to protect employers by setting a maximum minimum wage.” Although this ruling is a win for St. Louis workers, a separate 2015 state law prevents any other local jurisdictions from passing their own minimum wage increases, regardless of the local cost of living.

        To highlight the importance of local minimum wages, this week’s chart looks at the share of full-time workers with a family income below 100, 150, and 200 percent of poverty in the city of St. Louis. As the chart below shows, nearly 29 percent of Black full-time workers ages 25 to 64 live below 200 percent of poverty compared with 10 percent of White full-time workers. Even more strikingly, nearly 7 percent of Latino full-time workers live below the federal poverty line compared with just over 2 percent of White full time workers. In other words, Black and Latino full-time workers in the city are 2.5 to 3 times more likely than White full time workers to live in poverty.

        In a statement, St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed said, “Today, the Supreme Court justified our rights as a city to make sure the people in our city can make a living wage. The people of St. Louis need to be able to afford groceries for their families and a roof over their heads.” According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a living wage for one adult with two children in St. Louis is just over $25/hour, but this victory puts the city on the right path to ensuring that all full-time workers earn family supporting wages.

        To explore policies that lift workers out of poverty, check out the Agenda to Raise America’s Pay and the Tax Alliance for Economic Mobility’s brief on utilizing tax credits for low-income workers.

        To see how working poverty varies for your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas, download the chart and share on social media using #equitydata.

        National Equity Atlas Air Pollution Data Featured in The Seattle Times

        In a recent Seattle Times op-ed, Peter Bloch Garcia, executive director of Latino Community Fund of Washington, and Tony Leeco-chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition in King County, used air pollution data from the National Equity Atlas to make the case for more equitable climate policies in Washington state.

        "The National Equity Atlas illustrates that air-pollution exposure in the Asian Pacific Islander population is 34 points worse than it is for the white population in Washington state."

        Urging state legislators to take action on climate and environmental justice, the authors explained that “While environmental justice champions at the federal level must play defense, Washington state should be on offense. We can rebalance uneven access to healthy neighborhoods and create green jobs.”

        Visit the National Equity Atlas to learn more about our two air pollution indicators (Exposure index and Unequal burden) and explore the data for your region.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        The House of Representatives will soon bring its HUD funding bill for the remainder of FY17 to the floor for a vote, and Representative Gosar (Arizona-04) is likely to file an amendment that would dismantle the 2015 Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule and eliminate federal support for disaggregated geospatial data. This data is critical for communities and advocates to understand, track, and address racial inequities related to housing, employment, transportation, and many other important causes. Please join the National Fair Housing Alliance, PolicyLink, the ACLU Nationwide, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition and sign this letter encouraging Congress to protect AFFH and oppose any efforts to block access to federal geospatial data.

        Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros
        Earlier this month Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity featured a post from PolicyLink Senior Director Sarah Treuhaft, discussing how to build stronger and more inclusive regional economies by using neighborhood-targeted approaches to reduce racial inequities in employment. Read the full post and download the related brief here.

        Addressing Racially Concentrated Unemployment: Lessons from New Orleans
        U.S. unemployment rates have fallen across the board, but joblessness remains a pressing challenge for workers of color in many metros. Join the National Equity Atlas team on March 23 from 12:00 - 12:45 p.m. PT / 3:00 - 3:45 p.m. ET for a webinar discussion of our recent research brief, “Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros,” and lessons from the Network for Economic Opportunity’s efforts to develop targeted solutions to unemployment in New Orleans. Register here.

        Advancing Health Equity and Inclusive Growth in Sacramento County
        On February 2, PolicyLink launched an engagement with the Healthy Sacramento Coalition to develop strategies to both promote racial equity and improve health outcomes for residents of Sacramento County. Founded in 2011 and supported by the Sierra Health Foundation, the Healthy Sacramento Coalition has grown to include more than 60 members actively working to address the social determinants of health. Sacramento is one of five cities where PolicyLink is working with partners to address racial inequities in health, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Coupling rigorous data analysis with the wisdom and experience of community leaders and residents, this engagement will yield a comprehensive equity profile that the Coalition will use to advance a focused policy agenda. The profile and report will be released in late April 2017.

        Saving Federal Geospatial Databases and More Charts of the Week
        Collecting and publishing disaggregated data is critical to advancing equitable growth locally, as illustrated in three recent charts of the week from PolicyLink Research Associate Ángel Ross.

        • The latest chart of the week, “Save AFFH and Federal Geospatial Databases,” highlights the importance of spatial data and the AFFH rule by showing two maps of unemployment in Memphis, Tennessee. The AFFH rule provides local jurisdictions with spatial data to ensure that federal dollars go towards making all communities neighborhoods of opportunity.
        • "Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto Signs Five Executive Orders," our February 17 chart of the week, looks at renter housing burden in the city of Pittsburgh.
        • Finally, our February 7 chart of the week highlights immigrants’ contribution to growth in Cincinnati – one of the newest cities to defy the president’s executive order on immigration and declare itself a sanctuary city. Immigrants in Cincinnati make up less than 5 percent of the population but have accounted for all of the city’s population growth since 1990.

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: Save AFFH and Federal Geospatial Databases

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Last month, we wrote about the dangers of the proposed Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017, and this week we heard that the House of Representatives may bring its HUD funding bill for the remainder of FY17 to the floor for a vote next week. Representative Paul Gosar (Arizona-04) will likely file an amendment that adopts some or all of the language in the bill.

        The National Fair Housing Alliance, PolicyLink, the ACLU, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition have coordinated to prepare a sign on letter in opposition to Rep. Gosar’s expected amendment. CLICK HERE to read and sign on to the letter, and please share with your local, state, and national networks! The deadline to sign on is Tuesday, February 28.

        As letter describes, even though the Fair Housing Act has been on the books for nearly a half century, cities, counties and states that receive federal funds for housing and community development had little guidance about how to fulfill the fair housing obligations to which they agreed in exchange for receiving those funds, and few tools for doing so. The 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule responds to requests from HUD grantees for greater guidance and more support in furthering fair housing, as well as recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office in a 2010 report based on its review of HUD’s fair housing oversight.

        This week’s chart highlights the importance of spatial data and this rule in particular by showing two maps of unemployment in Memphis, Tennessee. The map on the left shows white unemployment by neighborhood and the map on the right shows unemployment for people of color by neighborhood. The darker blue census tracts represent areas where the unemployment rate is more than 20 percent. On the white unemployment map, there are only a few neighborhoods where unemployment is higher than 20 percent but on the people of color map, there are several clustered throughout the city. Racial differences in employment result from differences in education, training, and experience as well as barriers to employment for workers of color such as English language ability, immigration status, criminal records, lack of transportation access, and racial discrimination and bias among employers and institutions. The AFFH rule provides local jurisdictions with spatial data like this to ensure that federal dollars go towards making all communities neighborhoods of opportunity.

        Please consider signing on the letter and sharing it with your local, state, and national networks and share on social media why you oppose amendments to the T-HUD bill that would repeal HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation, require HUD to use its limited resources to duplicate previous consultations with state and local governments about how to fulfill their fair housing obligations, and block public access to government geo-spatial data.

        To see how unemployment varies in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas and share the map of your community using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto Signs Five Executive Orders on Affordable Housing

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto signed five executive orders last week aimed at preserving and expanding affordable housing in the city. The Affordable Housing Task Force, which developed a list of housing policies the City could enact to prevent the displacement of long-time residents and to mitigate the effects of the rapid development occurring throughout the city, informed the executive orders.

        After decades of depopulation and a stagnant economy, Pittsburgh is coming back. Once dominated by the steel industry, the city is now becoming a knowledge and technology-driven economy. Young college graduates are moving to Pittsburgh and enjoying the emerging startup culture and opportunities arising from the redevelopment of the city — but many longtime residents and local businesses are not benefiting from Pittsburgh's resurgence. Some neighborhoods are gentrifying, rents and home prices are rising, and families are moving out of the city to the suburbs to find affordable housing options. At the same time, in this emerging market, other neighborhoods continue to await long-needed reinvestment.

        Mayor Peduto's executive orders are a good first step to ensuring that everyone in Pittsburgh, especially long-standing residents, can benefit from the city's development. This week’s chart looks at renter housing burden in the city of Pittsburgh. Renter housing burden refers to the share of renter households spending more than 30 percent of household income on housing costs. Approximately 50 percent of renters in the city of Pittsburgh are cost-burdened. But, the burden is experienced differently among different racial groups. Nearly 54 percent of Black renter households are cost-burdened, compared with 47 percent of White renter households. Households of color are also significantly more likely than White households to be renters. Only 32 percent of households of color are owner-occupied compared with 56 percent of White households.

        Housing is one critical component of a strong equitable development agenda. Policies that preserve and expand affordable housing options and ensure that all residents can stay in their community and benefit from redevelopment are critical to the health of a city's economy. To learn more about the work of PolicyLink and Pittsburgh partners to advance an equitable development in the city, check out “The Path to an All-In Pittsburgh.”

        To see how renter and homeowner housing burden varies in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your community, and share the chart using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Cincinnati Becomes a Sanctuary City

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Immigration is a significant driver of population growth nationwide, yet the new administration continues to adopt hostile polices targeting immigrants and refugees — and the cities that seek to protect them. Just two weeks ago, the president signed an executive order blocking federal funds to sanctuary cities—jurisdictions that direct local law enforcement not to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with deportations. There’s no standard definition of sanctuary cities and there’s a spectrum of local law enforcement cooperation with immigration authorities, ranging from notifying ICE when someone in custody will be released to actively enforcing civil immigration laws. Despite the new president’s threats, several mayors of “sanctuary cities” are doubling down on their sanctuary status and vowing to protect all residents, including those without documentation.

        This week’s chart highlights immigrants’ contribution to growth in one of the newest cities to defy the president and declare itself a “sanctuary city”: Cincinnati. Immigrants make up less than 5 percent of the Cincinnati population, but have accounted for all of the city’s population growth since 1990. As the chart below shows, from 2000 to 2014, the U.S.-born population of Cincinnati declined by over 35,000 people while the immigrant population added 1,200 new residents. Cincinnati was one of 20 cities (among the 100 largest cities in the country) where immigrants accounted for 100% of net population growth during that time.

        It’s important to note that not all immigrants are undocumented or refugees, but it’s not uncommon for families and households to be mixed-status—meaning some members of a household or family may have documentation while others do not. Even though the executive orders thus far have targeted undocumented people as well as refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries, this type of rhetoric, surveillance, and enforcement has cascading impacts on all immigrants and people of color.

        In addition to Cincinnati, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, adopted a “welcoming city” policy, and will not require proof of citizenship when granting business licenses. San Francisco has taken an even more proactive stance and filed suit against the executive order, charging that it violates the states’ rights provisions of the Constitution.

        The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) has explained that “local jurisdictions have no legal obligation to assist with civil immigration enforcement, which is the responsibility of the federal government.” For a list of policies local jurisdictions can adopt, such as eliminating the use of local and statewide gang databases and the importance of county-level policies, check out “Expanding Sanctuary” and “Searching for Sanctuary.”

        To see how immigrants have contributed to growth in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your community, and share the chart using #equitydata.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,
         
        The new year has brought a whirlwind of leadership and policy changes – including many that place equitable growth policies and the data needed to inform them at risk. As updated demographic projections to 2050 reveal, America’s demographic shift toward a majority people-of-color country is a long-term trend that will continue regardless of political and policy sways. This means that the inclusion of communities of color will remain central to our economic fate as a nation, and your efforts to advance racial economic inclusion and opportunity are more important than ever.
         
        We hope that our data and policy ideas help you protect, defend, and innovate to make equitable growth the reality in your communities.
         
        Can a Targeted Jobs Strategy Reduce Racial Inequities in Unemployment in Your Metro?
        Inspired by our maps showing neighborhood unemployment by community racial/ethnic composition, the Atlas team analyzed the relationship between racial and spatial inequality in employment across America’s largest 150 metros. Our latest brief, Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros, shows how in several regions with large racial gaps in employment such as Youngstown and Milwaukee, unemployed workers of color tend to live in a small number of neighborhoods. In these places, neighborhood-targeted workforce development and job access strategies have the potential to increase racial equity and reduce disparities at the regional level, building stronger and more inclusive regional economies.
         
        Beyond a People-of-Color Majority: U.S. Demographic Projections to 2050
        The United States is projected to become a majority-people-of-color nation in 2044, but what does population growth look like beyond that year? Join the National Equity Atlas team on February 15 from 12-12:30 p.m. PT / 3-3:30 p.m. ET for a webinar discussion of the changing demographics of the U.S. and a live demo of four indicators that now include updated demographic projections to 2050: “People of Color,” “Race/ethnicity,” “Population growth rates”, and “Contribution to growth: People of color.” Register for the webinar here. In the meantime, PERE data analyst Pamela Stephens shares six key demographic trends to follow.
         
        #SavetheData and More Charts of the Week
        Collecting and publishing disaggregated data is critical to advancing equitable growth locally, and our three recent charts of the week from PolicyLink research associate Ángel Ross underscore this point.

        • Our January 11 “Location Matters for Health” chart illustrates how adult asthma and diabetes vary by race and place in the neighboring regions of Deltona and Orlando, Florida.
        • We joined the National Fair Housing Alliance in thanking President Obama for his support of fair housing and shared this #FairHousingThanksObama chart to support the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule (AFFH) as a tool to address inequities in access to opportunity.
        • Finally, we produced this #SavetheData chart to call attention to the very real danger that federal data disaggregation tools — like those used to track health disparities and enforce fair housing standards — will be defunded and eliminated.

         

        Thank you!
         
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Looking (Slightly) Beyond 2044: Six Reasons To Be Interested In The 2050 Demographic Projections

        The National Equity Atlas was developed as a tool to measure and track demographic change and equity across America's communities.  By 2044, the nation is projected to be majority people of color, yet communities of color face persistent barriers to accessing the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential. These inequities are not only bad for the people being left behind: they threaten our collective economic future. As economist Lawrence Summers put it "as people of color become a majority of the population, the failure to end their economic exclusion means the failure of the American economy."

        This month, the Equity Atlas team added updated demographic projections data to the Atlas through the year 2050, past the 2044 turning point. Our projections come from Woods & Poole Economics, a highly respected source used by many government agencies and researchers. These new projections can be found in the "People of Color," "Race/ethnicity," "Population growth rates", and "Contribution to growth: People of color" indicators and are available for counties, regions, and states. Here are six key demographic trends that deserve our attention:

        1. The population of color will continue to grow rapidly between 2040 and 2050. By 2050, 53 percent of the total population will be people of color, up from 48 percent in 2040. Between 2030 and 2040, 132 counties will become majority people of color. And between 2040 and 2050, 118 additional counties will join them, for a total of 737 majority people-of-color counties nationwide.


           
        2. Despite this shift, for most of these counties, Whites will remain the largest racial group. Only ten counties that will become majority people of color between 2040 and 2050 will experience a shift in their largest racial group.



           
        3. Most people will live in majority people of color counties in 2050. By 2050, 56 percent of Americans will live in majority people of color counties. Even though just 23 percent of counties will be majority people of color, most of the population will live in those counties.



           
        4. A handful of counties will revert back to being majority white. In 2050, three counties that are currently majority people of color are expected to become majority white – San Francisco, CA; New York, NY (Manhattan); and San Juan, Utah. As the country becomes majority people of color, nearly a quarter of all counties will experience growth in their White populations. About one in ten of these counties with growing White populations are majority people of color. However, these three counties stand out as counties that will actually shift to becoming majority white.  In New York County (Manhattan), this shift will happen as two major groups: Latinos and African Americans decline at rates outpacing White growth.



           
        5. Among the counties that will become majority people of color by 2050, many counties will still experience population decline for some of their communities of color. This phenomenon is most common with the Black population. Nationally, the Black population is expected to remain stable, growing from 12.2 to 12.7 percent between 2010 and 2050. But there is wide variation across counties, and 76 counties that will become majority people of color by 2050 will also lose Black population. Among these counties, Denver, CO will experience the largest percentage loss (26 percent) of its Black population as it moves to becoming majority people of color.





           
        6. Latinos and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) will drive growth among communities of color. Across all counties, 244 counties' Latino populations will double between 2010 and 2050, while 224 counties' AAPI populations will double. 153 will switch from being majority white or having a white plurality (the largest group in the absence of a majority) to majority or plurality Latino; 10 counties that are currently majority or plurality white will be majority or plurality AAPI.


        The updated demographic projections through 2050 analyzed here underscore how America will continue to grow more diverse and less White for the foreseeable future. Dozens of indicators of economic inclusion, workforce readiness, and community connectedness in the National Equity Atlas reveal persistent racial inequities. Regardless of political sways and even immigration policy over the short-term, the truth is that communities of color are central to our economic fate as a nation, and investing in people of color and removing barriers to their full participation in our economy and democracy remains an urgent national priority.

        Chart of the Week: Why We Need Data Broken Down By Race/Ethnicity

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        UPDATE 2/24/17: The House of Representatives may bring its HUD funding bill for the remainder of FY17 to the floor for a vote next week. Rep. Paul Gosar will likely file an amendment that adopts some or all of the language in Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017. The National Fair Housing Alliance, PolicyLink, the ACLU, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition have coordinated to prepare a sign on letter in opposition to Rep. Gosar’s expected amendment. CLICK HERE to read and sign on to the letter, and please share with your local, state, and national networks! The deadline to sign on is Tuesday, February 28.

        Just a month in the new administration, there are growing concerns among data analysts, researchers, and advocates about the preservation of federal databases, particularly those that disaggregate by race/ethnicity. Earlier this month, Representative Gosar (Arizona-04) introduced the “Local Zoning and Property Rights Protection Act of 2017” and Senator Lee (Utah) introduced the Senate Companion version. The bill is a general attack on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which seeks to reduce racial segregation and concentrated poverty while expanding opportunity for all, but more specifically, the bill is an attack on data itself. Section 3 states: “no Federal funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, or provide access to a Federal database of geospatial information on community racial disparities or disparities in access to affordable housing.”

        Under the guise of “protecting local zoning,” this bill strips the ability of local officials to access consistent data about their jurisdictions. This bill goes beyond attacking HUD for requiring recipients of federal funding to address racial disparities in opportunity. It seeks to prevent local officials from even knowing about those disparities in the first place. It is an attack on the ability of local officials to advance effective, data-driven policy solutions.

        To call attention to the very real danger that federal data disaggregation tools — like those used to enforce fair housing standards or track health disparities — will be defunded and eliminated, this week’s chart looks at neighborhood poverty in Arizona over time. Without disaggregated local data, planners and decision makers would only be able to see that overall the share of the population living in high-poverty neighborhoods (defined as census tracts with a poverty rate of 40 percent or higher) in the state more than doubled from 4.4 percent to 9.8 percent from 2000 to 2014. But it is clear that not all populations are equally impacted by concentrated poverty in Arizona. The White population is the least likely to live in concentrated poverty: less than four in every 100 White Arizona residents live in a high-poverty neighborhood. Native Americans, on the other hand, are nearly 11 times more likely than Whites to live in high-poverty neighborhoods. Latinos are nearly five times as likely as Whites to live in high-poverty neighborhoods. Poverty looks different for White people than for people of color because people of color are significantly more likely to live in high-poverty neighborhoods even if they are not poor. This not only highlights a long history of federally supported racial residential segregation, but it also underscores the importance of informed data-driven planning and policymaking.

        Despite the threats to the AFFH rule and tool that arms local decision makers with the data to make informed decisions, some states and localities, including California and Philadelphia are vowing to push forward with their efforts to further fair housing. California Department of Housing and Community Development Director, Ben Metcalf, said in a recent article, with or without the federal fair housing rule, the State of California will continue to approach work through the AFFH rule because it furthers outcomes the state values: “ensuring that folks growing up poor in California’s communities have a shot of accessing the middle class and avoiding some of the negative consequences associated with segregated communities or neighborhoods of highly concentrated poverty.” Similarly, Philadelphia completed the nation’s first AFFH plan and the city’s director of planning and development promised: “If it isn’t important at the national level, it’ll still be important at the local level and will still inform a lot of the decisions we make.”

        To see how neighborhood poverty varies in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your community, and post the chart on social media using #equitydata and #SaveTheData. The data can also serve as a talking point when contacting local elected officials, local government staff, members of Congress, businesses, developers, and other decision makers. Include examples (like Philadelphia) of how AFFH is beneficial to the community. If you’re already using Equity Atlas, HUD, or Census data to guide your organizing or policymaking efforts, consider writing a letter and op-ed in support of the AFFH rule and other federal data disaggregation efforts.

        For responses and reactions to the bill and threats to fair housing, check out the statement from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and a New York Times article on the tough battle ahead.

        Chart of the Week: #FairHousingThanksObama

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Today from 2pm to 3pm, the National Fair Housing Alliance is sending President Obama “thank you” messages over Twitter for his unprecedented support of fair housing. Specifically, NFHA is using the tag #FairHousingThanksObama to highlight his accomplishments such as being the first presidential administration to use disparate impact to enforce the Fair Housing Act and for urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to finalize the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule (AFFH).

        This week’s chart highlights why the AFFH rule, currently under threat, is needed to help cities, counties, regions, states, and housing authorities expand housing choices, connect residents to employment, transportation, quality education, and healthy food and foster inclusive communities free of discrimination. As the chart below shows, the Black population in the New Orleans region is significantly more likely to live in high poverty neighborhoods —  nearly eight times more likely than Whites.  Such high-poverty neighborhoods are often lacking access to assets which enhance opportunity.  The AFFH rule helps jurisdictions identify barriers to opportunity by measuring neighborhoods’ proximity — or lack thereof — to high-performing schools, public transit, local labor markets, healthy environments and other key community assets.

         

        chart-2014-percent-living-in-high-poverty

         

        Last year, the City of New Orleans and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) became one of the first of 20 jurisdictions to submit a joint Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) plan to HUD. The plan's development was guided by equity, as defined by PolicyLink: "just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential." To learn more about the New Orleans effort, which included unprecedented coordination between local institutions, residents, housing, transportation, and health advocates, and community organizations, read this article from America’s Tomorrow.

        To see rates of neighborhood poverty in your community and how your community ranks among the largest 150 metro areas, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your metro area, and share the charts using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Location Matters For Health

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        There is growing consensus among public health researchers and officials that what happens in your neighborhood matters more for your health than what happens in your doctor’s office. “In many ways, your zip code is more important than your genetic code when it comes to health,” said Jay Butler, Alaska’s chief medical officer and director of public health, in a recent Washington Post article. Just a few days ago, the California Endowment launched an online tool underscoring this claim: California residents can type in their home address and see how their life expectancy varies from those in other neighborhoods.

        This week’s chart highlights some of these inequities by comparing the disparate health outcomes in two neighboring regions in Florida: Orlando and Deltona. As the chart below shows, both adult asthma and adult diabetes rates are significantly higher in the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach region than in the Orlando region for both people of color and Whites—though they are especially higher for people of color. People of color in the Deltona region are twice as likely as Whites to have asthma and nearly twice as likely as Whites to have diabetes.

        Healthy neighborhoods provide residents with access to parks, healthy food, clean air, safe streets, and health care and social services. Due in part to racial residential segregation, many of the neighborhoods where people of color live lack these health-promoting ingredients, and these groups are more likely to suffer from obesity, asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic diseases. Policies that promote healthy communities for all include requiring health impact assessments as part of the planning process and creating dedicated funding streams like the Healthy Food Financing Initiative to support grocery stores and other fresh food markets in low-income underserved communities.

        To see adult asthma and diabetes rates in your community and how your community ranks among the largest 150 metro areas, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your metro area, and share the chart on social media using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Getting Infrastructure Right in Baltimore

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        In the latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell makes the case for the #CurbCutEffect—the idea that policies and programs designed to benefit marginalized groups often end up benefiting society as a whole. Equitable public transportation investments, for example, that connect underserved residents to employment and regional economic opportunities can generate benefits that extend beyond individual residents. Better transportation options for those who have been historically disconnected from the region means employers have better access to labor. It also means lower turnover and greater retention, which decrease costs for businesses. And as employment increases, so does taxable income.

        To illustrate the importance of equitable infrastructure investments in the United States, this week’s chart looks at the share of households without a vehicle in Baltimore, Maryland. Nationally, 9 percent of households are without a vehicle, but in Baltimore, that number is 30 percent. White households are the least likely to be carless—just 16 percent of White households do not have a vehicle. Black households, on the other hand, are the most likely to be carless: nearly 39 percent do not have a car.

        How far the potential benefits of public transit investments in Baltimore extend depend on how targeted they are and whether decision makers use investments to advance racial equity. A recent article in Citylab highlighted that bike infrastructure in Baltimore appears to be concentrated in Whiter, more affluent neighborhoods, but Bikemore is working to change this by centering equity, safety, and health and tackling the historic disinvestment in Black communities head on. As Blackwell explains, “when the nation targets support where it is needed most—when we create the circumstances that allow those who have been left behind to participate and contribute fully—everyone wins.”

        To see how car access varies by race/ethnicity in your city or region, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your city or region, and share the map for your community using #equitydata. To read “The Curb Cut Effect,” visit the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

        Chart of the Week: San Diego’s “YIMBY” Coalition to Take on Housing Fight

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        In California, 58 percent of renter-occupied households spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent (the second highest rate of housing burden in the country after Florida). In a heated real estate market, advocates across the state are fighting for more affordable housing. In many cities, housing production has not kept up with a growing population, in part because existing residents are often resistant to new housing developments—especially those with affordability restrictions—due to concerns that such developments will change the “character” of their neighborhoods.

        But a new coalition of business and environmental groups in San Diego is taking the opposite approach. Housing YOU Matters is San Diego’s first formal organization of “Yimbys”—an acronym for “Yes in My Backyard” that indicates their support for affordable housing solutions. This week’s chart looks at renter housing burden in the city to underscore the affordability issues in San Diego and the communities most impacted.

        As the chart below shows, 54 percent of all renter-occupied households in San Diego are rent-burdened. But this number ranges from 49 percent among Asian or Pacific Islander renter households to 63 percent among Latino renter households.

        Not all households are similarly impacted by the housing affordability crisis in San Diego and efforts to increase the supply of housing (both market-rate and affordable) ought to address how Black and Latino households, in particular, pay too much for housing. Policies that help to ensure that all households can access safe and affordable housing include adopting strong tenant protections such as “just cause” eviction ordinances, anti-harassment policies, and rent control to prevent displacement of renter households.

        To see how renter (and homeowner) housing burden varies in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your community, and share the chart using #equitydata.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        As you know, the Atlas is a living resource, and 2016 was a year of growth and evolution. As we close out the year, we wanted to highlight some of our milestones from the year:

        • To help you use the Atlas data, we began the practice of hosting 30-minute webinars with short demos of new data/features and also started a "Chart of the Week" series linking the data to current events
        • We further disaggregated our data, adding detailed breakdowns of the major racial/ethnic groups by ancestry (to help you bust the model minority myth), as well as more nativity breakdowns
        • Our new school poverty data undergirded a series on educational equity from journalist Ron Brownstein and colleagues at The Atlantic
        • We participated in the inaugural White House Opportunity Project data sprint and added new indicators on air pollution, poverty, and working poverty
        • Most recently, we upgraded our mapping system, making neighborhood-level mapping (and a nifty, custom-created neighborhood filter for visualizing spatial relationships) available for four indicators

         

        We’ve been thrilled to see community leaders in Fairfax CountyGrand RapidsAtlanta and elsewhere using Equity Atlas data to drive equitable growth policies, plans, and projects, and are looking forward to working more with you in 2017.

        Thank you!

        (clockwise from top left): Sheila Xiao, Sarah Treuhaft, Angel Ross, 
        Justin Scoggins, Rosamaria Carrillo, Pamela Stephens, Abbie Langston, Alexis Stephens

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: Large Urban Counties are at the Forefront of America's Demographic Change

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        It’s been well reported that Hillary Clinton, despite failing to secure the necessary 270 Electoral College votes, won the popular vote by more than 2 million ballots. At the same time, county-level maps of election results show a sea of red. There are now nine times as many “Republican landslide counties” (counties that went Republican by more than 20 percentage points) than “Democratic landslide counties” according to The New York Times. But the areas where Trump won big are less populated than the areas where Clinton won big: the 2,232 Republican landslide counties have less people overall than the 242 Democratic landslide counties. And according to a Brookings analysis, the less than 500 counties that went Democratic made up 64 percent of total U.S. economic activity in 2015.

        Our analysis of Large Urban Counties (LUCs), counties with more than 500,000 residents, underscorces just how urban and diverse the country has become. LUCs are not just the economic powerhouses of the country, they are also home to a disproportionate share of people of color.

        This week’s chart draws from the new people of color maps added to Atlas to highlight how the nation’s most populous, “high output” counties are at the forefront of America’s demographic changes. In 2014, there were 133 LUCs, accounting for just four percent of counties nationwide. Of these 133 counties, 52 are already majority people of color and 18 are two-thirds people of color. The U.S. population as a whole is just 37 percent people of color, but half of the 151 million residents of LUCs are people of color.

        LUCs are major economic actors and have a unique opportunity to advance equitable economic policies. Last month, Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of PolicyLink, in her address to the Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) of the National Association of Counties, highlighted several strategies that LUCs can adopt to catalyze equitable growth, including the integration of health and human services into development through investing in the residents and workers as well as the built environment.

        To see how population and the share of people of color vary by county in your region, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your state or region, and share the map for your community using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: #Fightfor15’s National Day of Action Lifts Up the Working Poor

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Today is the #Fightfor15’s National Day of Action. Across the country, thousands of fast food and airport workers from Los Angeles to Chicago and Little Rock are striking and protesting as part of a call for a $15 minimum wage and collective bargaining rights. Organizers emphasize that this movement is about restoring dignity for all working people.

        Had the minimum wage kept up with productivity, it would be nearly $19 an hour today according to the Economic Policy Insitute (EPI). Regardless of where one stands on the issue, most agree that people working full-time year-round should not be in or close to poverty. But data show that this is the case for many workers, particularly workers of color.

        To provide additional context to actions taking place at Chicago O’Hare and across the country, this week’s chart looks at the rate of working poverty by race/ethnicity and nativity in the city of Chicago. The working poor are defined as full-time workers, ages 25 to 64, with a family income below 200 percent of poverty (based on their family size and composition). As the chart below illustrates, more than one in four Latino immigrant full-time workers in Chicago have a family income that places them below 200 percent of poverty. Nearly 13 percent of U.S.-born Black full-time workers in the city also fall below 200 percent of poverty. This compares to just three percent of U.S.-born White full-time workers.

        The poverty threshold is determined federally and not adjusted for local cost of living. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the living wage for a family of three (one adult and two children) is $31/hour in Cook County, where Chicago is located. The 200 percent of poverty wage, on the other hand, is $20/hour. As the low-wage sector has expanded, the share of adults who are working full-time jobs but still cannot make ends meet has increased, particularly among Latinos and other workers of color. The failure of even full-time work to pay family-supporting wages dampens the potential of working families and the nation as a whole.

        Fortunately, we know which economic policies, if adopted or expanded, can lift full-time workers out of poverty and those participating in the National Day of Action today are working to build political will around them. In addition to raising federal and state minimum wages, those policies include expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), which are responsible for lifting millions of families and children out of poverty each year. For a list of policies, visit EPI’s Agenda to Raise America’s Pay.

        To see how working poverty varies in your region, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your city, region, or state and share the chart for your community using #equitydata and #Fightfor15.

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,
         

        Now more than ever, data that is disaggregated by race/ethnicity and place must be used to sustain and amplify the movement for equitable growth and shared prosperity. Here is this month’s roundup of news and updates to help you continue to make the case for equity as the path to a successful future. 

        State of Black Long Island Project Launched
        Last month, we launched a new engagement to advance racial equity and inclusive growth in America’s quintessential suburb: Long Island. In partnership with the Urban League of Long Island, the Long Island Community Foundation, and Citi Community Development, PolicyLink and PERE are analyzing changing demographics and the state of equity in Nassau and Suffolk counties, with a particular focus on the Black community, and building a policy agenda for racial economic inclusion. We will be releasing the report and policy agenda in February 2017. 

        Data Updates for 17 Indicators
        For several months, our team has been updating our database to incorporate the most recent data from one of our key sources, which is the 2014 five-year pooled data from the IPUMS American Community Survey. (The pooled data is an average of the samples taken between 2010 and 2014.) We are happy to share that we've now updated 17 of our 32 indicators, including:

        • Demographics: Detailed Race/Ethnicity, Median Age
        • Economic Vitality: Homeownership, Income Growth, Income Inequality: Gini, Income Inequality: 95/20 ratio, Job and GDP Growth, Poverty, Unemployment, Wages: Median, Working Poor 
        • Readiness: Education Levels and Job Requirements, Disconnected Youth
        • Connectedness: Car Access, Commute Time, Housing Burden, Neighborhood Poverty

         

        Large Urban Counties Are Leading the Nation’s Growth
        Although they represent just 4 percent of the 3,142 counties in the United States, large urban counties — those with at least 500,000 residents — are home to nearly half of the U.S. population. For a convening of the Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) of the National Association of Counties on November 18 in New York City, the National Equity Atlas team created an infographic and blogpost illustrating how these counties are at the forefront of the nation’s shifting demographics.
         
        Charts of the Week
        In a month where setbacks seemed to pile on top of one another, the three Charts of the Week posted to the Atlas Data In Action section showed where there is hope on the horizon. On Election Day, voters in Maine approved a minimum wage increase to $12.00/hour and this chart reveals the impact this can have for workers in the state. Voters in Indianapolis authorized a progressive plan to fund mass transit expansion and we generated a charton racial disparities in car access underscoring how transit equity will help connect people to jobs. Finally, this GIF displays the percent people of color in the U.S., by county, from 1980 to 2040. With each decade going forward, the strength of our economy increasingly depends on the readiness and full inclusion of people of color as workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders.
         

        Thank you!
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Large Urban Counties are Leading the Nation’s Demographic Change

         

        On November 18, the Large Urban County Caucus (LUCC) of the National Association of Counties convened in New York City, bringing together county leaders from across the country to share ideas and develop innovative policy solutions to address their most pressing challenges.

        Although they represent just 4 percent of the 3,142 counties in the United States, large urban counties (LUCs) — those with more than 500,000 residents — are home to nearly half of the U.S. population. In other words, as the graphic below illustrates, more than 150 million people live in the 133 LUCs in the United States.

        So it is no surprise that these counties are at the forefront of the nation’s shifting demographics. As data in the National Equity Atlas show, the face of America is changing: Just a few years from now, the majority of people under the age of 18 will be youth of color, and by 2044 the United States will be a majority people-of-color nation.

        LUCs are already there. The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and PERE analyzed the current and projected demographics of these counties to highlight the economic imperative of equity and inclusion. More than 50 percent of these counties’ residents are people of color, compared to 37 percent of the U.S. as a whole. Today, LUCs are home to 65 percent of people of color in the United States, including nearly 8 out of 10 Asians and Pacific Islanders and 7 out of 10 Latinos.

        Over the next few decades, the U.S. population will not only become more diverse, it will also become more urban. Projections show that by 2050 there will be 183 LUCs, and 224 million people will live in them. That is why this year’s LUCC symposium theme, “County Leadership for Economic Opportunity,” is so important: in order to build the vibrant, thriving, inclusive communities of tomorrow, leaders must act today to embed equity into every function of government. Angela Glover Blackwell, chief executive officer of PolicyLink, presented the findings of our demographic analysis, and offered some important guidance for county leaders grappling with the challenges of building an economy in which all can participate and prosper.

        LUCs are major economic actors, directing over $350 billion of annual investments in infrastructure, public facilities, health services, economic development, and other critical services and programs. And nowhere else is the economic imperative of equity more clear: by 2050, LUCs will be home to 56 percent of the U.S. population, including 41 percent of Whites and 69 percent of people of color. In her remarks, Blackwell laid out a series of strategies that LUCs can adopt to catalyze equitable growth and provide opportunities for those being left behind to reach their full potential:

        • Prioritize infrastructure investments to improve economic mobility, build career pathways, and create lifelines to opportunity by prioritizing local and targeted hiring and increasing opportunity in disinvested neighborhoods.
        • Align economic development strategies that aim to grow “high-opportunity jobs” with workforce strategies to prepare people to succeed in those jobs. Make equity and inclusion benchmarks a requirement for the allocation of economic development incentives, and hold businesses and developers accountable for delivering on them, through community benefits agreements or other appropriate mechanisms.
        • Integrate and health and human services into development, investing in the residents and workers as well as the built environment of neighborhoods. Remove barriers to preventive services to improve and safeguard the health of tomorrow’s leaders, innovators, and workers.
        • Ensure that jobs related to the construction and operation of public facilities are good jobs that providing family-supporting wages, health care and other benefits, paid sick leave, and opportunities for professional development.

         

        By leveraging their considerable assets to foster economic inclusion, create healthy communities of opportunity, and champion justice and safety for all, large urban counties can play a decisive leadership role in building equitable regions in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

         

        Chart of the Week: A Vote for Transit Equity in Indianapolis

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Last Tuesday, voters in Marion County, Indiana, delivered a local election-day victory for equity when they authorized a progressive plan to fund mass transit expansion throughout the Indianapolis area.

        Voters approved more than two-thirds of the nearly 50 transit-related measures that appeared on ballots across the country last week, totaling nearly $200 billion in public transportation projects (according to the American Public Transportation Association). But Marion County’s Question 2 stands out because it authorizes the City-County Council to raise funds through an income tax increase, rather than the regressive sale tax increases that many other transit plans rely on for capital.

        Reliable transportation is essential to help workers and families connect to jobs, education and training, services, and other community resources. And as data from the National Equity Atlas show, many households of color in Indianpolis (12 percent) lack access to a car; 14.6 percent of Black household do not have a vehicle, compared to 4.5 percent of White households. 

        To grow an equitable economy, all communities must be able to easily connect to the opportunities and assets in a region. This requires policies just like those included in the Marion County Transit Plan, which calls for $390 million of investments to improve existing bus services — extending hours, adding new routes and increasing frequency, and expanding days of service — and funding the operation of three bus rapid transit lines. These services could put two-thirds of the city’s jobs and people within walking distance of reliable public transit.

        To see how car access varies in your state, region, or city, visit the National Equity Atlas, download the chart for your community, and post to social media using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Maine’s New Minimum Wage Law is a Win for Equity

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Earlier this week, voters in various cities, counties, and four states approved minimum-wage increases that have the potential to raise incomes for millions of working Americans.  Washington state will raise its minimum hourly wage to $13.50 by 2020, while Arizona, Colorado, and Maine will raise their respective state minimums to $12.00 in the same time frame. These are important victories for the equity movement and the #FightFor15.

        Maine’s plan is especially encouraging; not only will it boost the current minimum of $7.50/hour by 60 percent over the next few years, it will tie the minimum wage to inflation after 2020 and eliminate the sub-minimum “tipped wage” by 2024. No other state east of the Mississippi has moved to end the so-called tip credit that allows employers to pay tipped workers less than minimum wage.

        Atlas data underscore how inequitable income growth contributes to rising inequality and creates a drag on the overall economy of a region and the nation as a whole. As this week’s chart illustrates, real income for full-time workers at the 10th percentile in Maine has remained virtually unchanged for many decades – growing just 1.4 percent since 1980. For workers at the 90th percentile, on the other hand, incomes have grown by more than 21 percent. 

        Increasing the income of low-wage workers is essential to build an economy that works for all

        Equitable growth would mean rising wages for all workers, but with the largest gains going to those at the bottom of the income distribution. In Seattle, the first major city to pioneer a $15 minimum wage, the pay of workers covered by the new law grew by 12 percent during the first-stage of the phase-in increase — compared to just 5 percent for workers in similar, neighboring places — and the employment stability of low-wage workers increased, as well.

        To see how earned income growth for full-time wage and salaried workers varies across the income distribution for your state, region, or city, visit the National Equity Atlas, download the chart for your community, and post to social media using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Vote for Candidates Who Will Invest in our Future

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        News stories about broad demographic shifts and the changing face of America are increasingly common. Last year, California — the most populous state in the nation — became the fourth “majority-minority” state. Already the majority of youth under age 5 nationwide are people of color, and by 2044, the nation will be majority people of color.

        Today’s policy decisions will affect the future growth and prosperity of the nation for years to come. To illustrate the importance of racial equity, this week’s chart is a GIF showing the percent people of color in the U.S., by county, from 1980 to 2040. With each decade going forward, the strength of our economy increasingly depends on the readiness and full inclusion of people of color as workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders. On Tuesday, vote for candidates who will invest in our future workforce and build an economy that works for all.

        In 1980, the U.S. was 20 percent people of color. The dark orange counties, representing areas where people of color comprised more than 80 percent of the population, were located throughout the South and Southwest, with the exception of Native American reservations in the Dakotas and Wisconsin. From 1980 to 2020, the share of people of color in the United States is expected to more than double to 41 percent. By 2040, the U.S. is projected to be 49 percent people of color.

        According to 2015 Census data, 370 counties, home to nearly one in three Americans, are already majority people of color. That’s up from 339 counties in 2010. Some of the counties that have become majority people of color in the last five years include parts of Fort Worth and Austin in Texas and Charlotte, North Carolina.

        To see how the share of people of color is expected to change through 2040 in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas, and type in your region or state. Download the chart and share it on social media using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Oregon's Measure 98 Invests in Educational Equity

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        With less than two weeks left until Election Day, many voters across the country are sifting through sample ballots to determine which state and local measures to support. In Oregon, Measure 98 would commit at least $147 million annually to programs in dropout prevention, career and technical education, and college readiness. The measure is designed to boost high school graduation rates, particularly among low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities, while addressing the serious shortage of skilled and educated workers in the state.

        Atlas data underscore how important boosting educational attainment among students of color is for Oregon’s economic future especially considering the current education levels of adults 25 to 64 years old.

        As this week’s chart illustrates, by 2020, 43 percent of jobs in Oregon are expected to require at least an Associate’s degree (AA). Yet most of Oregon’s workers do not possess this level of education, and its fastest-growing demographics are the furthest behind. Between 2010 and 2040, Latinos will grow from 12 to 24 percent of Oregon’s population. Yet, today, just 28 percent of U.S.-born Latinos and 10 percent of immigrant Latino’s have an associate’s degree or higher.

        Measure 98 aligns well with the type of equity-focused policy agenda that Oregon’s state policymakers are seeking to implement. On October 5th, PolicyLink staff led a workshop with more than 50 Oregon government leaders in policy arenas including economic development, education, healthy communities, and environment, to help them integrate an equity and inclusion focus throughout their work.

        To see how education levels and job requirements vary for your state, region, or city, visit the National Equity Atlas, download the chart for your community, and post to social media using #equitydata.

        New Atlas Maps Highlighted in CityLab

        Yesterday, CityLab published a story on the new mapping breakdowns added to the National Equity Atlas. The author, Laura Bliss, underscores the role spatial data has played in understanding and addressing inequity. She writes,

        "Mapmakers are still figuring out the best ways to plot disparities across all sorts of measures—jobs and school quality, environmental health, and transportation access, for example—to advocate for policy change. The National Equity Atlas, developed by PolicyLink and the University of Southern California’s Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE), might be the best and most comprehensive graphic call for economic equality available today.”

        The article highlights disconnected youth and unemployment maps in communities of color for the United States overall and in the city of Chicago. Check out the new maps for yourself on the following indicators: people of color, race/ethnicity, unemployment and disconnected youth.

        Introducing New Neighborhood Opportunity Maps

        We know that opportunity differs by neighborhood, and maps are one way to visualize this variation across a given city, region, or state. That’s why today, we are adding mapping breakdowns to the following four indicators on the National Equity Atlas:

         

        These new interactive maps allow you to visualize data by county or by census tract as well as by city, region, or state. You can also toggle back and forth between different years to see how the geography of opportunity has changed over time and create custom maps using an interactive filter and scroller. On the race/ethnicity map, for example, the scroller allows you to visualize measures of opportunity (e.g. homeownership) in relation to neighborhood composition (e.g. the share of the Latino population). And on the disconnected youth and unemployment maps, the scroller allows you to visualize the indicator as neighborhood compositions (e.g. share of the Black or Native American population) vary.

        This blog walks you through how to access and use the new maps. Register for our 30-minute webinar on November 2 for a live walk through.

        How to find the new maps

        To access the new maps for the people of color indicator, click on the Indicators tab in the top navigation bar. Then under the Demographics menu, select “People of color.” You can look at the data by county (the default), by the largest 150 regions, or by state. You can also toggle back and forth between every decade from 1980 to 2040 to see how the share of people of color in the U.S. has changed over time. The GIF below pulls from the new maps to show how the share of people of color has changed from 1980 to 2010 and how it is projected to change by 2040. You can also see the new people of color map on the homepage of the Atlas.

        You can filter by White areas, Black areas, Latino areas, etc. in the people of color, unemployment, and disconnected youth maps, and you can also filter by different measures of opportunity in the race/ethnicity map. To get to the race/ethnicity indicator, select Race/ethnicity (also in the Demographics menu).

        The default breakdown shows a chart of how the racial/ethnic composition of the country has changed from 1980 to 2010, and how it’s projected to change through 2040. Underneath the graphic display, you’ll see the different breakdowns, the second of which is the “Race and ethnicity map.” The default map is the percent people of color in 2014, but you can also look at the data from 2000. Under the year options, you’ll see the six major race/ethnicity groups and all people of color. If you select “Native American”, for example, you’ll get a map of the percent Native American by county. The darker purple counties represent areas with a Native population larger than 40 percent (see screenshot below).

        Using the opportunity filters

        The filters located on the bottom right of the page allow you create custom maps based on various measures of opportunity such as homeownership and the share of the population with an associate’s degree or higher. To illustrate how the filters work and how to access data by neighborhood, take the state of Mississippi as an example.

        You’ll notice that census tracts are not one of the geography options in the map above. In order to view the data by census tract, you must type in a state, region, or city in the Explore box. After typing in and selecting Mississippi, you get a map of the state by tracts (the default geography at the sub-national level). If you click on “Black”, you get a map of the Black population share. The purple tracts are neighborhoods with a Black population greater than 40 percent. The light blue areas, on the other hand, have a Black population under 10 percent.

        To use the filters, first select one, like homeownership, then move the scroller at the bottom to only show areas where the homeownership is at least a given percentage. The overall homeownership rate in Mississippi is 68 percent, but moving the scroller to 68 percent, creates a map of census tracts where the homeownership rate is 68 percent or higher and many of the purple tracts (representing majority Black tracts) in the northwestern part of the state disappear as a result (see maps below). Those tracts that disappear have a homeownership rate less than 68 percent.

        Using maps to inform decision-making

        These maps can be especially helpful in developing targeted employment or workforce development initiatives. The overall unemployment rate in Mississippi was 10 percent, but this was clearly not the case across all census tracts. Filtering the map by tracts with an unemployment rate of at least 15 percent produces a map with several majority Black tracts. This map can support programs and initiatives through the state workforce investment board by ensuring that resources are targeted to communities that need them most.

        Note: While the size (land area) of the census tracts in the state varies widely, each has a roughly similar number of people. A large tract in a more rural part of the state likely contains a similar number of people as a seemingly tiny tract in an urban area. Care should be taken not to pay an unwarranted amount of attention to large tracts just because they are large.

        Mississippi has the highest rate of disconnected youth of all states, so understanding how the number and share of disconnected youth varies across the state is central to developing an effective workforce development or education program. To find the map for disconnected youth, select “Disconnected Youth” in Readiness section of the Equity menu. The very last breakdown is the mapping breakdown. As you’ll see in the map below, there are several red census tracts, symbolizing areas where the share of disconnected youth is greater than 20 percent. As you hover over different tracts, you can see both the share and the total number of disconnected youth. In census tract 9504 in Prentiss County, for example, more than 100 young people, or 57 percent of 16 to 19 year olds, were disconnected from both school and work.

        The filters and scroller on this map allow you to visualize disconnectedness in relation to neighborhood composition. As you filter to majority White or majority Black neighborhoods, you’ll notice how disconnectedness varies geographically.

        For a walk through of the unemployment maps, view our previous blog. For a live walk through of the new maps, register for our webinar. Share your thoughts or questions during the webinar or through our contact form.

        National Equity Atlas Update

         

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        The Atlas is a living resource, and as such, we are happy to share new features, upcoming webinars, and data-in-action posts that add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity.

        New Neighborhood Maps Added to the Atlas
        Today we are launching interactive neighborhood-level mapping for four indicators on the Equity Atlas: people of color, race/ethnicity, unemployment, and disconnected youth. These new maps allow you to visualize data by county or by census tract as well as by city, region, or state. You can also toggle back and forth between different years to see how the geography of opportunity has changed over time and create custom maps using the race/ethnicity and neighborhood opportunity filters.

        These maps can help inform targeted hiring and workforce development initiatives as well as infrastructure investments. Learn how they work in the latest data-in-action post which provides a step-by-step guide to this new feature, as well as examples of how to use these maps in your advocacy. You can also register for our 30-minute webinar on November 2 for a live walk through.

        Welcoming America Webinar
        On October 7, Angel Ross from PolicyLink and Justin Scoggins from the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) participated in a Welcoming America webinar about immigration and equitable economic development. Participants examined the economic indicators to get a sense of how immigrants are faring in their communities. The archive of the webinar is available on the Welcoming America website.

        “Chart of the Week” Series
        Every week, we post a new chart drawing from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues. There are three new posts in our “Chart of the Week” series: a neighborhood-level look at unemployment in St. Louis, an examination of “jobless growth” in Ohio, and a look at working poor in Pittsburgh related to last week’s p4 conference.

        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: Addressing Working Poverty Critical for Equitable Development in Pittsburgh

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        This week, PolicyLink joined more than 600 participants at the second p4 conference in Pittsburgh to discuss how to create a new sustainable, innovative, and inclusive model for development designed to establish Pittsburgh as a city of the future. This includes acknowledging how historical and institutionalized practices of discrimination continue to impact the economic and health outcomes of people of color today.

        To provide additional context for the conference and the p4 initiative moving forward, this week’s chart looks at working poverty by race/ethnicity and gender in the city.

        As the chart shows, Black women have the highest rates of working poverty in Pittsburgh. One in five Black women ages 25 to 64 is working full time with a family income less than 200 percent of poverty compared with 15 percent of Black men and just 8 percent of White men. Black women are three times more likely than White women in the city to be working poor. Asian women are the least likely to be working poor.

        Equitable development requires an intentional focus on eliminating these racial inequities and barriers, and making accountable and catalytic investments to assure that the lower-wealth residents connect to economic and ownership opportunities. To learn more about an equitable development strategy that works to ensure that everyone participates in and benefits from the region’s economic transformation—especially low income residents, communities of color, immigrants, and others at risk of being left behind—read the new PolicyLink report: Equitable Development: The Path to an All-In Pittsburgh.

        To view how working poverty varies by race/ethnicity and gender in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas, select the “By gender” breakdown, and type in your city, region, or state. Download the chart and share it on social media using #p4pgh and #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Jobless Growth in Ohio

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        A couple weeks ago, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its third estimate of second quarter growth in gross domestic product (GDP). Real annualized GDP growth for the nation was 1.4 percent in Q2 up from 0.8 percent in Q1. While GDP is often the measure of economic health and well-being, the nation's recovery from the Great Recession has been characterized as a "jobless recovery," in which job growth has lagged behind GDP growth. In a typical post-recession recovery, macroeconomic indicators of recovery like GDP growth are often accompanied by job growth and declining unemployment, but this hasn’t been the case for many states and regions across the country. To provide context for this new release in one of this year’s election battleground states, this week’s chart looks at post-recession GDP and job growth in Ohio compared to the national average — an Atlas indicator that was just updated today!

        While Ohio’s GDP grew faster from 2009-2014 than that of the U.S. as whole, job growth in the state lagged behind. GDP increased by an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the state compared with 1.8 percent for the nation overall, but jobs grew at an annual rate of only 0.9 percent in Ohio compared with 1.3 percent in the U.S.

        Jobless growth indicates that the benefits of an expanding economy are not reaching as many workers and their families as they could be underscoring the importance of growing good jobs for all. Policies that support this kind of growth include building 21st century, resilient infrastructure (with inclusive hiring and contracting), as well as targeting economic and workforce development strategies to grow high-opportunity industries that offer good jobs and careers for people without college degrees.

        To view how GDP growth has compared to job growth pre- and post-recession in your region, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your metro area or state. Download the chart and share it on social media using #equitydata.

        Webinar Archive: Special Preview: Neighborhood Mapping on the Atlas

        The National Equity Atlas had a beta release for its new neighborhood mapping functionality. To learn how to use it and offer feedback, watch our latest webinar: “Special Preview: Neighborhood Mapping on the Atlas.” Here are the webinar recording and slidesWe encourage you to share then with your network.


        Here are some additional mapping tools mentioned during the webinar:

         

        Find analyses of our newest data featured below or in the “Data in Action” section; and follow our 'Chart of the Week' series here and on Twitter @PolicyLink using #equitydata:

         

        We also invite you to join our next live webinar, "Exploring New Neighborhood Maps Added to the Atlas," scheduled for Wednesday, November 2, at 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm PT. We will release new interactive neighborhood-level mapping for three additional indicators: people of color, race/ethnicity, and disconnected youth. These new maps allow you to visualize the geography of opportunity by race/ethnicity across neighborhoods within your community. Register here.

        If you have additional feedback about the new mapping features, please contact Sarah Treuhaft at sarah@policylink.org or visit our “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the Atlas to scan commonly asked questions.
         
        Thank you,

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

         

        Chart of the Week: Mapping Unemployment in St. Louis

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        If there’s one thing we know the candidates will talk about at the second presidential debate, hosted by Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday, it’s the economy. The most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts unemployment at 5.2 percent for the St. Louis metro area in August of 2016. But if want to see how unemployment varies by neighborhood and race/ethnicity in the region, the most recent data available is 2014 (which reflects a five-year average from 2010-2014). The unemployment rate for the St. Louis metro area was 9 percent in 2014—up from 5.5% in 2000. But this was not the case for all people: the unemployment rate for Whites in 2014 was 7 percent, while for people of color it was more than double that figure: 15 percent.

        To provide context on the geography of unemployment within the St. Louis metro area, this week’s chart shows side-by-side census tract level maps of White unemployment and unemployment for people of color in 2014. To view the interactive maps online, check out our new mapping breakdown.

        As the map legend describes, the lighter the green, the lower the unemployment rate. The blue census tracts, on the other hand, have an unemployment rate greater than 20 percent.

        The map on the left shows White unemployment in the region, and the only blue areas are in North County and St. Clair. There are several tracts near the center of the map that are blank—these tracts do not have enough White people to report White unemployment (the Atlas threshold is at least 100 people in the denominator).

        Meanwhile, the map on the right shows unemployment for people of color. It’s an entirely different picture, with several blue tracts throughout the region, including some of the same tracts that were green for Whites (indicating that some people of color experience significantly higher rates of unemployment compared with Whites even when they live in the same neighborhood). The blank census tracts on this map do not have enough residents of color to report unemployment.

        In an equitable economy, unemployment would be low and all workers would have similar success in finding work, regardless of race or gender. These maps can support regions interested in addressing these spatial and racial inequities through developing targeted hiring initiatives as part of new development or through smart investments in infrastructure projects. In addition to information about the neighborhood-level unemployment rate, the maps also provide information on the total number of unemployed people. An analysis produced by PolicyLink/PERE for the FedUp Campaign found that if there were full employment in the St. Louis Area in 2015, over 100,000 more workers would be employed—contributing to a $7.8 billion increase in the GDP and $1.7 billion more in tax revenue to strengthen the social safety net.

        To view the new maps added to the Atlas for your community, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city, region, or state. Download the map and share it on social media using #equitydata. You can read an overview of the new mapping breakdowns added to the Atlas, here.

        Introducing New Maps: Unemployment by Neighborhood

        This blog provides step-by-step directions for using the new mapping breakdown in the National Equity Atlas. The beta version is now live for the unemployment indicator, and we will be adding maps for three additional indicators next month.

        While overall city and regional averages are helpful for establishing a benchmark on an indicator like unemployment — as well as understanding how a place ranks in comparison to neighboring localities or the U.S. as whole — there is often considerable variation within a given place. It’s critical to understand this variation in order to develop targeted strategies that tackle spatial inequities. If a substantial share of the unemployed population lives in just a few neighborhoods, it’s important for workforce development and targeted hiring initiatives to focus on those areas.

        How to find the new maps

        Take the Memphis, Tennessee, metro area as an example. To see the map, go to the Indicators section of the National Equity Atlas and under the Equity menu, select Unemployment. Underneath the graphic display, select the “Unemployment map (beta)” breakdown. Under Geography, on the upper right-hand side of the page, select “Regions” and zoom into Tennessee. As you hover over Memphis, you’ll see that the unemployment rate for the region was 11 percent in 2014 (which reflects a five-year average from 2010-2014).

        Then in the search box at the top of the page, type in Memphis and select the “Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Statistical Area.” The result is a census-tract level map of the region. The overall unemployment rate was 11 percent — but clearly this was not the case across all neighborhoods or across all race/ethnic groups. For Whites in the region, the unemployment rate was 7 percent, while the unemployment rate for people of color was more than double at 15 percent. Similarly, census tract 33 in East Midtown (in Shelby County), which is more than 90 percent White, had an unemployment rate under 2 percent in 2014. Just four miles down the road in South Memphis is census tract 78.21, which is less than 1 percent White, with an unemployment rate of 40 percent (see screenshot of map below).

        (Note: the census tract level maps are only available at the state, region, or city level.)

        As you hover your mouse over a census tract, an info box will appear with the unemployment rate for that tract as well as the total number of people who are unemployed. In Census Tract 33, just 23 people are unemployed, while over 1,000 people are unemployed in Census Tract 78.21. These maps are especially helpful in developing targeted hiring or workforce development initiatives because they allow users to see where such programs would be most impactful.

        Comparing over time and across race/ethnicity

        Another interactive component of the maps allows users to toggle between geography, years, and race/ethnicity. In the panel to the right of the map are several options: You can view the map by tract, place, or county and you can select data from either 2000 or 2014 to see how the geography of unemployment has changed over time. You can also view unemployment rates for Whites and for people of color independently.

        The screenshots below show the unemployment rate for Whites on the left and for people of color on the right. Many tracts in the White unemployment map are blank because there aren’t enough White people living in those tracts to report data. Toggling back and forth between White unemployment and unemployment for people of color provides a clear visual example of persistent racial residential segregation and enduring employment barriers for people of color.

        Assessing unemployment in communities of color

        The last and perhaps most interactive element of the maps is the race/ethnicity filter. The filters powerfully illustrate both segregation and disinvestment in communities of color. If you select, for example, “Black areas”, then move the scroller at the bottom of the page to 50 percent, you will only see tracts where the Black population is at least 50 percent (see screenshot below). All tracts with a Black population less than 50 percent are greyed out, and you’ll notice that many of the lightest green areas, those tracts with the lowest unemployment rates, disappear. Meanwhile, the darkest blue tracts, symbolizing the neighborhoods with the highest unemployment rates, remain. These maps can inform both infrastructure investments and targeted hiring to ensure that the communities most affected by unemployment are the ones who receive resources.

         (Note: the filter only works when the population selected is “All”.)

        Explore the maps and share your feedback

        It was in response to user requests for county and sub-county data, and data for rural areas, that we added maps by county, tract, and place for the entire country, including areas that are not part of the largest 100 cities or the largest 150 metro areas.

        We invite you spend some time exploring this new feature ahead of the public release of maps for three additional indicators (people of color, race/ethnicity, and disconnected youth) at the end of the month. Register for our 30-minute webinar on Thursday, October 6 at 12PM PDT for a more extensive walk-through of the unemployment maps and to share your feedback on the beta version. You can also share your feedback about the maps using our contact form.

        Fairfax County Reaffirms Equity with a Resolution for “One Fairfax”

        For many years, officials, advocates, and agency staff in Fairfax County, Virginia, have been concerned with the inequities affecting low-income residents and people of color in the county — and in its 2015 Strategic Plan to Facilitate Economic Success the County Board of Supervisors acknowledged the central importance of equity as a driver of regional economic growth and vitality. But they needed deeper, cross-sectoral data to help underscore their day-to-day experiences and to point the way toward actionable policy solutions.

        With just over a million residents, Fairfax County has seen a surge of growth, primarily driven by people of color.  Between 2000 and 2010, the population of the county grew 11 percent, while there was a 42 percent increase of people of color in the county.

        "Fairfax is generally a suburban community known typically to be affluent so these issues are sometimes masked in our general data," said Karla Bruce, deputy director of the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services.

        In 2015, county officials and local community leaders partnered with PolicyLink and the University of Southern California's Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) to release an Equitable Growth Profile for Fairfax County, Virginia. The disaggregated data reported in the profile brought Fairfax County's racial inequities into clear focus, and catalyzed a local coalition into action. By supporting the development of the profile, Fairfax leadership demonstrated its commitment to equity and a vision of "One Fairfax" — a community in which all can participate and prosper.

        As the profile pointed out, Fairfax County ranks second nationally in terms of household income, with a median of $110,292. At the same time, the middle class is shrinking: workers in the bottom 20 percent saw their wages stagnate between 1979 and 2012, while workers in the highest 20 percent have seen above-national-average wage increases. More than 10 percent of Latinos and Blacks lived in poverty in 2012 compared to less than 3 percent of Whites.

        "I think the Equitable Growth Profile affirmed some things that many folks had been talking about anecdotally in terms of demographic shifts, population needs, and concerns that a number of people were having," said Patricia Mathews, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Health Foundation. "I think it wasn't so much a new statement, but rather it allowed people to say, 'Now we have data. Now we can think about this a lot more strategically.'" Community leaders like Mathews were engaged in the process of producing the profile and in discussions about its findings. The county has been guided by a collective impact framework to advance equity, characterized by its "respect for and integration of the wisdom, voice, experience, and leadership of community residents."

        "We need to understand and improve our work"

        This summer, Fairfax County rededicated itself to equity by passing the One Fairfax Resolution, a formal declaration of commitment to racial and social equity passed by both the County Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax County School Board. The resolution will direct the development of a One Fairfax policy, which the boards hope to adopt as early as next summer.

        The resolution formalizes the county's definition of racial and social equity and acknowledges the importance of equity to fostering greater opportunities and inclusive growth: "to truly create opportunity, we need to understand and improve our work through a racial and social equity lens from the very core of the organization outward, focusing intentionally and deliberately towards sustainable structural changes."

        Over the last several years, Fairfax County has undertaken several initiatives to address racial and social disparities in a variety of areas, including juvenile justice, education, employment, health, and child welfare. Prior to the publication of the Equitable Growth profile, a 2012 study from the Center for the Study of Social Policy encouraged government leaders to scrutinize the pathways and institutions — including the police and school systems — that caused Black and Latino youth to be disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system. They created an interagency team to go through the analysis and drill into what could be done to address disparities. They also joined the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE).

        Karen Shaban, strategic project manager of Fairfax County government, said that all of these efforts helped officials to realize that sustainable change goes beyond human services and moved them to look at other parts of their system, such as zoning policies, transportation, and land use. "All of these efforts set the stage for us to formally say there needs to be more intentionality to make sure that Fairfax County's institutions and systems are not contributing to the disparities that exist."

        Currently, the County is using the equity concepts of the new One Fairfax resolution to guide planning related to a number of strategic initiatives in the areas of early childhood education, community development, and recreation.  "These are ripe opportunities to bring an equity lens to the work," said Shaban. The lens can help guide future redevelopment projects like the planning for a 10-acre campus of a former high school. 

        Experimenting with "equity-in-practice" — particularly expanding community engagement beyond common public meetings — will give county staff an opportunity to try out some tools and processes to see what works best as they continue to develop the equity policy mandated by the One Fairfax resolution.

        "I think we have a really progressive government in Fairfax County," said Karen Cleveland, president and CEO of Leadership Fairfax, a community leadership development organization. "But when you work for the government, you can very easily get drawn into policy development and policy implementation. What this One Fairfax resolution does is lift the work above that. It says, 'This is going to be our umbrella.'"

        Leadership Fairfax, the Northern Virginia Health Foundation, and other organizations are working as thought partners with county staff to make sure that community needs are consistently prioritized — and not just from a government services perspective.

        "It's helped us to not only have a common agenda but also to really commit to outcomes," added Bruce, "so that we can shift the possibility for progress and share in the responsibility for change. We haven't reached our destination, but there is definitely power in the networks that we are creating. I am hopeful that we will be able to realize this vision of One Fairfax."

        Originally published in America's Tomorrow

        National Equity Atlas Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,
         
        We have some great September updates for you, but first of all we are excited to announce the beta version of a new feature that highlights the equity movement on-the-ground:
         
        Preview neighborhood-level mapping added to the Atlas
        Today, we released the beta version of new interactive neighborhood-level mapping on the Atlas. These new maps allow users to understand how selected indicators (e.g., unemployment) vary across neighborhoods within a city or region, and can help inform targeted employment and workforce development initiatives as well as infrastructure investments. This beta release features county and census-tract level maps of the unemployment indicator. Register for our special preview of the maps on October 6 specifically for Atlas subscribers and share your feedback ahead of the public release next month.
         
        Welcoming America webinar
        Welcoming America helps communities across the country achieve prosperity by becoming more welcoming toward immigrants and all residents. On October 7 the National Equity Atlas will be featured in a webinar on eelcoming and economic development. Participants will examine selected economic indicators on the Atlas to get a sense of how immigrants are faring in their communities. Angel Ross, Research Associate at PolicyLink and Justin Scoggins, Data Manager at the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) are featured speakers. Register here.
         
        Forward Community Investments webinar
        Last week, the National Equity Atlas kicked off the Forward Community Investments 2016-2017 Racial Equity Webinar Series. The goal of this series is to provide FCI partners with tools and approaches that can be used to advance social, racial, and economic equity and inclusion within their work. The webinar provided an overview of the Atlas framework and a walk through of the Atlas, focusing specifically on Wisconsin.

        New Report Makes Case for Equity in Metro Atlanta
        A new report from the Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE), Growing the Future: The Case for Economic Inclusion in Metro Atlanta, describes how equity is both a moral and economic imperative for the Atlanta region and for the nation as a whole. The report highlights our full employment analysis and GDP with racial equity analysis, both of which underscore how eliminating racial inequities results in “equity dividends” for the broader economy. See our short post about the report here.

        New “Chart of the Week” series
        We've launched a new "Chart of the Week" series to add equity data about growth and prosperity to the national dialogue. Every week, we post a new chart drawing from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues. Our inaugural post lifted up #BlackWomensEqualPay and looked at median wages for Black women in Atlanta, Georgia. We also shared charts highlighting the #Fightfor15, #NoDAPL, and the most recent Census report. Follow our posts on social media using #equitydata, #Fightfor15, and #NoDAPL and in our Data in Action section.
         
        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

         

        Chart of the Week: #AB1726 in CA Highlights Need for API Subgroup Data

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Yesterday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1726, the Accounting for Health and Education in API Demographics (AHEAD) Act, into law. AB 1726 amends current state code to require the California Department of Public Health to expand the number of Asian and Pacific Islander subgroups for which they collect and report data to also include Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Fijian, and Tongan Americans. The final amendments to the bill removed requirements for public higher education institutions and the Department of Healthcare Services. The University of California and the California State University systems agreed to voluntarily disaggregate Asian and Pacific Islander (API) data, but the California Community Colleges system has yet to signed on.

        AB 1726 is a step in the right direction, but all of California’s public higher education and health agencies should report data for more detailed API subgroups, especially because California has the largest and most diverse Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Other Pacific Islander population.

        This week's chart highlights the importance of data disaggregation within the API community, particularly when it comes to higher education, by showing the share of the population ages 25 to 64 with an Associate degree (AA) or higher by selected API ancestry groups.

        By 2020, a projected 44 percent of jobs in California will require an associate degree or higher. And while 60 percent of the API population as a whole in California has at least an AA, this varies considerably by ancestry. Among Taiwanese people in California, the number is 81 percent, but it drops to 19 percent for Samoans and Laotians. Similarly, Hmong and Tongan Americans have lower levels of education than both African Americans and U.S.-born Latinos. At the other end, Asian Indians and Pakistanis are twice as likely as African Americans and U.S.-born Latinos to have an AA or higher. Less detailed API data can mask barriers faced by certain sub-populations.

        For more information about the wide range of outcomes within the API population, check out Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s report A Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the West.

        To see how educational attainment varies by ancestry in your state or region, explore the education levels and job requirements indicator, type in your state or region in the Explore box, then select the “By ancestry” breakdown. Download the charts and share them on social media using #AllCACounts and #equitydata.

        New Report Makes Case for Equity in Metro Atlanta

        A new report from the Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE), Growing the Future: The Case for Economic Inclusion in Metro Atlanta, describes how equity is both a moral and economic imperative for the Atlanta region and for the nation as a whole. The report highlights the full employment analysis and GDP with racial equity analysis conducted by the National Equity Atlas team, both of which underscore how eliminating racial inequities results in “equity dividends” for the broader economy. PSE writes:

        “The Partnership for Southern Equity defines economic inclusion as: ‘Increasing equity in the distribution of income, wealth building, employment, and entrepreneurial opportunities for vulnerable populations.’ In this definition, equity is a step beyond equality because it takes into account that people may not start from the same place and, therefore, ‘equal’ treatment may not resolve the gap that exists. […] Economic inclusion is a win-win for society because an increase in productive citizens who can participate in the economy, purchase goods, and contribute to cultural and business innovation leads to that society’s growth and sustainability.”

        Growing the Future is data driven and includes spatial analyses of several indicators including unemployment, job location, income, and education that show how the historical roots of segregation persist today. 

        The report also describes several examples of strategies already in action locally and across the country that address regional inequities, and lays out six principles of economic inclusion to guide development of policies moving forward. To learn more about the Partnership for Southern Equity, click here

        Chart of the Week: #RentersDayofAction

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Today, thousands are taking to the streets across the country to protest rising and unaffordable rents in what organizers are calling the “largest renter-led protest in recent history.” In 2012, more than half (51 percent) of renters were spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent, but the rates are even higher in some of the nation’s largest 100 cities.

        To lift up the #RentersDayofAction demands calling for an end to rising rents and unjust evictions, this week’s chart looks at housing burden for renters, or the percent of renter-occupied households spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent, among the largest 100 cities. Though cost-burdened households have decreased slightly among renters based on the latest data, the greatest benefits have gone to homeowners with a mortgage.

        In 2012, 72 percent of renters in Hialeah, FL were housing burdened as were two in three Miami renters. The top five cities with the highest housing burdens were:

        Housing is the single largest expense for most households and high housing costs squeeze household budgets leaving few resources to pay for other expenses, save for emergencies, or make long-term investments. The Urban Displacement Project, run by the University of California Berkeley, found that Bay Area cities with rent control laws saw less turnover in their renter populations and that rent control is most effective when paired with other tenant protections like just cause evictions policies. For a more extensive overview of strategies to resist gentrification, see Causa Justa Just Cause’s Development without Displacement report.

        To view how affordability ranks in your community or how rates of housing burden vary by race/ethnicity or tenure, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city, region, or state. Download the charts and share them on social media using #RentersDayofAction and #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Why the Latest U.S. Census Report Matters

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        Yesterday, the Census Bureau released a report on 2015 income and poverty data, announcing that median household income increased by over 5 percent—the fastest growth on record. As President Obama described in a Facebook post and video with Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, the gains were largest among the bottom fifth of households.

        To highlight why this gain — especially among the bottom quintile of earners — is so important, this week’s chart looks at real earned income growth for full-time wage and salary workers in the United States from 1980 to 2012.

        Over the three decades from 1980 to 2012, the inflation-adjusted earnings of the bottom 10 percent of workers decreased the most at more than 11 percent. In fact, the whole bottom half of workers experienced real declines in their incomes over this period. At the other end, those in the top 10 percent saw their earnings increase by nearly 15 percent. The announcement that real income growth in 2015 was the fastest since 1969 for households at the 10th, 20th, 40th, 50th, and 60th percentiles is a promising finding, though there is still more to be done.

        These income increases, combined with refundable tax credits, lifted millions of families and children out of poverty. In 2015, 9.2 million Americans, including 4.8 million children, moved above the poverty line with the help of credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Expanding these social safety net programs through a more equitable tax code and advancing pre-tax income strategies like minimum wage increases and stronger collective bargaining rights are key to supporting the more than 8 million families still in poverty. For more information on policies that contribute to wage growth, see the Economic Policy Institute’s Agenda to Raise America’s Pay.

        To view the distribution of income growth in your community over the last three decades, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city, region, or state. Download the charts and share them on social media using #equitydata.

        Chart of the Week: Disconnected Native Youth in North Dakota

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart drawing from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        In what some are calling the largest gathering of tribal nations in 150 years, a multigenerational coalition has assembled in North Dakota to stand with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (#NoDAPL). Proponents of the 1,172-mile crude oil pipeline tout the economic benefits of the project in the wake of a declining state economy, but this project is not the way to foster sustainable and equitable growth in North Dakota’s Native communities.

        To lift up this Native-led struggle to protect ancestral land and water in Standing Rock, this week’s chart looks at the share of young people ages 16 to 24 in North Dakota who are disconnected from work and school.

        In North Dakota, Native American young people are the most likely among the major racial/ethnic groups to be disconnected from work and school. More than one in three Native American young people are neither working nor in school, compared with one in four Latinos and just 5 percent of Whites. Native Americans make up the second largest race/ethnic group in the state, but they continue to face steep barriers to economic inclusion, while inequitable development projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline threaten destruction of their sacred burial sites and water access.

        Widespread youth disconnection hurts not only Native Americans and Latinos, but also the North Dakota economy. State policymakers can simultaneously invest in their economies and their most vulnerable populations by building robust cradle-to-career pipelines that support children and families, and by connecting young people of color to opportunities through targeted workforce training programs, apprenticeships, internships, and career academies.

        To see how Native Americans fare across other indicators in North Dakota, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in North Dakota, and select an indicator. Download the charts and share them on social media using #equitydata and #NoDAPL.

        Webinar Archive: 3 Ways to Use Equity Atlas Chart Downloads Webinar

        The National Equity Atlas has improved chart downloads. To learn how to use this improved functionality, watch our latest webinar, “3 Ways to Use Equity Atlas Chart Downloads.” Here is the webinar recording and slides. We encourage you to share with your network.

        Also, take a few minutes to review the material shared during the webinar. We created a mini-profile template and a social media tip sheet describing the different ways you can use our Atlas charts to promote your work.You can also follow our new #ChartoftheWeek series on the Atlas and on our @PolicyLink Twitter.       

        Find analyses of our newest data updates here, in the “Data in Action” section:

        ·       Why U.S.-born Latinos Tend to Fare Better than Immigrant Latinos

        ·       Latino Immigrants Face Uphill Battle to Economic Inclusion

        ·       The Challenge of Youth Disconnectedness Among Latinas

        We invite you to join our next live webinar, "Special Preview: Neighborhood Mapping on the Atlas", scheduled for Thursday, October 6, at 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm PT. We will be previewing our new mapping system and seeking feedback from you in advance of our public release in October. 

        Please feel free to contact Sarah Treuhaft at sarah@policylink.org with any questions, or visit our “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the Atlas to scan commonly asked questions.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Chart of the Week: #Fightfor15 this Labor Day

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart drawing from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        In honor of #LaborDay and the #Fightfor15, this week’s chart looks at the share of workers earning at least $15/hour in California. In an equitable economy, all workers would earn enough to support their family, or a “living wage.” What constitutes a living wage varies based on family size, but $15/hour is a good benchmark for understanding which groups are least likely to be earning a living wage. The fight for a $15/hour minimum wage is also an important campaign that continues to gain momentum.

        In California, among full-time workers ages 25 to 64, Latinos are the least likely to make at least $15/hour. 49 percent of Latino women and 54 percent of Latino men earned at least $15/hour in 2012 compared with 81 percent of White women and 87 percent of White men. Latinos are the single largest ethnic group in California, but they continue to face some of the steepest barriers to economic inclusion.

        Low wages among the growing Latino population is bad for families and bad for California’s economy: more money in the hands of workers means greater demand for goods and services. Research shows that companies can pay living wages and remain profitable, in part because paying higher wages reduces turnover and increases productivity.

        Thanks to policy changes, we should soon see positive changes on this indicator. The minimum wage in California is currently $10/hour, but earlier this year, state lawmakers struck a deal to gradually raise the state minimum wage to $15/hour by 2022.

        To see how the share of workers earning at least $15/hour varies by race/ethnicity and gender in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your city, region, or state, and select the “By gender” breakdown. Download and tweet at us the chart for your community using #equitydata and #Fightfor15.

        Chart of the Week: #BlackWomensEqualPay

        As America becomes a majority people-of-color nation, equity—just and fair inclusion—is the key to building strong communities and a strong economy. Understanding the state of equity in your community is critical for developing and making the case for solutions that foster equitable growth.

        To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, today the National Equity Atlas team is launching a new “Chart of the Week” series. Every week, we will post a new chart drawing from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

        In honor of #BlackWomensEqualPay, this week’s chart looks at median wages for Black women in Atlanta, Georgia.

        As the chart shows, Black women earn the lowest wages among full-time workers in Atlanta. With a median wage of $14/hour, Black women earn $20/hour less than White men and $13/hour less than White women. While White men and women earn more in Atlanta than the national average for their race and gender, Black women earn less in Atlanta than the national average for Black women ($16/hour), exacerbating racial inequities in the city.

        There are many strategies that communities can take to address race and gender equity in pay, such as Boston’s 100% Talent Compact, in which businesses commit to sharing disaggregated data with the city’s Women’s Workforce Council to inform targeted policy solutions. In King County (Seattle), Washington, businesses are signing on to a similar initiative and pledging to identify internal gender equity issues, share lessons with other employers, and implement best practices to close the gender wage gap.

        To see how Black women fare in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas, type in your city, region, or state, and select the “By gender” breakdown. Download and tweet at us the chart for your community using #60cents #equitydata @PolicyLink.

        The Challenge of Youth Disconnectedness Among Latinas

        By the end of this decade, the majority of youth under age 18 will be people of color. Their ability to succeed in the labor force will determine the strength of our economy in the decades to come. Yet, data on youth disconnectedness show we are failing the very people we are supposed to nurture, educate, and prepare to become the leaders of tomorrow. As the National Equity Atlas shows, there are 5.5 million young people ages 16 to 24 who are “disconnected” — neither working nor in school — and the majority of them are people of color.

        Reconnecting these young people to education, skills, and career pathways is critical for their economic futures — and for our national prosperity. A study by scholars at Queens College, City University of New York and Teachers College, Columbia University calculates that every disconnected youth costs society $700,000 throughout their lifetime. To develop targeted solutions, it is critical to understand which youth face the greatest challenges, and that is why we added gender breakdowns to the “Disconnected youth” indicator on the Atlas.

        A look at this new data reveals some surprising differences in youth disconnectedness by gender for Black and Latino young people. Below, we examine how youth disconnectedness varies by race and gender nationally, followed by a closer look at cities with the highest rates of disconnected Latinas.

        Latinas face particularly high rates of youth disconnectedness

        Of all major race and gender combinations, young Native American men are the most likely to be disconnected in the U.S. as a whole: 28 percent of Native American men ages 16 and 24 are neither in school nor working, followed by 25 percent of Native American young women. Young Black men are about as likely as Native American women to be disconnected. An unexpected finding is that one in five young Latinas are disconnected from school and work — a rate four percentage points higher than that for young Latinos.

        Black and Native American young men are more likely to be disconnected than their female counterparts, while Latino and Asian and Pacific Islander young men are less likely to be disconnected than their female counterparts.

        Cities with the highest share of disconnected Latinas 

        To explore how youth disconnectedness varies for young Latinas across the largest 100 cities, we looked at the cities with the highest and lowest rates of disconnection among Latinas. There was enough data on Latinas ages 16 to 24 in 69 of the 100 largest cities. The share of Latinas in this age group who are not working or in school ranges from 40 percent in Detroit to 2 percent in Irvine, California. Detroit also has the greatest overall share of disconnected youth at 30 percent of all young people, but Latinas have the highest rate of disconnectedness in that city—6 percentage points higher than the share of disconnected Black men. In four of the five cities with the largest share of disconnected Latinas, Latinas are the most likely of all race-gender groups to be disconnected. In Nashville, Tennessee and Charlotte, North Carolina, one in three Latinas ages 16 to 24 is disconnected.

        There could be a number of reasons for the higher rates of Latina disconnectedness in these cities. The Queens College/Teachers College study found that female disconnected youth are more likely to have family responsibilities while male disconnected youth are more likely to be incarcerated. Another study reported that 30 percent of female disconnected youth have children compared with 11 percent of all 16- to 24-year-old females. And in 2014, national Black and Latina teen birth rates were more than two times higher than the rate for White teens. Importantly, poverty and low levels of education correlate with teen pregnancy, and young people in the child welfare system are also more likely to become pregnant.

        Early disconnection can have profound impacts later in life, particularly when it comes to employment, health, and participation. The American Public Health Association explained in a recent video that an 18-year-old male in California was more likely to be arrested in 2014 than he was to vote. And there is even evidence suggesting that employers use gaps in work history as a proxy for criminal activity or incarceration, which disproportionately impacts the job prospects of Black men. 

        Where do Latinos have higher rates of disconnection than Latinas?

        The share of disconnected Latinos is larger than the share of disconnected Latinas in only 11 of the 69 cities with sufficient data on Latina disconnection. In most of those cities, the difference is just a couple percentage points, except in Henderson, Nevada, San Francisco, California, and Irvine, California—the three cities with the lowest rates of disconnection among Latinas. The difference is largest in Irvine, California, where 12 percent of Latinos are disconnected compared with just 2 percent of Latinas.

        Strategies for racial and gender justice

        Ensuring that all young people are healthy, educated, and connected to opportunities is essential for economic prosperity. Solutions are comprehensive and require participation across education, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems. Reforming harsh, “zero tolerance” school discipline policies that put boys and girls of color on track to jail rather than college is key to keeping young people in classrooms. And transforming classroom learning by integrating work-based and linked learning opportunities as well as culturally relevant education can help ensure that students are college and career ready at graduation.

        In the quest for targeted strategies that focus resources toward historically disadvantaged populations, disaggregated data is ever more important to ensure that resources reach and benefit the most affected groups. The new gender data added to the National Equity Atlas for the Working poor, Disconnected youth, and Education levels and job requirements indicators allows communities to capture some of this variation in order to better inform local knowledge and strategies.

        To learn more about how women and men of color are faring in your community, go to the Indicators tab, select one of the five equity indicators that have data by gender (Working poor, Disconnected youth, Education levels and job requirements, Wages: $15/hour, and Wages: Median), and click on the “By gender” breakdown.

        National Equity Atlas: August Updates

        Since the movement to build an equitable economy takes no summer vacation, we’ve been hard at work and are happy to share new features on the Equity Atlas:
         
        Gender Data Added to Three Indicators
        Racial gaps in health, income, employment, and education between Whites and people of color are well established, but how do women of color fare compared with their male counterparts? And what are the effects of race and gender when it comes to economic barriers and opportunities? Today, we added gender breakdowns to three indicators to help answer these questions. In addition to median wage and $15 an hour indicators, which already included these cuts, you can now access data by gender for three more indicators:

         

        To see the new gender cuts for your city/region/state, select one of the three indicators mentioned above and click on the “By gender” breakdown.

        New and Improved Chart Downloads
        To support you in using the Atlas charts, today we are launching new and improved chart downloads that include full titles. When looking at an indicator, simply scroll underneath the graphic display and click on “Graphic (jpeg)” to create presentation and social media-ready images to supplement your campaigns, reports, grant proposals, etc. The titles of the chart provide you with all the information you need to share the chart with others including the indicator, the breakdowns, the geography, and the year.
         
        Upcoming Webinar
        To learn about three simple ways you might use the new chart downloads to advance equity in your community, register for our next webinar on Thursday, September 1, 2016 from 12pm-12:30pm PST. Video from last month’s webinar, “Explore New Data on Immigrants in the National Equity Atlas” can be viewed here.
         
        Understanding How Nativity Matters for Economic Inclusion
        Check out our latest analyses of Atlas data: “Now on the National Equity Atlas: Nativity Cuts Added to Eight Indicators” explores the contributions of immigrants to the economy, “Latino Immigrants Face an Uphill Battle to Economic Inclusion” explores working poverty among Latinos, and “Why U.S.-born Latinos Tend to Fare Better than Immigrant Latinos” examines the median wage, educational attainment and socioeconomic indicators between the two groups.
         
        Thank you!

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        Why U.S.-born Latinos Tend to Fare Better than Immigrant Latinos

        Second generation immigrants show improved socioeconomic outcomes over their parents. Despite America’s many challenges in creating equitable opportunities, it is a rare bright spot in the nation’s racial and ethnic landscape. New data added to the National Equity Atlas in July shows how U.S.-born Latinos trail U.S.-born Whites in education, wages, and poverty, but still fare better than their immigrant counterparts (with one notable exception).

        The recently added nativity breakdowns in the National Equity Atlas allow users to compare outcomes for immigrants and U.S.-born people. In the analysis below, we compare the outcomes of Latinos and Whites with a specific focus on those who are U.S.-born across three socioeconomic indicators: median wage, educational attainment, and poverty, and suggest some reasons why this stratification might persist. For reference, two thirds of Latinos were born in the United States, while 95 percent of Whites are U.S.-born citizens.  

        The White-Latino wage gap is smaller among the U.S.-born population

        The median wage for Latino workers is $7 less than the median wage for White workers. When looking only at U.S.-born workers, however, the wage gap decreases: U.S.-born Latinos only trail U.S.-born Whites by $4. This narrower wage gap can be explained, in part, by the fact that U.S.-born Latinos earn a much higher median wage ($18/hour) than their immigrant counterparts ($13/hour).


        Regions with the greatest numbers of Latinos have larger wage gaps

        To better understand how this wage gap varies by region and with the size of the overall Latino population, we looked at the six U.S. metro areas with the largest numbers of Latinos: Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Chicago, and Riverside, California. Taken together, these six metro areas are home to 37 percent of the total Latino population in the United States.

        In nearly all of these regions, the wage disparities between U.S.-born Whites and U.S.-born Latinos are higher than the national average. The wage gap in the Los Angeles and New York metros reach as high as $10/hour—$6/hour more than the national wage gap between U.S.-born Latinos and U.S.-born Whites. Only Miami has a wage gap comparable to the national average.

        Why is the wage gap between U.S.-born Latinos and U.S.-born Whites so much higher than the national average in the regions where the most Latinos live? It is mainly being driven by the particularly high wages of U.S.-born Whites in these regions. As the chart above illustrates, U.S.-born Latinos in all six regions have higher median wages than the national average of $18/hour, reaching as high as $21/hour in the New York metro area. U.S.-born Whites in all six regions also have median wages that are above the national average of $22/hour, reaching as high as $31/hour in New York. As a consequence, the median wage gap tends to be significantly above the national average in these regions, despite U.S.-born Latinos also reporting higher median wages.

        Both place and educational attainment affect median wages

        Metropolitan regions attract high-skilled and educated workers, and the fact that these metro areas are home not only to the largest populations of Latinos but also to some of the biggest cities in our nation could help explain the wage gaps described above. But how do U.S.-born Latinos and Whites in these regions compare in terms of educational attainment?

        The figure below reveals that the share of residents with at least a bachelor’s degree (BA) in most of these regions is much higher than the national average for both U.S.-born Whites and U.S.-born Latinos. In four of the six regions, a greater share of U.S.-born Latinos has a bachelor’s degree compared to the national average of 18 percent for all U.S.-born Latinos. There is also considerable variation in educational attainment among the U.S.-born White population. Only in Riverside is the share of U.S.-born Whites with at least a BA smaller than the national average of 34 percent.

        A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia shows that workers with and without college degrees tend to earn higher wages in larger cities, but college graduates experience a much faster growth in their median wages in big cities. The big-city factor might be one reason for these above-average wages.

        Comparing the data on wages and education levels for U.S.-born Latinos from the charts above reveal how Miami’s U.S.-born Latinos tend to be highly educated yet do not earn particularly high wages, while Riverside’s U.S.-born Latinos are less educated and earn particularly high wages.

        The poverty rate is similar for immigrant and U.S. born Latinos

        While U.S.-born Latinos do better than immigrant Latinos when it comes to median wages and educational attainment, when you look at poverty (at the 100 percent of the federal poverty level threshold), you will see a different story. As the chart below illustrates, U.S.-born Latinos and Latino immigrants experience poverty at about the same rate—24 percent—compared with 10 percent for Whites. This suggests that U.S.-born Latinos are not better off than their immigrant counterparts when it comes to poverty, and, in fact, the unrounded numbers show that their poverty rates are actually slightly higher—24.4 percent versus 24.0 percent. When looking at 200 percent of poverty, however, the trend is similar to one we saw with wages and education: U.S.-born Latinos are less likely than Latino immigrants to fall below 200% of poverty (51 percent versus 57 percent). Still, the fact that U.S.-born Latinos experience deep poverty at the same rate as their immigrant counterparts is troubling.

        One potential explanation for this could be that many U.S.-born Latinos belong to recent immigrant households whose socioeconomic status often has reverberating effects for their children and the generations that follow. Another possible explanation is that immigrant-headed households tend to be larger with more workers, raising their family-based poverty threshold while U.S.-born Latinos are more likely to be in smaller, nuclear families.

        Inclusion and integration for the fastest growing community in the U.S.

        The U.S. Latino community, the fastest growing group in the richest country on earth, should not be steeped in this magnitude of poverty. The astounding numbers of U.S.-born Latinos and Latino immigrants living under the poverty line underscore not only how great the challenges are to Latino immigrant integration and inclusion, but more shockingly how great the challenges are to achieving equity for their U.S.-born counterparts.

        One starting point to address this lack of integration in the Latino community is to insure the children and youth within this community have access to quality education that could launch them on a positive trajectory to achieve economic success.

        To learn more about how U.S.-born people and immigrants are faring in your community, go to the Indicators tab, select one of the eight equity indicators that have data by nativity (Wages: $15/hour, Unemployment, Homeownership, Wages: Median, Working poor, Poverty, Disconnected youth, or Education levels and job requirements), and click on the “By nativity” breakdown.

        Webinar Archive: Explore New Data on Immigrants in the National Equity Atlas

         

        The National Equity Atlas has added nativity cuts to eight economic indicators: the percent of workers earning at least $15/hour, median wages, unemployment, homeownership, education levels, disconnected youth, poverty, and working poor. 

        To learn more, watch our “Explore New Data on Immigrants in the National Equity Atlas” webinar. Here is a link to the webinar recording and slides.

        You can also find analyses of our new nativity data here, in the "Data In Action" section:

        Also, please see our “Frequently Asked Questions” to learn more about the Atlas.

        Here are some data resources on rural immigrant and tribal communities:                     

        We also invite you to our next live webinar, 3 Ways to Use Equity Atlas Chart Downloads, scheduled for Thursday, September 1, 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm PT. We will be demonstrating three ways that you can use our improved chart downloads to advance equity locally.

        Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions about the Atlas. You can write to Sarah Treuhaft at sarah@policylink.org.

        Latino Immigrants Face an Uphill Battle to Economic Inclusion

        This blog post by Angel Ross was first published on the National Equity Atlas August 9, 2016.

        Immigrants have been an integral part of the social, political, and economic fabric of this nation since its inception. But increasingly hostile local, state, and national policies and climates put many immigrants in precarious situations, restricting both their participation and potential, and ultimately hurting the economy as a whole.

        In June, we released data on working poverty in the Atlas, and found the number of Latinos working full-time yet still struggling economically has increased steadily over the last three decades. Last week, we added breakdowns on immigrant status to eight Atlas indicators, including working poverty. This new data reveals the significant challenges of working poverty among Latino immigrants and the vast differences within the Latino immigrant and U.S.-born populations. For instance, nationwide Latino immigrants are twice as likely as U.S.-born Latinos to be working poor.

        This analysis describes working poverty among Latino immigrants, examines the cities with the worst outcomes on this indicator, and highlights policies to support immigrant integration and ensure economic security.

        Employed Latino immigrants have higher poverty rates than U.S.-born Latinos

        One in four Latino immigrants between the ages of 25 and 64 is working full-time but has a family income below 200% of the federal poverty level, compared with just 12 percent of U.S.-born Latinos. Mexican immigrants, who account for more than half of all Latino immigrants, have the highest overall rate of working poverty among Latinos at nearly 29 percent followed by Guatemalans (28 percent) and Hondurans (26 percent). 

        Multiple factors contribute to these numbers. In addition to lower wages and lower levels of educational attainment on average, another important reason is that immigrants, half of whom are Latino, are less likely to be enrolled in public benefits programs. Poverty is calculated based on family income, which includes earnings as well as sources other than work like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Undocumented people are currently ineligible for many of these programs, but we see lower rates of enrollment even among eligible immigrant families. Increasing enrollment in these programs is one way to ease the burden that many low-income immigrant families face in the U.S.

        Many immigrants are also part of mixed status families, which might include authorized immigrants, undocumented immigrants, and U.S. citizens. By 2010, close to a quarter of all children had at least one immigrant parent. But due to the precarious status of undocumented workers and discrimination against Latino immigrants, exploitation and wage theft is rampant.

        The high rates of working poverty among working-age Latino immigrants translates into high levels of economic insecurity among Latino children, who are a large and growing segment of our future workforce. Nearly 63 percent of Latinos under 18 years old live below 200 percent of poverty as do two in three Latino children under 5 years old.

        Where do Latino immigrants face the biggest barriers?

        To better understand the geography of economic insecurity among Latino immigrants, we ranked the 100 largest cities in the U.S. by the rate of working poverty and the median wage among Latino immigrants. Because both citizenship and education are associated with higher earnings, we also looked at the citizenship rate and the percent without a high school diploma.

        The cities with the highest levels of working poverty among Latino immigrants—with 38 to 40 percent of their Latino immigrants working poor—included the North Carolina cities of Winston-Salem and Greensboro, along with the Texas cities of Dallas and Irving, followed by Minneapolis, Minnesota. These cities also had lower median wages, lower levels of citizenship, and lower levels of educational attainment than Latino immigrants nationally. The national citizenship rate of all Latino immigrants, for example, is 30 percent and the median wage for full-time workers is $12.70/hour. Yet the citizenship rate among the five cities with the highest levels of working poverty ranged from 11 percent in Winston-Salem and Greensboro to 19 percent in Irving. The median wage ranged from $9.40/hour in Winston-Salem to $10.70/hour in Dallas. Similarly, just under half of Latino immigrants nationally lack a high school diploma, but that number goes as high as 68 percent in Dallas.

        The cities with the lowest median wages among Latino immigrants—ranging from just $8.90/hour to $10.20/hour—are Raleigh and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Indianapolis, IN, Plano, TX, and Columbus, OH. Indianapolis has the third lowest median wage but a significantly lower rate of working poverty than other cities. The wage difference in Irving and Plano, Texas show the extent to which labor markets are truly local: the median wage is more than a dollar lower in Plano than in Irving or Dallas even though both are part of the Dallas metropolitan area and educational attainment is higher in Plano. Importantly, Latino immigrants as a whole account for a much smaller share of the total population in Plano than in Irving (7 percent in Plano versus 20 percent in Irving).

        Winston-Salem, NC is the only city ranking both in the top five on working poverty and in the bottom five on median wages. With roughly 36,000 Latinos, 20,000 of whom are immigrants, Winston-Salem is home to the largest share of Latinos out of all big cities in North Carolina while neighboring Greensboro has one of the smallest shares of Latinos. Yet in both cities, Latino immigrants face significant barriers to economic inclusion. Four in ten Latino immigrants ages 25 to 64 in Winston-Salem and Greensboro are working poor and half earn less than $9.50/hour in Winston-Salem and $10/hour in Greensboro.

        Latino immigrants in the capital of North Carolina at the heart of the Research Triangle (anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) have the lowest median wage for full-time workers of the largest 100 cities and even the largest 150 metropolitan areas in the country. With more than half of Latino immigrants in Raleigh earning less than $9/hour, combining the income of two working parents still doesn’t add up to a living wage for a family of three or four. Latino immigrants are more than three times as likely as U.S.-born Latinos in Raleigh to be working poor.

        Interestingly, the median wage of Latino immigrants in Durham, also in the Research Triangle, is nearly $3/hour higher than in Raleigh even though a higher percentage of Latino immigrants in Durham lack a HS diploma and the citizenship rates in both cities are nearly identical. The Latino population also accounts for roughly the same share of the population in both cities, but Durham is majority people of color and Raleigh is majority White. Despite the higher median wage, 29 percent of Latino immigrants in Durham are working poor.

        Municipal IDs and the state preemption of local policies benefiting immigrants

        The North Carolina economy relies on immigrant labor, but last year Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill banning local governments from establishing “sanctuary cities” and preventing government agencies from accepting local or foreign-issued IDs. The mayor of Greensboro viewed this legislation as targeted towards their local efforts to welcome immigrants with one of the first programs in the South that offered ID cards to immigrants. Law enforcement officials successfully pushed back last year and the law only bars city officials from accepting the ID cards, not police or hospitals.

        But this year, new legislation was introduced in the state that would prohibit law enforcement from accepting municipal IDs. This law was passed in spite of evidence that local ID cards help to foster a sense of community among all residents and that law enforcement has actually solved more cases due to increased trust from the undocumented community. This type of state preemption to local authority is a threat to equitable development, but continues to gain momentum across the country, particularly in more conservative states, curbing the ability of local leaders to build inclusive and equitable cities.

        Immigrant integration is a moral and economic imperative

        In an increasingly hostile political environment, one promising strategy for immigrant integration is increasing naturalization. Not only does naturalization strengthen democracy through voter representation, it also results in economic gains. A recent study by our partners at the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration found that reducing the eligible to naturalize population by half over 5 years is estimated to result in a $75 billion gain to the national economy over ten years. Ending the criminalization of undocumented immigrants by providing a pathway to citizenship and increasing citizenship supports for authorized immigrants has benefits extending far beyond the immigrant population.

        In additional to municipal ID cards, other state and local strategies include providing access to health care for undocumented people, as SB 10 did in California, and separating local policing from immigration enforcement as HB 13-1258 did in Colorado. Policies that contribute to the just and fair inclusion of those residents who are often left behind help to create thriving and sustainable communities. To learn more about these policies, visit our immigrant contribution to growth indicator.

        To explore data on immigrants for your city, region or state, visit the National Equity Atlas. For more information on the nativity cuts, see our previous blog.

        Now on the National Equity Atlas: Nativity Cuts Added to Eight Indicators

        From the high-skilled workers who contribute to groundbreaking research and innovation, to day laborers who are the backbone of the economy, immigrants have played a critical role in positioning the U.S. as a world leader on many fronts. In a context of increasing xenophobic sentiment, understanding the economic engine that is the immigrant population in the U.S. and ensuring immigrant integration is an important cultural, political, and economic imperative.

        Understanding the characteristics of the local immigrant community is critical to developing effective strategies to help newcomers reach their potential, and that is why we added new nativity breakdowns to eight economic opportunity indicators in the National Equity Atlas: median wage, unemployment, the percentage of workers making $15/hour, disconnected youth, homeownership, educational attainment, poverty, and working poor. With these breakdowns, you can find out how immigrants are faring in the largest 100 cities, largest 150 metros, and all 50 states.

        This is a treasure trove of data for you to explore. Below, we describe a few highlights from our own review of this new data.

        An overview of the 40 million immigrants in the U.S.

        There are 39.8 million immigrants in the U.S., representing 13 percent of the total population. Latinos make up nearly half (47 percent) of the immigrant population followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders (API) who account for another 25 percent. This is a testament to the growing body of Latinos and APIs residing in the U.S. White and Black immigrants follow at 19 and 7 percent respectively.

        Latino immigrants made up 3 percent of the total U.S. population in 1990, a figure that doubled to 6 percent by 2012. Latino immigrants represent not only the largest share of immigrants in the U.S., but also the fastest growing. The API immigrant community is the second fastest growing and represent 3 percent of the total U.S. population as of 2012. White immigration has more or less stayed stagnant at 3 percent between 1990 and 2012. Finally, Black immigrants make up the smallest share of the total U.S. population at 1 percent, and are not growing as fast as their Latino and API immigrant counterparts.

        Despite their numbers, Latino immigrants face some of the largest barriers to inclusion. For example, they have the lowest median wage at less than $13/hour, which is $5/hour less than U.S.-born Latinos and half the median wage of White immigrants. Furthermore, 57 percent of Latino immigrants are living under 200 percent of poverty, and 25 percent are working poor.

        Black and White immigrants report higher levels of education than their U.S.-born counterparts

        The new nativity cuts also allow for a within-group analysis that sheds light on how immigrants and U.S.-born people of the same race fare in comparison with one another.

        For instance, using education as an example, we can see that higher rates of White and Black immigrants report having a BA or higher when compared with their U.S.-born counterparts. But the opposite is true for Latino and API immigrants: they are less likely than their U.S.-born counterparts to have a BA or higher.

        We can do a deeper with-in group analysis by looking at the disaggregated ancestry subgroup data by the nativity cuts. For instance, using median wage as an example, immigrant Whites as a whole earn more than U.S. born Whites. Looking at the disaggregated ancestry subgroup data by nativity cuts reveals the following: immigrant Whites of Western European and North American ancestry reported lower median wages than their U.S. born counterparts, but immigrant Whites of Eastern European ancestry reported higher median wages than their U.S. born counterparts. On the other hand, immigrant and U.S. born Whites of Middle Eastern/North African ancestry reported the narrowest gap with respect to the disparity in their reported median wages.

        Studies show the significant economic contributions of Latino immigrants

        In addition to the rich diversity and culture that immigrants bring to this country, studies show that immigrants continue to play a critical role in driving economic growth in their communities. According to a recent study by economists Dennis Coates and T.H. Gindling, “income growth that tends to accompany Latino population growth in rural counties is even greater where native-born, non-Hispanic populations have otherwise been shrinking”.  

        This study shows that immigrant spending in Nebraska generated up to $2.4 billion worth of output, in which the Latino immigrant community contributed up to $1.1 billion. There is a similar story in Iowa of Latino immigrant spending reaching up to $963 million of the estimated $2.5 to $3.2 billion in immigrant spending. Furthermore, the study found that the absence of Latino immigrants in the Omaha-Council Bluffs economy would lead to a 7.8 percent reduction in total production – an amount that translates to $6.5 billion.

        Immigrant integration is an economic and moral imperative

        Removing barriers to immigrant participation in the economy is key to a thriving and prosperous economy. The California Immigrant Policy Center, based in the state that is home to the largest population of immigrants, has policy priorities for 2016 ranging from access to health care to workers’ rights. Such advocacy efforts are crucial to ensure the socioeconomic inclusion of the immigrant community that has historically played an integral part in the making of a nation.

        To access the data for your city, region, or state, go to nationalequityatlas.org, click on Indicators, and in the Equity menu, select one of the eight indicators listed above. On the indicator page, choose the “By nativity” breakdown to see the nativity cuts. Additionally, if you click on the “By ancestry” breakdown, a nativity filter appears below the graphic display that allows you to look at the data for U.S.-born people or immigrants.

        National Equity Atlas: July Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        It is our goal to make the National Equity Atlas as robust a resource as possible to help you make the case for equity in your community. So we are happy to introduce to you the latest round of Equity Atlas news and updates.
         
        New Data on Immigrants
        Immigrants have and continue to play an important role in the U.S. economy. Understanding the barriers and opportunities that different groups face is key to moving equitable policies forward. Today, we added nativity cuts to eight economic indicators in the National Equity Atlas that also include data by ancestry: median wages, the percent of workers earning at least $15/hour, unemployment, homeownership, education levels, and disconnected youth as well as our two newest indicators: poverty and working poor. This new breakdown allows users to assess how immigrants and U.S.-born people fare by race/ethnicity and across more detailed racial subgroups.
         
        To see the new nativity data in your city/region/state, select one of the eight indicators mentioned above and click on the “By nativity” breakdown. You can also click on the “By ancestry” breakdown, scroll down to the “Nativity” filter, and select either U.S.-born or immigrant.
         
        Webinars
        We will walk you through how to access this new data Monday August 8, 2016 at 12PM-12:30PM PST. Register here. Video from last month’s webinar exploring the poverty and working poor indicators can be viewed here
         
        Recent “Data in Action” Posts
        In 2012, nearly one in three Latino full-time workers, ages 25 to 64, earned below 200 percent of poverty – up from 27 percent in 1990 and compared with 9 percent for their White counterparts. Wondering what other trends the new Equity Atlas indicators reveal? Several new analyses have been posted to Data in Action:
         
         
        Fairfax County Equity Resolution
        In 2015, community leaders working inside and outside of government in Fairfax County, Virginia, partnered with the National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and PERE to produce an equitable growth profile of the county. Through a newly adopted policy, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has made its commitment to equity official when it voted to develop a racial and social equity policy to assess all county-wide decisions through an equity lens.
         
        Are you using Equity Atlas data in your work? Let us know.
         
        Thank you!
         
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)
         

        Fairfax County Adopts “One Fairfax” Resolution, Committing to Equitable Growth

        Fairfax County, Virginia is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation — but not all of its residents have been able to participate and share in its prosperity. In 2015, as part of a larger effort to address structural barriers to inclusion, community leaders working inside and outside of government partnered with the National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and PERE to produce an equitable growth profile of the county. That report highlighted how communities of color are driving the county’s rapid population growth and now represent 45 percent of its population, yet racial inequities persist across a multitude of indicators.

        Equipped with the facts, local leaders worked to educate decisionmakers and build broad support for an equity approach. In 2015, the Board of Supervisors acknowledged equity as a key principle in its Strategic Plan to Facilitate Economic Success, and a core group of equity leaders proposed a countywide “One Fairfax” resolution, asking county and school district leaders to develop and implement a data-driven racial and social equity policy. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted the resolution last week, making its commitment to equity official; the school board is expected to vote on “One Fairfax” before the end of the month. 

        Latinos See the Highest Increases and Levels of Working Poverty in Many Regions

         

        As Latinos drive population growth and change in America, their ability to thrive is increasingly critical to the health of our economies locally and nationally. Yet, new data on working poverty in the National Equity Atlas reveals the extent to which many Latinos are working full-time yet still struggling economically. In 2012, nearly one in three Latino full-time workers, ages 25 to 64, earned below 200 percent of poverty – up from 27 percent in 1990 and compared with 9 percent for their White counterparts.

        This post takes a closer look at Latino working poverty across the nation’s largest 150 metropolitan regions. Working poverty describes full-time workers with a family income below 200 percent of poverty, and the rates of working poverty in this post reflect the working poor as a share of full-time workers ages 25 through 64. While poverty is defined at the family level, based on combined income from all family members, in this post we make reference to individual earnings for simplicity. Given that an individual’s family income must be as high or higher than their personal earnings, the rates of working poverty reported here understate the rates that would be found if only an individual’s earnings were considered.

        Latino Working Poverty High and Increasing in Many Regions

        Not only do many regions have high rates of Latino working poor, conditions are getting worse over time. This is shown by the scatter plot below, which plots the largest 150 regions by the share of Latino full-time workers who earn below 200 percent of poverty in 2012 and the percent increase in Latino working poverty between 2000 and 2012. The farther to the right, the greater the share of Latino working poverty in 2012. The higher up on the chart, the greater the percent increase in Latino working poverty between 2000 and 2012. As illustrated by the number of metros in the upper-right quadrant, there appears to be a positive relationship: the regions with higher rates of working poverty among Latinos also saw a sharp growth in Latino working poverty.

        Regions in Tennessee and North Carolina have the highest rates of Latino working poverty

        Mapping the data reveals additional geographic patterns, including the clustering of Latino working poverty in the South and particularly in the states of Tennessee and North Carolina. Of the largest 150 metro regions in the U.S., all nine in North Carolina saw substantial increases in working poverty among Latino full-time workers, ranging from a 23 percent increase in Greensboro to an 82 percent increase in Winston-Salem. Each region also had a Latino working poverty rate greater than the national average except for Fayetteville, which matched it. More than half of Latino full-time workers in Greensboro, Durham, Hickory, and Winston-Salem earned less than 200 percent of poverty.

        Similarly, the four regions in Tennessee included in the Atlas saw higher than average increases in the overall rates of Latino working poverty. One in two Latino full-time workers in Chattanooga earned less than 200 percent of poverty in 2012, up from 28 percent in 2000. Over the same time period, the Latino population grew significantly faster than any other group in the region.

        Tennessee and North Carolina are among the roughly 15 states that currently ban local governments from adopting their own minimum wage laws. Part of the controversial HB2 law passed earlier this year in North Carolina, which restricts usage of multiple occupancy bathrooms for transgender and gender non-conforming people, also includes state preemptions to local minimum wage increases. The current minimum wage in Tennessee and North Carolina is the same as the federal: $7.25 an hour. The MIT Living Wage Calculator, however, estimates that a living wage for a family of four ranges from $13 to $22 an hour in Tennessee and from $14 to $23 an hour in North Carolina. The state preemption laws also prevent localities from allowing workers to earn paid sick leave.

        This is a growing and alarming trend: eight states have considered restrictions on local minimum wage increases this year and the story is often similar. When states fail to pass increases in minimum wages in step with increases in cost of living and inflation, some jurisdictions take matters into their own hands by increasing local minimum wages. State legislatures—especially those led by Republicans—push back by adopting laws preventing local action. Raising wages would be especially beneficial to workers of color. In North Carolina, for example, 11 percent of White full-time workers earn less than 200 percent of poverty compared with nearly half of Latino full-time workers. Even more striking, 12 percent of Latino full-time workers earn less than 100 percent of poverty.

        Addressing working poverty is a moral and economic imperative. If Latinos, the fastest growing group in many regions, are unable to participate, prosper, and reach their full potential, the impacts will go far beyond the Latino population. To learn more about working poverty in your city, region, or state, and learn about policies that lift the wages of workers, explore the new working poor indicator.

        Webinar Archive: Explore New Equity Atlas Indicators on Poverty and Working Poor

         

        The National Equity Atlas has released two new indicators: Poverty and Working Poverty. 

        To learn more, watch our “Explore New Equity Atlas Indicators on Poverty and Working Poor” webinar.

        Here is a link to the webinar recording and slides

        We also created one-page “Indicator Snapshots” for Poverty and Working Poor that you can print out as a reference, and you can find several new analyses here: 

        An Overview of America’s Working Poor

        Latinos See the Highest Increases and Level of Working Poverty in Many Regions

        New Data Highlights Vast and Persistent Racial Inequities in Who Experiences Poverty in America

        Also, check out our “Frequently Asked Questions” section for more information about the Atlas. 

        Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions about the Atlas. You can write to Sarah Treuhaft: sarah@policylink.org.

        -- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        An Overview of America’s Working Poor

        Wage stagnation and the increasing number of people who are working yet still poor are significant challenges of our era. One recent study found that there isn’t a single congressional district in the country where a full-time minimum wage worker could afford a two-bedroom apartment. With the rapid growth of unstable, low-paying jobs and the failure of even full-time work to pay family-supporting wages, it is critical to understand working poverty in order to enact policies that lift working families out of poverty.

        This analysis describes trends in the persistence of working poverty in America drawing from new data added to the National Equity Atlas. Most measures of the “working poor” count everyone who spent at least the last 6 months in the labor force—including those employed part-time, seasonally, and even the unemployed. We use a more restrictive measure in our analysis counting only full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 64 who fall below 200 percent of poverty. Users can explore rates of working poor at 100 percent, 150 percent, and 200 percent of poverty, but for this analysis, “working poor” is defined as full-time workers below 200 percent of poverty.

        Why focus on 200 percent of the poverty line?

        We believe that looking at the population below 200 percent of poverty provides a more accurate picture of economic insecurity in the United States. Some argue that the poverty level is too low, particularly in more expensive metro areas. Others point out that that experience of poverty is more porous than a poverty line, which fails to capture the millions of families who move in and out of poverty each year or those families at risk of falling into poverty if they lose a job or have a medical emergency. A family of four below 200 percent of poverty in 2012 had a family income less than $46,000 a year. There are currently over 100 million people living below this threshold in the U.S.—one in three people.

        The 12 Million Working Poor

        While a large number of that 100 million living at or below 200 percent of the poverty line are children and seniors, over 12 million of them are full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 64. Of these full-time workers earning less than 200 percent of poverty, the majority -- 56 percent -- are workers of color. Working poverty has increased dramatically over the last three decades, growing from less than 7 million in 1980 to today’s 12.4 million. Of all full-time workers ages 25 to 64, the share who were working poor declined slightly between 1980 and 2000 before increasing by 19 percent in 2012. In the 1980s and 1990s, the working poor rate hovered around 12 percent, but by 2012, was close to 14 percent.

        Latino workers face the highest and fastest-growing levels of working poverty

        Breaking down the overall data by race reveals that Latinos are the only major racial/ethnic group to experience continual increases in working poverty over the last three decades. In fact, increases in the overall rate of working poverty are driven largely by increases among the Latino population. In 1980, about a quarter of Black and Latino prime-age full-time workers were working poor, more than twice the rates of Whites. But over the next two decades, as the rates declined among Black workers, it increased for Latinos. Even more alarming, Latino full-time workers are 4.5 times more likely than White full-time workers to earn below the federal poverty line and nearly one in three Latino full-time workers fall below 200 percent of poverty.

        The nation’s demographic changes magnify the importance of these trends. Latinos and APIs are among the fastest growing groups in the U.S. and they not only saw the largest increases in working poverty over the last decade but they were also the only groups to experience increases since 1980. By 2012, Latinos were more than three times as likely as Whites to be working poor.

        What this means for the future

        The promise of work is part of the American Dream. Most Americans believe that people who work, especially those working full-time year round, should be earning enough to provide for their families. But nearly one in three Latino full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 64 still bring home a family income below 200 percent of poverty (and that includes the income of all other family members as well as income from sources other than work). And the experience of working poverty for most racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., including Whites, has increased since 2000, signifying a disturbing trend in the labor force and a need for policy that ensures all work pays a fair wage.

        These increases in working poverty are explained, in part, by changes in economic structure and policy. Over the last several decades, businesses have generated a disproportionate amount of low-wage jobs and wages have been flat for all but the highest earners (see the Job and wage growth indicator). To make matters worse, growing unemployment during the Great Recession pushed down on wages even further. Lifting the wages of workers requires a robust policy agenda like the one proposed by the Economic Policy Institute that tilts power back into the hands of workers. To learn more about policies that lift full-time workers out of poverty like the Earned Income Tax Credit and minimum wage increases and to explore the new working poor indicator, click here.

        New Data Highlights Vast and Persistent Racial Inequities in Who Experiences Poverty in America

        Already the majority of children under five years old in the United States are children of color. By the end of this decade, the majority of people under 18 years old will be of color, and by 2044, our nation will be majority people of color. This growing diversity is an asset, but only if everyone is able to access the opportunities they need to thrive. Poverty is a tremendous barrier to economic and social inclusion and new data added to the National Equity Atlas highlights the vast and persistent racial inequities in who experiences poverty in America.

        On June 28, we added a poverty indicator to the Atlas, including breakdowns at three thresholds: 100 percent, 150 percent, and 200 percent of the federal poverty line. We also added an age breakdown to the new poverty indicator, in response to user requests for child poverty data, which allows you to look at poverty rates across different age groups including the population under 5 and 18 years old as well as those 18 to 24, 25 to 64, and 65 and over.

        Why examine different levels of poverty? In 2012, the federal poverty level was less than $12,000 for a single person and roughly $23,000 for a family of four with two adults. Many believe that this is too low. The National Center for Children in Poverty argues, for example, that families need an income at least double the federal poverty level to meet basic needs. Another critique relates to the varying costs of living across communities. $23,000 will go much further in a lower-cost region like McAllen, TX compared with a high-cost one like San Francisco or Washington, DC. To understand the broader universe of families experiencing economic insecurity, this analysis focuses mainly on the population below 200 percent of poverty.

         People of color have the highest rates of economic insecurity, while Whites saw largest increase since 2000

        Looking at how the share of people living at or below 200 percent of poverty has changed since 1980, we see a few trends. First, economic insecurity (defined in this way) decreased for all racial/ethnic groups except Latinos, who saw an increase of two percentage points over the three decades. During the same time period, Latinos went from just 6 percent of the population to 16 percent and were the fastest growing population over the last decade. In other words, the same demographic group driving growth and change is increasingly experiencing economic insecurity.

        Second, the largest overall increases in economic insecurity over the past three decades in the U.S. occurred between 2000 and 2012. During that period, rates increased for all groups except Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs). Interestingly, Whites have seen the largest increase in economic insecurity since 2000 despite having the lowest rate by far of all major racial groups.

        Third, while there are large racial inequities in who experiences economic insecurity, it is a widespread challenge that affects all racial/ethnic groups including Whites. Half of people of color live below 200 percent of poverty compared with only a quarter of Whites but that does not mean Whites are immune to poverty – that percentage represents nearly half of the total U.S. population below 200 percent of poverty.

        The share of people of color experiencing economic insecurity ranges from less than a quarter of people of color in Honolulu to nearly two in three people of color in Brownsville, TX

        While nationally just under half of all people of color fall below 200 percent of poverty, local percentages vary considerably across metropolitan regions, from 65 percent in Brownsville, TX to 23 percent in Honolulu. In order to understand these numbers, it is important to consider the local cost of living, since poverty rates are universal, while costs of living vary tremendously by region. We can do that by looking at “regional price parities" (or RPPs). Calculated by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis, RPPs indicate relative differences in the cost of goods and services across states and metropolitan areas.  They are expressed as a percentage of the average national price level, and range from the highest cost region, Honolulu, at 123 down to McAllen, TX, the lowest cost region in the Atlas, at 84.9.

        In general, places with the highest rates of economic insecurity also tend to have lower costs of living: Four out of the five regions with the largest shares of people of color living at or below 200 percent of poverty fall within the bottom third of the 150 largest U.S. metros with the lowest cost of living. And the five regions with the lowest shares of people of color below 200 percent of poverty fall within the 10 most expensive metros in the Atlas. But an affordable rent under this poverty threshold would be less than $1,150 a month for a family of four—which would be nearly impossible to find in these higher cost regions.

        The demographic makeup of the regions with the largest shares of people of color experiencing economic insecurity are at both ends of the spectrum: Hickory and Scranton are much whiter than the U.S. as a whole while Brownsville, McAllen, and Visalia are much browner. But they all have one thing in common: people of color are projected to drive the vast majority of population growth over the next couple decades while the White population is expected to decline.

        Communities of color are actually the fastest growing segments of the population in most regions, including those with majority White populations, but they continue to face barriers to educational and economic opportunities, stifling their own potential, the potential of the regions where they live, and that of the country as a whole.

        Black and Native American children most likely to experience poverty

        When looking at the population under 18 years old, roughly 63 percent of Black and Native American youth live below 200 percent of poverty compared with 31 percent of White and API youth. Children of color are nearly twice as likely as White children to be economically insecure. Even more alarming is that the share of kids under 5 years old, who are already predominately children of color, is even higher. More than two in three Black, Native American, and Latino children under five years old live below 200 percent of poverty. Given what we know about the adverse effects of child poverty, it is alarming that the two largest groups of kids of color, Latinos and Blacks, have the highest poverty rates.

        The implications of these findings are far-reaching. Not only will the children of today become the workers of tomorrow, who will be expected to support the growing retired population, but child poverty is also estimated to cost the U.S. economy $500 billion a year, underscoring the importance of racial equity for enduring prosperity. Explore poverty in your city, region, or state here. For more data highlighting the gap between the aging white population and the growing population of youth of color, see the racial generation gap indicator.

        National Equity Atlas: June Update

        Over the past several weeks, we've been analyzing our new ancestry data and also just added two new indicators on poverty and working poverty.
         
        Analyzing Ancestry Data 

        We recently completed a series of analyses of last month’s racial subgroup data update. Our analysis of homeownership among the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) population found that rates of homeownership range from 25 percent for Samoans up to 68 percent for Taiwanese. Looking at educational attainment and youth disconnectedness among the API population we saw that Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander groups fare much worse than their South and East Asian counterparts. Examining wage disparities within the Latino population, we found that Central Americans tend to earn the least. And our review of unemployment in the Black population shows how certain Sub-Saharan Africans, many of whom are immigrants, have unemployment rates more comparable to the national average. Check out the Data in Action section of the Atlas website to stay up to date on analyses released throughout the month.

        New Poverty and Working Poor Indicators

        High rates of poverty impact everyone, costing our economy billions of dollars annually and weakening the middle class and democracy. And as the low-wage sector has grown, the share of adults who are working full-time jobs but still cannot make ends meet has increased, particularly among Latinos and other workers of color. The Atlas now includes indicators for the percentage of individuals living below three poverty thresholds (100, 150, and 200 percent of the federal poverty line) and by age so you can understand child poverty, as well as the percentage of full-time workers living below each of the three thresholds
         
        Webinars

        Join the National Equity Atlas team for a live demo of our new Poverty and Working Poor equity indicators on July 12, 12:00 – 12:30 pm PT / 3:00 – 3:30 pm ET. During this 30-minute webinar, we will walk you through these indicators and policy strategies to advance racial economic inclusion and equitable growth in your community. Register here. Video from the June 22 live demonstration of the Atlas, sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, can be viewed here

        National Equity Atlas in Measure Up

        The Build Healthy Places Network — which connects leaders and practitioners across the health and community development sectors—has just added the National Equity Atlas to its microsite of resources and tools, MeasureUp. You can find the National Equity Atlas on their Mapping Tools page.
         
        Thank you!
        The Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

        A Closer Look at Black Unemployment Using Ancestry Data

        The Black population in the United States historically faced widespread discrimination in the labor market, and studies reveal that employers continue to discriminate on the basis of race. Racial bias as well as other structural and institutional barriers are reflected in the Black unemployment rate, which is consistently about double the rate for Whites. However, disaggregating such socioeconomic indicator data shows that this is not true of every subgroup within this population. As with other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., the Black population is quite diverse with varying levels of success in the labor market. Examining the diversity of experiences within the Black community in the United States can provide a better understanding of barriers to unemployment.

        This analysis explores the variation in the unemployment rate within the Black population. On May 23, PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity added new ancestry breakdowns to six indicators in the National Equity Atlas. This is the fifth in a series of analyses of the new data.

        The unemployment rates reported in the Atlas for 2012 reflect a five-year average of the American Community Survey (ACS) microdata, which reflect the state of the U.S. job market at the height of the recession (and thus are higher than today’s rates for all groups). The Black population had the highest unemployment rate at 13 percent, compared to the national average of 8 percent. Disaggregating the data reveals that some subgroups had unemployment rates more comparable to the national average.

        Blacks of North and Sub-Saharan African Ancestry Have the Lowest Rates among the Black Population

        At 9 and 11 percent respectively, Blacks of North and Sub-Saharan African ancestry have the lowest rates of unemployment within the Black population. Both of these groups are predominantly comprised of immigrant communities. Although those figures appear to be low relative to the overall Black average, they still are above the national average of 8 percent.

        But even within the Sub-Saharan population, rates vary widely, from as low as 6 percent for Blacks of Kenyan ancestry to as high as 21 percent for Blacks of Somalian ancestry. These two neighboring countries in the horn of Africa ironically represent each end of the spectrum of unemployment rates for Blacks in America. Blacks of Nigerian and Ethiopian/Eritrean ancestry – the two largest subgroups of Sub-Saharan immigrants residing in the U.S. — both have unemployment rates of 9 percent, well below the average for all Blacks in the U.S.

        Blacks of North and Sub-Saharan African Ancestry Have Higher Levels of Education

        As with unemployment, the various Black subgroups differ in levels of educational attainment. Black immigrants tend to have higher levels of education: Among Black immigrants in the U.S., 29 percent reported having a BA or higher, compared with 18 percent for U.S.-born Blacks. Some Black communities have much higher education levels. For instance, 63 percent Blacks of Nigerian ancestry, 49 percent Blacks of Egyptian ancestry, 47 percent Blacks of Kenyan ancestry indicated they have a BA or higher, compared with 34 percent of Whites.

         

        A Closer Look at Unemployment in the Nigerian Community

        Blacks of Nigerian ancestry, 63 percent of whom are immigrants, represent the largest Sub-Saharan subgroup in the U.S. The New York, Houston, and Washington, DC metro areas have the largest populations of Nigerians in the country, and together account for 34 percent of all Nigerians living in America.

        As illustrated in the chart above, the unemployment rate for Blacks of Nigerian ancestry is 9 percent in New York, 11 percent in Houston, and 8 percent in Washington, D.C. By contrast, unemployment among the African American subgroup is 13 percent in New York, 10 percent in Houston, and 9 percent in Washington, D.C. The trend in the greater Houston metro area is not consistent with the rest - the African American/Other Black subgroup has lower unemployment rates when compared to Blacks of Nigerian ancestry in that region. When looking at factors such as education levels for these two subgroups in the Houston area, the data shows the opposite of what we would expect.  Blacks of Nigerian ancestry still have a greater number of their population with a B.A or higher at 66 percent, when compared to only 22 percent for African American/Other Blacks in that region.

        Furthermore, although both subgroups have higher unemployment rates when compared to the overall unemployment rates in these regions — 8 percent in New York, 6 percent in Houston, and 6 percent in Washington, D.C. — the gap is wider for the African American/Other Black subgroup in two of the three cities with the largest concentration of Blacks of Nigerian ancestry.

        Solutions to High African American Unemployment

        While a combination of factors such as systemic racist policies and widespread employment discrimination have certainly played a part, it is hard to ignore a problem unique to the U.S., a country with the highest levels of incarceration rates that puts a disproportionate amount of able-bodied African American men and women out of the workforce. Moreover, disaggregated data shows that those who indicated to be African American/Other Black represent one of the subgroups that fare the worst when it comes to unemployment rates and education levels, whereas their immigrant counterparts are either doing as well as the national average or in some cases better. This begs the question of what causes this disparity.

        Although it is easier to address the skill deficiency part of the puzzle rather than the discrimination piece when explaining rampant unemployment levels in the Black community, a combination of policies and advocacy efforts to address both issues could remedy parts of the problem. Policies that increase workforce development programs for African Americans by itself may not be sufficient as Blacks of the same skill set have a harder time finding a job due to discrimination when compared to their White counterparts. Therefore, pairing workforce development programs with aggressive job placement programs might do a better job of increasing the chances of employment. Additionally, while it is difficult to change the explicit and implicit biases of employers towards Black applicants, implementing subsidy programs that would reward employers to hire qualified members of the Black community may also increase the chances of employment for Blacks.

        Lastly, unless drastic measures are taken to decrease the prolific rates of mass incarceration in the U.S. that has disproportionately impacted the African American community and to implement policies such as Ban the Box that would increase the employment chances of formerly incarcerated individuals, no amounts of job training and job placement programs will truly address the issue of high unemployment rates in the African American community.

        National Equity Atlas Added to Health and Community Development Site, MeasureUp

        The Build Healthy Places Network—which connects leaders and practitioners across the health and community development sectors—has just added the National Equity Atlas to its microsite of resources and tools, MeasureUp. On this site, they’ve curated some of the best examples of measurement and action in addressing the social determinants of health, spanning logic models, data sets, mapping tools, issue briefs, and videos. MeasureUp is intended to help advocates and practitioners measure and communicate the impact of their work.
         
        You can find the National Equity Atlas on their Mapping Tools page.
         
         

        New Data on Homeownership by API Subgroups Uncovers Gaps by Ancestry

        The diverse range of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities in the United States represents many different languages and countries of origin. When these communities are grouped together into a single “Asian or Pacific Islander” (API) category, that aggregated group appears to do quite well by common measures of social and economic success. But looking at the data this way obscures important differences in experience – for example, among Native Hawaiians, third-generation Japanese Americans, and Burmese immigrants – and hides the particular challenges faced by many groups within that broader community.

        On May 23, PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity added new ancestry breakdowns to six indicators in the National Equity Atlas. This, the fourth in a series of analyses of the new data, examines the homeownership indicator.

        This indicator is emblematic of the “American dream” and provides an important measure of family wealth and asset building. It also reveals vastly different outcomes among API subgroups. Of course, analyzing socioeconomic data cannot convey the range of chronic stresses caused by racism and stereotypes; but it can provide a better understanding of the diversity of experiences that exist within the API community in the United States.

        Homeownership Is Significantly Lower Among APIs than Non-Hispanic Whites

        For many of the indicators of economic vitality and readiness included in the National Equity Atlas, Asians and Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians (APIs), as a group, appear to be doing better than their White counterparts. Compared to Whites, the API community earns higher median wages, achieves greater levels of educational attainment, and experiences lower rates of unemployment and youth disconnection.  However, this trend does not extend to homeownership.

         

        As the chart above illustrates, APIs have a homeownership rate of 58 percent — 10 percentage points higher than the rate for all people of color combined, but 15 percentage points lower than the homeownership rate of Whites (73 percent). Still, the relatively high rate of homeownership for APIs compared to other groups of color masks underlying differences within the diverse experiences of different API populations and reinforces the model minority stereotype.

        What Does Examining Homeownership by Subgroup Tell Us?

        Among all APIs, 58 percent of households are owner occupied. Between the various API subgroups, however, rates of homeownership vary widely. The lowest rates of homeownership are found among those of Samoan (25 percent), Burmese (28 percent), and Tongan (38 percent) ancestry. At the other end of the spectrum, the highest rates of homeownership are found among two Southeast Asian ancestry groups —Vietnamese (64 percent) and Filipino (62 percent) — and three East Asian groups: Taiwanese (68 percent), Japanese (64 percent), and Chinese (62 percent). But one East Asian group lags far behind the others: homeownership among people of Korean ancestry is just 47 percent.

        Some of this difference may be explained by other factors related to family economic vitality: people of Korean ancestry attain average educational levels but earn lower median wages and experience higher rates of unemployment than other East Asian ancestry groups. Yet overall racial gaps in homeownership between Whites and APIs confirm that measures of education, employment, and wages do not necessarily predict homeownership rates.  

        How Do These Patterns Differ Across U.S. Regions?

        Even within a given ancestry group, of course, rates of homeownership are affected by a host of factors related to regional economic conditions, migration patterns, and local real estate markets. Among the U.S. regions with sufficient data to report homeownership rates for people of Korean ancestry, there are significant variations. Overall, these rates range from 30 percent in the Austin, Texas metro area to 66 percent in the Riverside, California metro area, as illustrated below. The five metro areas with the highest rates of homeownership among those of Korean ancestry are Riverside, California (66 percent); Denver, Colorado (65 percent); Washington, DC (61 percent); Houston, Texas (61 percent); and Portland, Oregon (60%) — all rates above the national average not only for the Korean subgroup but for all APIs.

        It is perhaps not surprising that the five metro areas with the lowest rates of homeownership in the Korean ancestry subgroup, shown below, coincide with some of the most expensive real estate markets in the country: San Francisco, California (43 percent); New York, New York (40 percent); Los Angeles, California (38 percent); Boston, Massachusetts (35 percent); and Austin, Texas (30 percent). In these regions, homeownership among the Korean ancestry subgroup is well below the national average.

        Yet is also important to note that in each of these metro areas, homeownership among residents of Korean ancestry is also significantly lower than the regional rate of homeownship for all residents. In San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, there is a 12 percentage-point difference between the Korean subgroup and the regional average. In Boston, the gap is 27 percentage points. And in Austin, where overall homeownership is 58 percent, the gap is a staggering 28 percentage points.

        Disaggregated Data Can Inform Tailored Housing Policy Solutions

        Homeownership can be an important pillar of financial security and a tool for economic mobility for low- and middle-income families. But various social and market forces continue to produce barriers to homeownership for communities of color. Often these barriers are related to family income and assets, but redlining, discriminatory lending, and structural racism are also at play.

        Disaggregated data can help advocates and policymakers identify the specific challenges that put homeownership out of reach for particular communities and identify strategies to alleviate them. This data makes clear that groups working on issues related to financial inclusion, asset building, and homeownership in a given region should identify whether particular groups are being left behind, work to identify specific barriers, and target outreach and resources to those who need them most.  For example, In New York, Asian Americans for Equality provides homeownership support services through its community development fund, including multilingual counseling, outreach, and education in Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, and Korean.

        Explore the status of homeownership in your city or region here.

        Data by Ancestry Shows Wage Differences Among Latinos in the United States and Selected High-Cost Metros

        In the United States, Latino workers earn the lowest median wages of any major racial group: just $15, compared with $22 for their White counterparts — a 32 percent difference. While these national measures bring into focus one of the most significant racial wage gaps in the country, they also obscure differences that exist within the broader Latino population as well as regional differences in wages and cost of living.

        On May 23, PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity added new ancestry breakdowns to six indicators in the National Equity Atlas. This is the third in a series of analyses of the new data, examining the “median wages” indicator for Latino workers.

        Latinos Are Paid Significantly Less than Workers in Other Racial Groups – And Central Americans Tend to Be Paid Least of All

        Among all U.S. workers, Asians and Pacific Islanders earn the highest median wages ($24), followed by Whites ($22), other/mixed race workers ($20), Blacks ($17), Native Americans ($17), and Latinos ($15). Yet as new data in the National Equity Atlas shows, average pay ranges widely within each of these groups. Among Latino subgroups, workers of Panamanian, Venezuelan, Chilean, and Argentinian ancestry earn the most – $19 per hour – while those of Guatemalan and Honduran ancestry earn an average of just $12 per hour. As the chart below illustrates, workers of Caribbean and South American ancestry tend to earn more than the average Latino worker, while those of Mexican and Central American ancestry tend to earn less than other Latinos.

        Low Wages Persist for Central American Groups Even in Highest-Cost Regions

        As the data in the Atlas shows, wages tend to vary widely by region due to local economic conditions. To take a closer look at differences in pay within the Latino community, we examined median wages in the 25 U.S. metros with the highest cost of living, measured by something called “regional price parities" (or RPPs). Calculated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, RPPs indicate relative differences in the cost of goods and services across states and metropolitan areas.  They are expressed as a percentage of the average national price level. For example, the most expensive U.S. metro in 2013 was Honolulu, HI, with an RPP of 122.5, while the least expensive was Beckley, WV, with an RPP of 78.

        On average, the highest cost metros have the highest median wages; yet they also have staggering levels of wage inequality.  The table below compares the wages of non-Hispanic White workers with their Latino counterparts of Central American ancestry in the three metro areas with the largest Central American populations: Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and Washington, DC. These three regions also happen to be ranked among the top 10 most expensive metros in the country.

        In the Los Angeles metro area, Latino workers of Central American ancestry earn a median hourly wage of $12.30 compared with $29.70 for their White counterparts, representing a wage gap of 59 percent. In the New York metro, the median wage for Latinos of Central American ancestry is $13.00 compared with $30.45 for White workers, resulting in a wage gap of 57 percent. The wage disparity is even greater in the Washington, DC region, where Central American Latinos earn a median wage of $14.10 but White workers earn $35.15, making the racial wage gap between these groups a staggering 60 percent.

        These differences are partly reflective of vast disparities in educational attainment between these groups. In Los Angeles, just 12 percent of Central American Latinos have earned at least an associate’s degree, compared with 57 percent of Whites; in New York, 14 percent of Central American Latinos compared with 58 percent of Whites; and in Washington, DC, only 11 percent of Central American Latinos compared with 69 percent of Whites.

        Wages Vary Widely Both Among and Between Racial Groups

        Los Angeles is home more than 718,000 Latinos of Central American ancestry — the largest such population in the United States. The graphic below illustrates the median wages of the six major racial groups in the Los Angeles metro region, as well as disaggregated data for Latinos. As the chart illustrates, the median wages of Central Americans trail not only other racial groups, but other Latinos as well. Workers of Guatemalan ancestry in Los Angeles earn an average of $11 per hour; Salvadorans, $12; Hondurans, $11; Nicaraguans, $15; and Costa Ricans, $19. Among Central American workers in Los Angeles, only those of Costa Rican ancestry earn higher average wages than Latino workers in general.

        Disaggregated Data Critical to Developing Regional Inclusive Growth Strategies

        We know that America’s future economic strength will depend on growing good jobs and ensuring that all workers — regardless of race, gender, or zip code — have access to stable employment with family-supporting wages and benefits. Latinos are the fastest-growing group in the United States, so ensuring that they are paid a fair, living wage is not only essential to family economic security but also to the vitality of our regional and national economies. 

        The new data on the National Equity Atlas highlight the need for disaggregation when developing strategies to address economic inequity, from targeted economic development and workforce efforts to worker organizing. By developing a clearer picture of the groups and communities struggling to make ends meet through low-wage work, advocates and policymakers can tailor their support to those who need it most.

        Data by Ancestry Illustrates Difference in Educational Attainment across Asian and Pacific Islander Communities

         

        Educational attainment is a key data point that has been used perpetuate the “model minority” myth suggesting that the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) population achieves higher socioeconomic success than other major racial/ethnic groups. For advocates of the API community this is concerning, especially for those subgroup populations that fare much worse than average across socioeconomic indicators.  For these groups, their struggles are rendered invisible by the myth of the model minority, which has implications for their prospects in the workforce.

        On May 23, PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity added new ancestry breakdowns to six indicators in the National Equity Atlas. This is the second in a series of analyses of the new data, focusing on the “educational levels and job requirements” indicator for the API community.

        Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander Adults Have the Lowest Rates of Educational Attainment

        Data from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce predict that by 2020, 43 percent of jobs will require an Associate’s degree or higher. And 33 percent of jobs will require at least a Bachelor’s degree. In aggregate, APIs tend to have higher education levels compared to other major racial/ethnic groups – 60 percent of working age APIs (adults between ages 25 and 64) have at least an AA degree. That’s about double the percentage for all people of color and surpasses all other major racial groups. However, once we disaggregate these data by ancestry we see that there is a fair amount of variation within the API community.

        While APIs have some of the highest rates of educational attainment across major racial/ethnic groups, some groups have much lower than average rates. Nationally, this particularly rings true for Southeast Asian and Pacific Islanders groups. Only about one in five Tongan, Samoan, Laotian, and Cambodian working age adults have an AA degree or higher, proportions similar to those of Latinos (20 percent) and Native Americans (23 percent). On the other hand, some South and East Asian groups have the some of the highest levels of educational attainment: roughly three-quarters of Indian (77 percent) and Taiwanese Americans (75 percent) have a BA degree of higher.

        Pacific Islander populations consistently had lower levels of educational attainment across regions which does not bode well for these groups attaining jobs of the future. For example, the Salt Lake City region has a significant Pacific Islander population, but only 6 percent of working age adults have a BA or higher while the share of jobs requiring that level of education will be 29 percent in 2020.

        Higher Rates of Educational Attainment for Indian and Chinese Adults, but Some Geographic Variation

        While the national trend generally holds true across cities and regions, place has a definite impact on educational attainment levels for some API subgroups, especially those groups that nationally have some of the highest levels of educational attainment. For example, Indians from regions in California’sCentral Valley are much less likely to have an AA degree or higher than their counterparts in the state’s larger regions: 36 percent of Indian’s in Bakersfield have an AA degree or higher compared to 93 percent in San Diego. It is important to note that these differences are not just due to differences that regions have in terms of educational attainment. In this example, educational attainment is lower overall in Bakersfield than in San Diego, but Indians still have lower than average attainment among API group in Bakersfield whereas in San Diego, Indians have the highest attainment among APIs.

        In some cases, a subgroup’s geographic variation can differ between a region and its central city. For example, 32 percent of Chinese working age adults in the city of Philadelphia have an AA degree of higher, compared to 57 percent for the region, suggesting disparities between the city and its suburbs. Similar trends holds true in other northeastern regions including Boston and New York.

         

        Disaggregated Data Critical to Developing Regional Inclusive Growth Strategies

        We know that America’s future jobs will continue to require ever-higher levels of education, but the model minority myth presupposes that API communities are already reaching those levels. Noting that API communities are some of the fastest-growing communities in the nation, it is important that all subgroups are adequately prepared to participate in an exceedingly more knowledge-driven economy.

        These data — and the new disaggregated data provided on the National Equity Atlas — highlight the need for disaggregation when addressing disparities and gaps in educational attainment in communities of color, so that advocates and policymakers can ensure equitable education and job attainment opportunities.

        Data by Ancestry Reveals High Levels of Disconnectedness Among Specific Asian and Pacific Islander Communities

        Asian and Pacific Islander activists and organizations have warned about the “model minority” myth for decades. While the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) population as a whole often fares above average on socioeconomic indicators, such metrics render invisible subgroup populations within the API community who face barriers to economic opportunities and inclusion. Data on “youth disconnectedness” – people ages 16 to 24 who are neither working nor in school — for the API population by ancestry illustrates the importance of examining more deeply disaggregated data. While API young adults have the lowest rate of disconnectedness among major racial/ethnic groups, with 8 percent of API youth being disconnected compared with 18 percent for youth of color as a whole, rates for some API communities are double or triple the API average.

        On May 23, PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) added racial/ethnic breakdowns by ancestry to five indicators in the National Equity Atlas. Data is available for a given Atlas state, region, or city when the sample size is large enough (at least 100 survey responses). This is the first in a series of analyses of the new data, focusing on the “disconnected youth” indicator for the API community.

        Pacific Islander, Cambodian, and Burmese Youth Face the Highest Rates of Disconnectedness Nationally

        While API young adults have the lowest rate of disconnectedness among major racial/ethnic groups — 8 percent, compared to 27 percent for Native Americans, 22 percent for African Americans and 18 percent for Latinos, certain groups within the API community face much higher rates. Pacific Islander youth in particular face persistently higher rates of disconnectedness. The average rate of disconnection for all Pacific Islander youth — 20 percent — falls between the overall Black and Latino averages. Among Samoan young adults in the U.S., for example, 22 percent are disconnected. Tongan, Native Hawaiian, and people who identify as “Other Pacific Islander” also have rates hovering around 20 percent.

        Disconnectedness is a challenge among other Asian subgroups as well. Outside of Pacific Islanders, Cambodian young people have the highest rate of disconnection (17 percent), followed by Burmese youth (16 percent), and Laotian youth (15 percent).The challenge of youth disconnectedness is fairly consistent for Pacific Islanders across the states and regions for which data is available. “Disconnected youth” data is available for Pacific Islanders for five states (Hawaii, California, Texas, Utah, and Washington). Pacific Islander youth are faring the worst in Hawaii (26 percent disconnected), Washington (25 percent), and Utah (22 percent). In all three states, Pacific Islander youth face the highest levels of disconnectedness within the API community. Pacific Islander youth are doing better on this indicator in California (16 percent) and Texas (9 percent). In California, the Laotian and Cambodian populations have the highest levels of disconnectedness among the API community (both at 19 percent); and in Texas, the Taiwanese population is the most disconnected (12 percent).

        There were four regions where data was available for Pacific Islanders (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Seattle). Again, California’s Pacific Islanders had lower levels of disconnection, at 13 percent in San Francisco and 12 percent in Los Angeles, but still face higher rates than the API averages in those regions (8 and 7 percent, respectively). Honolulu’s “Other Pacific Islander” population (reporting a Pacific Islander ancestry other than Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, or Samoan), have the highest rate of disconnection within the Asian populations across all regions, at 34 percent.

        Overall Low Rates of Disconnection for Chinese, Filipino, and Indian Young People, but Higher Rates in Certain Metros

        API subgroups with very low rates of disconnection at the national level — including the three largest Asian subpopulations (Chinese, Filipino, and Indian) — can have high levels of disconnectedness in certain regions. Among Chinese young people as a whole, just 6 percent are not working or in school. But among the 25 regions for which data is available for Chinese, the rate of disconnection ranges from less than one percent in Ann Arbor and Lansing, Michigan to nearly 12 percent in the Phoenix region.

        Filipino youth have an average youth disconnectedness rate of 9 percent, but this ranges widely in the 16 regions for which data on Filipinos is available, from a low of 5 percent in Chicago to a high of 17 percent in Las Vegas. Though the overall rate of disconnection in Las Vegas is 19 percent, the rate for Filipinos is more than double the rate for Chinese youth. The other regions with elevated levels of disconnectedness for Filipino youth are Vallejo (14 percent) and Stockton (13 percent).

        The average rate of disconnectedness for Indian young people is 9 percent, but among the 16 regions for which data is available, the disconnected youth rate ranges from a low of 3 percent in Miami to a high of 17 percent in Detroit. Indian youth also face particularly high levels of disconnection in San Jose (16 percent).

         

        Disaggregated Data Critical to Developing Regional Inclusive Growth Strategies

        From local initiatives to the White House Council for Community Services and partnerships between organizations like YouthBuild and Starbucks, a range of stakeholders have joined forces to provide opportunities for the over 5.5 million young people in the U.S. who are not working or in school. Ensuring that these youth, over half of which are youth of color, have access to meaningful educational and employment opportunities is essential for inclusive economic growth. This data highlights the need for additional racial disaggregation when developing programs and policies targeted at disconnected youth especially given regional variation. Relying solely on aggregated data of the API community as a whole, may lead to over-generalized and deceiving conclusions. Explore the variation in disconnection from school and work among young people in your city or region here.

        Ancestry Counts: New Data Helps Create Clearer Picture of Economic Opportunity


        The right data is critical to inform effective policy solutions — but data describing the state of equity for particular racial and ethnic communities at the local level is often difficult to access. That is why the National Equity Atlas has added new racial subgroup data to its demographic and economic opportunity indicators.

        The latest update better describes the incredible diversity within broad racial/ethnic groups, and can be used to develop targeted strategies to advance racial equity and inclusive growth. Now, when users go to the “detailed race/ethnicity" indicator, they can select “by ancestry” and see more detailed breakdowns of the Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latino, Native American, and White populations (e.g., Filipino, Jamaican, Puerto Rican). Users can also select “by nativity and ancestry” to get a breakdown of the share of each group who are immigrants versus U.S.-born.

        These detailed racial/ethnic breakdowns have been added to several of the Atlas's economic opportunity indicators, including: median wage, unemployment, the percentage of workers making $15/hour, disconnected youth, homeownership, and educational attainment. As an example of what these data can reveal, the Atlas team will be posting a series of analyses on the “Data in Action” section of this site, beginning with today’s posts on the "disconnected youth" and "educational attainment" indicators for the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community:
         
        “Asian and Pacific Islander activists and organizations have warned about the ‘model minority’ myth for decades. While the API population as a whole often fares above average on socioeconomic indicators, such metrics render invisible subgroup populations within the API community who face barriers to economic opportunities and inclusion.”
         
        The National Equity Atlas team will be hosting a 30-minute live demo of the latest data release on Thursday, May 26, 2016, at 3 p.m. Eastern/12 p.m. Pacific. Please register here.
         
        You can also read more about the update in today’s Next City article, “More Muscle Added to Equity Tool.”
         
        Thank you!
         
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equality (PERE)

        National Equity Atlas: April Update

        Dear Equity Atlas Users,

        Since we launched the Atlas in October 2014, we have wanted to include data that better describes the incredible diversity within broad racial/ethnic groups and challenges the “model minority” myth that impedes action and progress toward racial equity and inclusive growth.
         
        We are excited to be taking a first step toward that goal by adding two new breakdowns to our “detailed race/ethnicity” indicator. Now, when you go to that indicator, you can select “by ancestry” and see more detailed breakdowns of the Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latino, Native American, and White populations (e.g., Filipino, Jamaican, Puerto Rican). You can also select “by nativity and ancestry” to get a breakdown of the share of each group who are immigrants versus U.S.-born.
         
        To provide some more detailed data for smaller areas, we also created broader geographic categories (e.g., South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, Pacific Islander) that combine a number of ancestries. For a large, diverse region like Los Angeles (see screenshot below), you will get data for many ancestry categories, while for a smaller, less diverse region like Charleston, you will see fewer of the detailed ancestry categories.
         
        We hope you enjoy digging in to the data! Here is a blog post highlighting some takeaways from the new data. In a few weeks (on May 23), we will be adding these more detailed racial/ethnic breakdowns to several of our economic opportunity indicators, including:

        • Unemployment
        • Wages: Median
        • Wages: $15/Hour
        • Disconnected Youth
        • Educational Levels
        • Homeownership

         

        Thank you!
         
        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

         

         

         

         

        National Equity Atlas Now Includes More Detailed Racial Subgroup Data

        Since its debut in October 2014, the National Equity Atlas has disaggregated most of its 31 demographic and equity indicators by race/ethnicity using broad categories defined by the U.S. Census. Today, we are excited to announce the release of more detailed demographic data based on self-reported ancestry for all major racial groups in the U.S. Data for the Asian/Pacific Islander (API), Black, Latino, Native American, and non-Hispanic White populations is now disaggregated by ancestry as well as by nativity (i.e., immigrant or U.S.-born). On May 23, we will be adding these more detailed race/ethnicity cuts to six economic opportunity indicators: median wage, unemployment, the percentage of workers making $15/hour, disconnected youth, educational attainment, and homeownership.
         
        We’ll confess: the more detailed socioeconomic indicators are what is really compelling, and you’ll have to wait a little bit longer for them. But the demographic data provides important context, helping you to better understand the racial/ethnic composition of your community, and how it is changing, at a more granular level. Below are some key takeaways from the new data.
         
        Immigration policy shows up in the data
         
        U.S. immigration policy has and continues to impact our demographics. Two-thirds of the 15.1 million Asian/Pacific Islanders in the U.S. are immigrants, and one in four is a Chinese or Indian immigrant. Due in part to immigration laws, this segment of the population is highly educated. More than 90 percent of the nearly 20,500 Indians of working age in Minnesota have at least a bachelor’s degree as do 86 percent of the 11,400 Chinese people of working age in Irvine, CA. The sheer size of the Chinese and Indian immigrant populations influences overall API averages on many socioeconomic indicators, masking some of the differences among the various populations within the API community and highlighting the importance of disaggregating by racial subgroups.
         
        Asian and Pacific Islander communities cluster in Pacific Rim cities, but also inland cities like St. Paul
         
        Of the 100 largest cities, New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles have the largest populations of Chinese people, while Long Beach, CA has the largest population of Cambodians followed by Philadelphia, PA and Stockton, CA. The cities with the largest Indian populations include New York City, San Jose, and Fremont, CA, while St. Paul, MN, Fresno, CA and Sacramento, CA have the largest Hmong populations. The Los Angeles and Seattle regions are home to the largest populations of Samoans outside of Hawaii while the San Francisco region has the largest population of Tongans. Explore the API subgroups more here.
         
        People of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Dominican heritage also cluster in certain cities
         
        The immigrant to U.S.-born ratio for Latinos is basically the reverse of that for APIs. Nearly two in three of the 50.5 million Latinos are born in the U.S. Mexicans make up more than half of the total Latino population followed by “Other Latinos,” respondents who identified as Latino but did not specify a specific nationality or ancestry. The regions with the largest Mexican populations are in California and Texas while the regions with the largest populations of Puerto Ricans are located entirely in the east with the exception of Los Angeles (which ranked 15th). The city of Los Angeles is home to 14 percent of Salvadorans in the U.S., of which 35 percent are U.S.-born and New York City is home to 42 percent of the total Dominican population, 40 percent of whom are U.S.-born. Explore the Latino subgroups more here.
         
        Data reveals differences within Black and White populations
         
        Nearly 3.7 million people identified as non-Hispanic White with American Indian ancestry. This population is thus included in White averages and as a White subgroup but is 1.8 times larger than the total Native American/Alaskan Native (NAAN) population. Ten percent are located in Texas with 94,000 American Indian non-Hispanic White-identified people in the Dallas region alone. Aside from “Other Native American/Alaskan Native,” Cherokees make up the largest subgroup of the total NAAN population and more than 28,000 Cherokees live in the Tulsa region. Roughly 2.4 million non-Hispanic White people identified as Middle Eastern/North African (MENA). Seventeen percent of the MENA population lives in the Los Angeles region though the New York City, Chicago, and Detroit regions also have sizeable MENA populations. Eighty-six percent of Black/African Americans identified as “Other Black,” which is largely comprised of those identifying simply as “African American” to the ancestry question. Jamaicans were the next largest subgroup followed by Haitians. Well over half of the Jamaican and Haitian populations live in the New York City or Miami region.
         
        We invite you to explore your city or region and look out next month for the release of socioeconomic indicators at the more detailed race/ethnicity level. Feel free to contact us with any questions or let us know how you’re using the data!

        National Equity Atlas: March Update

        Dear Equity Atlas users,

        It has been an eventful couple of weeks! Since Leap Day, the Atlas has grown by three new indicators, been featured at the White House, and powered new data-driven stories about the economic imperative of equity in The AtlanticGrist, and elsewhere. Here is a recap:

        New Data on School Poverty

        • The concentration of students of color in schools where most of their classmates are poor is a major driver of the achievement gap — and a critical indicator of whether communities are setting up their young people to succeed. Our new School Poverty indicator shares this data by race/ethnicity, grade level, and over time, from 2000 to 2014.
        • Ron Brownstein and his “Next America” team at The Atlantic used our data to investigate trends and solutions in the nation’s 100 largest cities, producing three stories: "The Concentration of Poverty in American Schools," "Separate and Still Unequal," and "Where Children Rarely Escape Poverty" (focusing on Charlotte).
        • Writer Alan Gottlieb drew on Atlas data to explore school poverty trends in Denver and Colorado Springs for The Colorado Trust’s blog.

         

        New Data on Air Pollution

        • Decades of studies show that people of color are far more likely to live in polluted neighborhoods, leading to greater risks of asthma, cancer, and other health problems that hinder well-being and productivity. Last week, we added two indicators—Air Pollution: Exposure Index and Air Pollution: Unequal Burden—that measure the level of exposure to air toxics for residents as well as the extent to which a given demographic group shoulders a disproportionate burden of the area’s air pollution.
        • Grist’s Aura Bogado wrote about how these indicators reveal how race still trumps poverty when it comes to air pollution in “Money doesn’t matter: White people breathe cleaner air.
        • We presented these new indicators alongside the EPA’s EJSCREEN mapping tool on a webinar co-sponsored by the EPA and the APA titled “New Data Tools for Supporting Analysis of Equitable Development and Environmental Justice.” Watch it here.

         

        White House Opportunity Project 

        We added these new environmental indicators as a part of the White House Opportunity Project effort to “build digital tools that help families, community leaders, local officials, and the media to access what they need to thrive” based on open data provided by federal and local governments. Check out the other tools or read Tanvi Misra’s overview for CityLab.

         

        Next Up: Disaggregating the Asian, Latino, and Black Populations

        Now that those indicators are out, we’ve begun diving back into the data to work out our method for providing more detailed subgroup data for demographic and selected socioeconomic indicators. Stay tuned for a launch schedule.


        Thank you for being a part of the movement to use data to build an equitable economy! Please take a moment to tell us how you are using Atlas data.

        The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and PERE

        School Poverty Data Highlighted in The Atlantic

         

        In a recent story in The Atlantic, Janie Boschma and Ronald Brownstein use new data from the National Equity Atlas to explore the racial concentration of school poverty. In “The Concentration of Poverty in American Schools,” Boschma and Brownstein note that in about half of the nation’s largest 100 cities, most Black and Latino students go to schools where at least 75 percent of all students qualify as poor or low-income. They write,

        “This systemic economic and racial isolation looms as a huge obstacle for efforts to make a quality education available to all American students. Researchers have found that the single-most powerful predictor of racial gaps in educational achievement is the extent to which students attend schools surrounded by other low-income students.”

        Percent of students by school poverty level: United States, 2014


        The authors discuss the root causes of concentrated poverty as well as promising school integration models from Dallas and New York City as strategies to address these gaps. The Atlantic also cites the National Equity Atlas’s school poverty indicator in the stories “Separate and Still Unequal” and “Where Children Rarely Escape Poverty.”

        National Equity Atlas: February Update

        Dear Equity Atlas users,

        Greetings! Please see below for a round-up of additions to the National Equity Atlas in the last quarter of 2015. 

        We also have a favor to ask: If you have been using the Atlas, would you write a short testimonial about what you used it for and what impact it had/what you liked about it? We have a specific opportunity to share a user testimonial in a new national resource, and an ongoing need to document how our data is informing community action. Please share your two-sentence testimonial here.
         

        New Data

        • In October, we added the 100 largest cities to the Atlas, increasing the number of geographies represented to 301! Check out our webinar releasing the data.
        • We added gender and race/ethnicity breakdowns to two economic indicators: Unemployment and Wages: Median (gender is also available for the Wages: $15/hr indicator).

         

        New Reports

        • We analyzed the potential economic gains of true full employment for the Fed Up Coalition. Our series of fact sheets (for the U.S. as a whole and 12 metros) illustrate the improvements to employment, income, GDP, poverty, and tax revenue if everyone who wanted a job could find one — regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.

         

        In the News

        • Matt Vasilogambros of the National Journal analyzed the racial wage gaps in America’s metros using Atlas data, reporting on the continued gaps even among highly-educated workers and the worst and best regions for Black, Latino, and Asian workers on this measure.
        • In January, the Chicago Tribune used Atlas data — revealing that by 2020, 47 percent of Chicago’s jobs will require an associate’s degree or higher, yet only 29 percent of U.S.-born Latinos and 28 percent of U.S.-born blacks in the area currently have that level of education — to frame a story about strategies to prepare young people of color for the jobs of the future.
        • The Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) invited Atlas team member Sarah Treuhaft to write about the Atlas and the practice of combining data with narrative for policy change on its blog.

        Data In Action

         

        Webinars

         
        Thank you for using our data and being a part of the movement to build an equitable economy!

        The Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and PERE

        Indicator Update: Unemployment Data Now Disaggregated by Both Gender and Race

        The National Equity Atlas includes historical data on unemployment at the national, state, regional, and city levels. We have recently updated this indicator to provide more detailed information on unemployment by gender as well as race/ethnicity; here’s an overview of the unemployment data available in the Atlas and how you can use it.

        What it measures

        The unemployment rate reported in the Atlas is calculated as the number of people ages 25–64 who are out of work divided by the number who are in the labor force, defined as working or actively seeking employment (over the last four weeks). No data is reported for demographic subgroups with insufficient sample sizes.

        Atlas users can compare unemployment by gender both within and between racial groups, and track trends over time, with data going back to 1990.

        What it shows

        According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the unemployment gender gap (the difference between female and male unemployment rates) “virtually disappeared after 1980–except during recessions, when men’s unemployment rates always exceed women’s.” This is reflected in the data for the United States presented in the Atlas with the overall gender gap near zero in both 1990 and 2000, but with men’s unemployment rates exceeding women’s by 0.6 percentage points in 2012. (Because the data reported for 2012 represents a 2008-2012 average, these figures span the period during and immediately following the Great Recession.) In our 2012 data, women’s unemployment was lower than men’s in 45 states (plus the District of Columbia), 61 of the 100 largest cities, and 110 of the 150 largest metro areas.  

        The newly disaggregated data also show that in each gender group, unemployment remains significantly higher among people of color. Nationally, unemployment for White men was 7 percent, compared with 10 percent for men of color. Among women the gap was even greater: 6 percent unemployment for White women and 10 percent for women of color. Of course, these figures vary greatly among different regions. For example, the tables below list the regions with the lowest unemployment rates among men and women of color.

        The Atlas makes it easy to dig a little deeper and compare rates of unemployment across different racial and gender groups. The following chart displays more detailed information for the Anchorage, AK metro region, which has one of the highest gender unemployment gaps in country:

        Unemployment rate by race/ethnicity and gender: Anchorage, AK Metro Area, 2012

        To explore this data for another region, city, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas.

        1.       Click on Indicators in the navigation bar;

        2.       Select the Unemployment indicator under Economic Vitality;

        3.       Select “By gender” in the breakdowns underneath the chart.

        You can also learn more about strategies for addressing inequities in employment and where to find supporting data, and check out “Full Employment for All: The Social and Economic Benefits of Race and Gender Equity in Employment”—a report prepared by PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE).

        Chicago Tribune Cites Atlas Data on Changing Demographics and Educational Needs for Digitized Economy

        In today’s Chicago Tribune, Mark Caro and Kathy Bergen use data from the National Equity Atlas to describe Chicago’s changing demographics and the widening skills gap the city will face in the coming years (“Chicago's future hinges on retooling schools for digital age”). Four years from now, in 2020, 47 percent of all jobs in the Chicago metro area will require at least an associate degree—but less than a third of Latinos and African Americans in the area have attained that level of education. Because people of color will make up almost half of the region’s population by then, Caro and Bergen explain, city leaders must act now to better meet the education and job-training needs of tomorrow’s workforce. They describe model solutions from around the country, like the innovative curriculum at Dalton High School in Dalton, Georgia, and the apprenticeship program at Siemens’ manufacturing plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. Read the story here and then visit the National Equity Atlas to learn more about education requirements and job readiness in your region.

        Now on the National Equity Atlas: Median Wages by Gender

         

        We are excited to introduce new data on the National Equity Atlas: our median wages indicator is now disaggregated by gender as well as race. Here we will describe what the indicator measures, discuss some related national trends, and show you how to get more information on the gender pay gap and what can be done to address it.

        What it measures

        This indicator reports the median hourly wages (in 2012 dollars) of full-time wage and salary workers ages 25–64, by gender and race/ethnicity.  As the chart below illustrates, you can compare wages by gender both within and between racial groups, and track trends over time with data going back to 1990.

         

        Above: Median Hourly Wage by Race/Ethnicity and Gender, United States

        National trends

        Nationwide, full-time working women now earn $0.86 for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, compared to $0.71 in 1990; this seems like encouraging progress, but according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, 40 percent of that progress is explained by declining wages among men. The data in the Atlas support this conclusion: while women’s wages have risen by about 6 percent over the last few decades, men’s wages have fallen by nearly 13 percent. In addition, research has shown that the women continue to earn less than men not only because of differences in education, occupation, and family needs, but also as a result of gender discrimination and bias in the workplace. Across the U.S., White women earn about $0.79 for every dollar earned by White men, and the gaps are even larger for most women of color:

        As the new data in the Atlas clearly indicate, gender pay gaps can’t be understood in isolation from racial pay gaps. Exploring some national trends can show how these dynamics are interconnected:

        • Overall, men earn more than women in all 50 states, all of the 150 largest metro areas, and 98 of the 100 largest cities. Nationally, men earn more than women within each racial group, and this trend holds true for the majority of metros and cities as well.
        • White women earn more than women of color in all 50 states, all of the 150 largest metros, and all but one of the 100 largest cities (excluding Hialeah City, Laredo City, and  Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, ME Metro, for which there are insufficient data to make such a comparison). These inequities persist even among women with similar levels of educational attainment. College-educated women of color, for example, earn an average of $23 per hour, compared to $28 per hour for White women with the same level of education.

         

        New in the Atlas: City-level data

        The greatest gender wage equality has been achieved at the city level, particularly in places where White women earn the most and men of color earn the least compared to White men—meaning the cities with the smallest gender pay gaps have some of the steepest racial pay gaps in the country.

        Let’s take a closer look at Los Angeles as an example. In L.A., one of only two cities in the U.S. where women’s median hourly wages are slightly higher than men’s, men of color earn less than half the pay of their White counterparts: 

        Above: Median Hourly Wage by Race/Ethnicity and Gender, Los Angeles 

        White men are paid dramatically more than all other workers in the city of Los Angeles: White women earn $0.83, women of color earn $0.50, and men of color earn just $0.47 for every dollar earned by White men. Differences in education, occupation, and experience account for some but not all of these disparities; this is why the disaggregated data presented in the National Equity Atlas and other data tools like Clocking In (produced by Race Forward) are so important and powerful: they can help advocates and policymakers push forward creative, multidimensional solutions by showing how economic and social inequities are multilayered.

        Strategies for reducing gender wage gaps

        It is clear that city, state, and national leaders should focus on strategies that will address both gender and racial wage gaps, such as increasing the minimum wage, enacting living-wage laws, guaranteeing paid sick days, preventing wage theft, ensuring fair scheduling, and targeting economic development and workforce efforts to grow high-opportunity sectors that provide pathways to good jobs for people without four-year degrees. More specifically, strong protections against gender wage discrimination, like California’s new equal pay statute, can help ensure that workers are fairly compensated regardless of their gender.

         

        How to get the data for your community

        Visit the National Equity Atlas to explore data for your city, region, or state:

        1.       Click on Indicators in the navigation bar;

        2.       Select the Wages: Median indicator under Economic Vitality;

        3.       Select By gender in the breakdowns underneath the chart.

        Higher Education Doesn’t Close the Wage Gap for People of Color

        In two recent National Journal articles, Matt Vasilogambros uses data from the National Equity Atlas to explore how the wages of workers in America’s 150 largest metro areas differ according to race/ethnicity and educational attainment (here and here). The Atlas provides data on median hourly wages broken down by race/ethnicity and level of education.

        Overall, White workers earn more than people of color in every metropolitan area in the country—and the same pattern holds true within each category of educational attainment. (There are a handful of metro areas, most of which have incomplete data on the wages of workers of color, where Asians edge out Whites for the highest average pay.) Vasilogambros notes that “this gap in earn­ings between races and eth­ni­cit­ies is well-doc­u­mented, as are its reas­ons: Work­ing-age people of col­or tend to be young­er, have less ex­per­i­ence in skilled labor, and are less edu­cated than whites.”

        While it is true that median hourly wages tend to rise with increasing educational attainment, so do racial wage inequities. According to Valerie Wilson, the dir­ect­or of the Eco­nom­ic Policy In­sti­tute’s Pro­gram on Race, Eth­ni­city, and the Eco­nomy, wage gaps have grown the most for college graduates. Data from the National Equity Atlas show that these hourly wage gaps are greatest (around $7 per hour) in cities like San Jose, San Francisco, and New York, where average levels of education and median wages are much higher. The narrowest gaps—still around $2 per hour—are seen in metro areas where the median pay for all workers is far below the national average. As Wilson puts it, “Things tend to equal out at the bot­tom, un­for­tu­nately.”

        Sarah Treuhaft, the dir­ect­or of equit­able growth ini­ti­at­ives at Poli­cyLink, underscores the significance of these wage inequities, which are expected to grow as U.S. demographics continue to change. “It im­pacts the over­all eco­nomy,” says Treuhaft. “If people are not earn­ing as much pay, they have less money to save, to edu­cate their child, to spend in the eco­nomy, which fosters more eco­nom­ic activ­ity. Over­all, that ra­cial gap in wages adds up to a big gap in eco­nom­ic prosper­ity for the re­gion.”

        Chicago’s VOYCE Coalition Uses Disaggregated Data to Pass Landmark School Discipline Reform Bill

        Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE), a youth-led alliance for education and racial justice in Chicago and greater Illinois, has been lifting up the stories of young people of color who experience overly harsh and racially biased discipline in schools to advocate for more equitable and safer schools for everyone.

        Zero tolerance policies that mandate suspension or expulsion for certain offenses emerged in the 1980s, largely in response to rising juvenile arrest rates. The passage of the Gun-Free Schools Act in 1994 required states that wanted access to federal education funding to pass laws mandating yearlong suspensions for students who brought firearms to school. While the original intent of zero-tolerance policies was to make schools safer with a tough-on-crime approach to major offenses, over time, minor violations of school codes of conduct became grounds for suspension or expulsion. One young person from VOYCE reported getting suspended for skipping one class—an extreme disciplinary response that resulted in a disruption of the student’s learning.

        Zero-tolerance policies have not only failed to make schools safer but also encouraged punishment practices that prevent youth—especially youth of color—from succeeding at school and being prepared to enter the workforce. 

        These practices are not simply ineffective; they have harmful repercussions. School suspensions can disrupt young people’s lives and increase the likelihood that they will be arrested. Even more troubling, the increased likelihood of arrest is highest among youth who do not have significant criminal histories. And youth who do have prior criminal histories are more likely to recidivate while suspended from school. This phenomenon of schoolchildren being channeled into the criminal justice system has been referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline. The suspension of young people—like the member of VOYCE who was suspended for skipping a single class—increases their likelihood of arrest or recidivism, when they should be the classroom.

        Recognizing that school suspensions should be the last resort rather than the first response, VOYCE lifted up city- and state-wide data on suspensions, expulsions, and youth arrests to successfully advocate for and pass state legislation mandating the implementation of more fair and effective disciplinary practices instead of zero-tolerance.   

        Uncovering racial inequities in school discipline

        To reach legislators, VOYCE advocates needed compelling data to communicate the urgency of the harmful outcomes and disparate impact of these punishment practices in their communities. They launched the Campaign for Common Sense Discipline, and analyzing data disaggregated by race and ethnicity was a critical first step of their work.

        The coalition analyzed 2012-13 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Chicago Police Department data and found alarming disparities in suspensions and expulsions and widespread criminalization of students of color. Black students were more than 30 times more likely to be expelled and had six-and-a-half times more suspensions than their White peers. Students of color were also far more likely to be criminalized: 96 percent of all arrests were of Black and Latino students.

        VOYCE also analyzed U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights data and Illinois State Board of Education data and found that state-wide there were over 272,000 out-of-school suspensions of Illinois students, more than 2,400 expulsions, and more than 10,000 arrests in just one school year. About 13 percent of all students enrolled in Illinois public schools had been suspended, but VOYCE knew that actual suspension rates were much higher because charter schools are not required to report suspension numbers.

        VOYCE’s analysis also found that suspensions, expulsions, and arrests added up to a significant loss of time in the classroom for Illinois students: more than one million instructional days per year. This was the data point that really captured the attention of decision-makers, according to Jose Sanchez of VOYCE, because it showed how exclusionary discipline was disrupting student learning and creating an enormous barrier to student success.

        Data underpins policy wins for safer and more equitable schools in Illinois

        Using data and organized public action to get the attention of local and state decision makers, VOYCE was able to advocate for and successfully pass two bills that will curb the devastating impacts of these discriminatory policies and make public schools safer and more inclusive for all Illinois students. 

        SB 2793, the first bill that the Campaign successfully advocated for, was signed into law in August 2014 and requires every school to provide data on out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and removals that is disaggregated by race and ethnicity, gender, age, grade level, and limited English-proficiency status. The availability of good data, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, was an essential ingredient in VOYCE’s second legislative victory: the passage of a bill that made zero-tolerance policies the last resort for school discipline.
         

        SB 100 is the most comprehensive attempt by any state to address the causes and dire consequences of the school-to-prison pipeline, and youth advocates from VOYCE played a key role in securing its passage. VOYCE youth drafted a version of the bill in 2012 and sent youth representatives to all legislative hearings about the bill. SB100 passed on May 20, 2015, with broad bipartisan support. It mandates that suspensions and expulsions become the last resort in school discipline, not the first response. The bill also works to make schools more equitable by holding public and charter schools to the same disciplinary standards and by providing academic and behavioral support to struggling students. Instead of excluding students by expelling or suspending them, SB 100 is working to put students back on the road to graduation and a future in the workforce.

        Credit: VOYCE Coalition.

        With these two victories under their belt, the advocates of VOYCE are currently focusing on developing guidelines for the implementation of SB100. They want to ensure that the resources being shifted away from zero tolerance policies are shifted toward practices that make schools more equitable and safe. Their recommendations will be released in Spring 2016.

        The VOYCE coalition’s policy wins exemplify the power of equity data—in the hands of active, engaged communities—to drive positive change in public school systems. The majority of public school students in the United States are now students of color, and their success is critical to the success of their communities and the economy as a whole. Reforming the overly harsh disciplinary policies that have adversely affected students of color for 25 years is a critical step toward ensuring all children can succeed at school and build a strong 21st century workforce. If America’s schools are to open doors of opportunity for everyone, they must have zero tolerance for discriminatory practices. 

        Merging Data and Story to Win More Equitable Policies

        Original post on NTEN.org

        Compelling facts have always been a key ingredient in winning policy campaigns, and the rise of web technology has opened the floodgates for data that would have been out of reach to all but the most dogged advocates just 20 years ago.

        But while we are awash in data, it is often like Coleridge’s famous line: “Water, water, everywhere; nor any drop to drink.” The sheer volume of data is overwhelming, and the data that is accessible is often not the right data. Advocates working for equity—just and fair inclusion for all—need data that is broken down by race, age, geography, income, and other dimensions. They also need a way to frame the data—a narrative that explains how and why these inequities matter.

        As an organization founded to advance economic and social equity through policy change, PolicyLink is working to fill this need and equip changemakers with a data-backed narrative to help them win.

        Equity Is the Superior Growth Model

        About five years ago, Angela Glover Blackwell, the founder and CEO PolicyLink, saw the kernels of a new and powerful narrative for equity advocates. The 2010 Census results were out and they showed that the country was continuing to grow more diverse. Meanwhile, the Occupy Wall Street movement was bringing inequality to the public’s attention and new research was showing how rising inequality was a risk not just for those being left behind, but for the growth and prosperity of entire regions and nations.

        Angela wove these threads together into a new story about the centrality of racial and economic inclusion not only as a moral imperative—which it continues to be—but as an economic one. America is bolting toward having a multiracial, people-of-color majority within just a few decades. Our growing, diverse workforce and population is a tremendous asset in the global economy—one that can only be fully manifested if people of color can access the resources and opportunities they need to participate in and contribute to growth and democracy. Dismantling lingering racial barriers and creating pathways to educational and economic security and success is critical to their future and the future of their communities and the country as a whole. The take-home is clear—equity is the superior growth model.

        Building a Data-Backed Narrative

        Data was at the heart of this framing from the beginning. Recognizing the importance of disaggregated and regularly updated data to keep the message fresh and give it legs, PolicyLink joined forces with the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California (PERE). PERE is a research and policy shop headed by Dr. Manuel Pastor who is a prominent researcher, speaker, and writer on issues of changing demographics, racial equity, and the economy. PERE conducts all kinds of research, but our partnership drew on their deep-bench strength in quantitative research and the development, maintenance, and facility with large datasets.

        Our team worked together to produce a framing paper, America’s Tomorrow: Equity Is the Superior Growth Model (PDF), that bolstered the narrative with powerful statistics, maps, and charts and shared it with our networks of advocates and the broader world.

        Going Local: Tailoring the Narrative to Regional Realities

        The national story was critical for starting this narrative shift work, but we knew that advocates and policymakers needed data for their own community to put it to use. PERE painstakingly built the data infrastructure to make that possible, drawing from multiple data sources including historical economic data and demographic projections, aligning this data to consistently-defined boundaries for 202 geographies: the 150 largest regions, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States as a whole.

        Equipped with this data, we began working with collaborations of local leaders who were developing regional sustainability plans. In about a dozen diverse counties, regions, and states, we developed Equity Profiles that document their changing demographics and performance on a host of equity indicators. These profiles helped these changemakers understand the trends in their communities, link these trends to the experiences of their constituents and community members, and develop shared narratives about how and why equity and inclusion mattered to their economic futures.

        From the Heartland metros of Omaha and Kansas City to diverse regions like Miami and Houston, demographic change was a salient issue. Even in predominantly-White communities, Latinos, Asians, African Americans and other communities of color are usually driving population growth, and breathing new life into disinvested commercial corridors. Combining the demographic data with metrics showing how different groups are excelling—or in many cases, being left behind—on key indicators of economic success, health, education, and more was a good starting point for having productive local discussions about race, equity, and opportunity.

        Coming together around the data helped these collaborations grow stronger, identify areas of focus, and bring on new partners. In Rhode Island, the profile led directly to policy action. After seeing how communities of color were responsible for all of the state’s population growth yet faced major barriers to economic opportunity, then-Governor Chafee opened a new Office of Diversity, Equity, and Opportunity focused on inclusive hiring and contracting in government jobs.

        The local data strengthened our own advocacy as well. In California, the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, which we coordinate, married economic imperative data and messaging with the voices of youth leaders to successfully win a slate of state policies that reform harmful “zero tolerance” school discipline approaches, invest in career pathways for men returning from prison, and more. As youth advocate Angel Diaz put it, “If adults look at young people as assets to be developed instead of problems to solve, we can change the future.” We found that the mix of data, narrative, and testimonials is a potent advocacy tool.

        Democratizing Data via the National Equity Atlas

        From the beginning, our goal was to democratize this data and make it widely available to advocates and policymakers. Released last October, the National Equity Atlas is a one-of-a-kind resource to track, measure, and make the case for inclusive growth at the local, state, and national level.

        The Atlas makes detailed data disaggregated by race, nativity, education, income, and more available through a user-friendly interface. At the click of a button, you can access 29 field-tested indicators of demographic change, racial and economic inclusion, and the economic benefits of equity for the 202 geographies in our database. The “equity is the superior growth model” narrative is embedded throughout the site, providing context for how the data matters for equitable growth, along with policy ideas, real-world examples, and links to additional data and policy resources

        The Atlas is also a living resource, and next week we will be adding data for the 100 largest cities to the site (join us for the release webinar), and more indicators and data cuts (including disaggregating the Asian population) are in the works.

        Data itself is not social change. But data combined with a story can power the bolder, smarter, more targeted strategies that communities need to leverage their increasing diversity as an asset and secure a bright economic future for all of their residents.

        We're Hiring: Research Associate, Equitable Economy/National Equity Atlas (Oakland, CA)

        PolicyLink is working to advance policies and strategies to build an equitable economy — one in which everyone can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. In 2010, we formed a formal research partnership with the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at the University of Southern California to provide equity advocates, practitioners, and policymakers with clear, convincing data and cutting-edge analyses to make the case that equity is both a moral imperative and the key to economic prosperity in their own communities and nationwide. In October 2014, we released the National Equity Atlas, a unique online resource to track and measure data, and to make the case for equity in the largest 150 regions, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States as a whole. The Atlas democratizes data, providing those working to build stronger and more inclusive local economies with essential information on demographic change, racial inclusion, and the economic benefits of equity through a user-friendly interface. Tens of thousands of people are now using this tool and our team is working to continue to evolve this living resource to make it an even more useful and powerful tool. 

        PolicyLink is seeking a Research Associate to join our team and partnership. The ideal candidate is passionate about producing data and research that is relevant and actionable for those working on the frontlines to advance racial economic inclusion. He or she is skilled at analyzing data, producing compelling data displays and maps, and writing data analyses in an engaging and accessible way — and is looking for an opportunity to further grow skills and leadership by joining our dynamic team.
         

        Position Responsibilities

        • Conduct quantitative and qualitative research and contribute writing to research briefs, analyses, and articles, including comparative analyses and equity profiles/research reports focused on particular regions/communities.
        • Develop creative solutions to communicate complex data and research findings, including through data visualizations (graphs, charts, and maps), presentations, and websites.
        • Participate in the development of new research and analyses and the selection of new indicators to incorporate into the Atlas.
        • Coordinate the development and maintenance of the National Equity Atlas site among our team and the consultants who design and manage the website.
        • Participate in developing and implementing outreach and dissemination strategies, including webinars.
        • Conduct trainings and presentations on the National Equity Atlas.
        • Stay current with pertinent literature, developments, and data visualizations around issues of demographic change, inequality, mobility, and equitable growth.
        • Occasionally conduct short-term data and mapping analyses for other teams at PolicyLink.
        • The position may involve travel.

         

        Qualifications

        • Master’s degree in urban planning, community development, economics, public policy, public health, or related social science (e.g., political science, sociology).
        • Two years of relevant work experience conducting research to support policy development, advocacy, or organizing.
        • Excellent writing and research skills.
        • Experience with data analysis and quantitative research, including statistical analysis and spatial analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
        • Ability to translate complex data and analyses for mainstream audiences, including facility with using Excel for data analysis and the generation of graphs and charts.
        • Self-starter with good time management skills and ability to effectively work on multiple projects.
        • Experience working with low-income communities of color and familiarity with public policy and the legislative process are desirable.

         

        How to Apply

        Email Résumé and Cover Letter tojobs@policylink.org (include subject line: “[Your Name] (Research Associate-Equitable Economy/National Equity Atlas)

        OR fax to (510) 663-4323

        OR mail to:
        PolicyLink –Search Committee (Research Associate-Equitable Economy/National Equity Atlas)
        1438 Webster Street, Suite 303
        Oakland, CA 94612

        Position open until filled.

        Please note: No phone calls please. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

        Excellent benefits including paid vacation, health, vision and dental insurance, and 401(k) retirement plan.

        PolicyLink is committed to maintaining a diverse, multicultural working environment.

        Propelled by New Data, Boston Takes Steps to Build Wealth of All Residents

        In the face of widening inequality and persistent racial economic gaps, Mayor Marty Walsh is implementing a new approach to achieving shared economic prosperity in Boston. Bolstered by the support of a powerful advocacy coalition and detailed data on financial inclusion, in 2014 Mayor Walsh opened a new Office of Financial Empowerment. “Whatever it is that we’ve been doing for the past 10 to 20 years may have helped,” program director Trinh Nguyen told Next City, “but it’s not denting inequality and access.” The Office of Financial Empowerment aims to move the city forward by providing financial empowerment services to those who need them most: low and middle-income Bostonians who’ve not benefited from recent growth.

        Financial vulnerability is widespread and bad for Boston’s economic future

        Family Assets Count, a coalition of local financial empowerment advocates along with national institutions CFED and Citi community development worked to bring financial security and detailed data on financial instability across Boston’s diverse communities to the city’s attention. Family Assets Count defines financial instability as the inability to cover basic expenses for three months after a major life disruption like a job loss or health crisis. An inability to save and invest in the future is not only harmful for individual families, it contributes to the rising inequality that is threatening sustained economic prosperity.

        The coalition uses data from the CFED Assets and Local Opportunity Center to provide local estimates of financial vulnerability and catalyze new conversations about financial security in cities across the country. They provide two primary measures of financial instability: liquid asset poverty and asset poverty. A family is liquid asset poor if they don’t have enough in their savings to live above the poverty line for three months; they are asset poor if they don’t have enough net worth to live above the poverty line for three months.  

        Credit: Family Assets Count/Financial Insecurity in Boston Data Profile

        Family Assets Count, in partnership with the Midas Collaborative (a statewide asset-building organization), examined the data and found that financial insecurity in Boston is widespread. While the traditional income-based poverty measure estimates that 17 percent of Bostonians live below the poverty line, this measurement underestimates the 46 percent of Boston residents who are vulnerable to financial collapse should they experience normal life disruptions (download the Family Assets Count data profile of Boston). 

        The prevalence of liquid asset poverty in Boston closely resembles national trends: an estimated 45 percent of households are liquid asset poor. When almost half of families don’t have savings, they can’t invest in their children’s education or their own retirement. Such anemic investment in the future undermines economic growth and prosperity — in Boston and in cities across the country.

        While Bostonians of all levels of educational attainment experience financial insecurity, those without college degrees are much more likely to be financially insecure. About seven of every 10 residents without more than a high school degree are liquid asset poor compared with 25 percent of those with bachelor’s degrees.

        Asset Poverty by Education

        Credit: Family Assets Count/Financial Insecurity in Boston Data Profile

        Demographic shifts in Boston make financial inclusion an economic imperative

        The City of Boston has undergone a profound demographic shift over the past several decades and is now a majority people-of-color city. Yet Boston’s communities of color are far more likely to be financially insecure: 69 percent of Black households and 75 percent of Latino households are liquid asset poor compared with 29 percent of Whites. Latinos are the fastest-growing population in the city but they also have the highest rates of liquid asset poverty at 75 percent. Without strong and effective financial inclusion strategies, Boston’s economic future looks bleak.

        Asset poverty by Race & Ethnicity

        Credit: Family Assets Count/Financial Insecurity in Boston Data Profile

        Mayor Walsh leads on financial inclusion

        Given Boston’s growing economy, creating pathways to opportunity and prosperity for the 46 percent of Bostonians who are financially insecure is an economic and moral imperative. In an interview with WBUR, one of Boston’s National Public Radio news stations, Mayor Walsh said: “We have a city that is doing very well [and] a lot of people are doing well in our city, but we still have half our residents that aren’t and we have to really try and assist them and help them prosper during these good economic times.” 

        The Office launched three Financial Opportunity Centers in partnership with United Way and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). These centers provide a range of services including: financial coaching, job search and advancement support, tax filing support, and help applying for benefits. Two similar centers, run by United Way, demonstrated significant results last year. According to the City of Boston, “77 percent of clients at those centers who completed pre- and post-assessments reported increases in one or more of the following measures: net income, net worth, or credit score.”

        The power of data in the hands of a strong coalition

        Financial insecurity data can be paradigm-shifting for communities and policymakers, like Mayor Walsh, who want prosperity for all but don’t have a clear picture of who’s being left out and which communities need to be lifted up to get there. Community advocates in the Midas Collaborative have been working toward equitable growth and financial security for all residents knowing full well the extent of the city’s existing inequities. The Family Assets Count data helped make the problem urgent and undeniable. Margaret Miley, executive director of the Midas Collaborative, said “the data provided an opportunity to frame the urgency of the problem and to focus a broad group of stakeholders for action.”

        CFED Project Director Solana Rice said that Family Assets Count data profiles, like the profile of Boston, create “an opportunity for our partners to reframe and reposition themselves for new partnerships.” The Midas collaborative and Family Assets Count found a new partner in Mayor Walsh who cited the Family Assets Count data in his announcement of the office. You can watch a video about how partners lifted up data to influence Boston’s financial inclusion strategy [here].

        Following in Boston’s lead, financial inclusion strategies are ramping up across the country. Family Assets Count is partnering with organizations in nine other cities to implement some of these municipal strategies for financial security, including: Chicago, Houston, Miami, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Oakland, the Bronx (New York City), and Newark. In addition to working closely with these 10 cities over the next two years, Family Assets Count features estimates of financial inclusion for thousands of cities and counties on their online mapping tool — find out how your city is doing [here].

        Latino Education Gaps in Metros Pose Challenges for Growth and Prosperity

        In “The Five U.S. Cities with the Most Educated Latinos,” National Journal writer Janie Boschma describes how many regions are failing to prepare their fast-growing Latino populations for the jobs of the future. This was the fourth piece in the National Journal’s series on educational equity drawing from National Equity Atlas data.

        Having a bachelor’s degree (BA) is becoming increasingly important as the economy shifts towards analytical work – yet Latinos lag far behind in terms of college attainment. Even in Miami, the city with the highest bachelor’s degree attainment for Latinos, there is still a 16-percentage point gap between Latino and White achievement.

        All five cities with the lowest rankings for Latino BA attainment are in California, and four of them are in the Central Valley. They include: Bakersfield, CA (5 percent), Visalia, CA (6 percent), Salinas, CA (7 percent), Stockton, CA (7 percent) and Modesto, CA (7 percent). These statistics are particularly dire given the size of the Latino population: 61 percent of Bakersfield’s residents are Latino, for example.

        Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, explains that California is: “on track to under-produce the number of graduates [they] need for the state's workforce and economy. We do absolutely need to close gaps that exist for students of color in our state." 

        Credit: Janie Boschma/National Journal Series

        The top five cities with the highest percent of Latinos with a bachelor’s degree are: Miami, FL (26 percent), Washington DC (23 percent), Orlando, FL (20 percent), Boston, MA (20 percent), San Francisco, CA (18 percent). 

        Credit: Janie Boschma/National Journal Series

        Education professionals in Miami emphasized the importance of a successful and supportive adult Latino population that give youth hope of success after school. A significant number of Latino teachers, for example, act as mentors to Latino youth. As more Latino youth are pursuing post-secondary education, the City is also focusing on improving completion rates. Joaquin Martinez, associate provost for student achievement at Miami Dade College, told the National Journal that encouraging students to declare a major improves their likelihood of graduating. Since beginning work with students, the number of undeclared majors dropped from 44 percent to just under 5 percent.

        While the five metros with the highest rate of bachelor’s degree attainment are doing much better than the Central Valley, they still aren’t doing enough to provide educational opportunities to their Latino population, putting their future economic prosperity at risk.

        Using Atlas Data to Share Inclusive Innovation Economy Strategies at the Philadelphia Fed Conference

        One of the main reasons why we built the National Equity Atlas was to provide changemakers with the data they need to frame why racial and economic inclusion matters to the future of their regions. So we are thrilled to learn how our allies are using Atlas data and visualizations to make compelling presentations and expose more people to the idea that equity is both an economic and moral imperative.

        Last month, our partner Adam Friedman, who leads the Pratt Center for Community Development in New York City, used Equity Atlas data to talk about the importance of inclusive growth and urban manufacturing as a critical strategy at the Philadelphia Fed’s Equitable Economic Development Conference held in Lancaster, PA. “The Atlas is a quick, easy way to analyze how an area is doing in comparison to the rest of the nation” says Friedman, “More than an overview, it lets you do some quick diagnoses about current and future challenges.” (Download his presentation.)

        The Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, in partnership with the Community First Fund, hosted the conference to explore how to include equity goals in economic development planning and decision-making. Lancaster Online coverage of the event reported over 100 in attendance to learn about regional strategies for more equitable growth.

        Friedman used the Equity Atlas to describe the challenges of rising inequality and persistent racial inequities in Lancaster, PA: the site of the conference. Friedman presented Lancaster’s economic and workforce challenges and described how growing good, accessible jobs and investing in the skills and capabilities of its less-educated communities and growing communities of color are central to the region’s economic prosperity and competitiveness.

        Friedman made several key points:

        Income disparity is growing in Lancaster

        While Lancaster is growing more middle-skills jobs than many other regions, wages are relatively stagnant across the board, contributing to widening inequality. Between 1980-2012, households at the 10th percentile (the bottom 10 percent) saw their incomes increase by a mere 0.3 percent compared to incomes at the 90th percentile (the top 10 percent) which increased 13 percent. 

        Credit: Adam Friedman/Presentation at the Equitable Economic Development Conference 

        The region’s workers of color face a large wage gap. While about 67 percent of White workers earned at least $15/hour during the 2008-2012 period, only 44 percent of workers of color did.   

        Credit: Adam Friedman/Presentation at the Equitable Economic Development Conference 

        The Lancaster region is not adequately preparing any of its racial/ethnic groups for the jobs of the future

        Latinos are the regions fastest growing population but only 13 percent of Lancaster’s U.S.-born Latinos will be prepared for the more than 44 percent of jobs that will require an Associate’s degree in 2020.

        Credit: Adam Friedman/Presentation at the Equitable Economic Development Conference  

        Credit: Adam Friedman/Presentation at the Equitable Economic Development Conference 

        Lancaster would be stronger with racial economic inclusion

        These racial economic inequities take a toll on Lancaster’s economy: the regional economy could have been $1 billion larger in 2012 if there were no racial gaps in income.

        Urban Manufacturing as a Strategy for Equitable Economic Development

        Urban manufacturing is one equitable economic development and job creation strategy that regions like Lancaster should consider. Growing middle-wage jobs is critical for regions because they provide pathways to economic security and also because living wage jobs are the critical counterpoint to rising housing costs. While manufacturing has been in decline for decades, cities and regions are experiencing a new wave of urban manufacturing—including the “maker economy” and facilities like TechShop that are making it possible to launch small manufacturing companies in cities as well as advanced and supply chain manufacturers.

        Most efforts focused on supporting innovation sector growth do not include a focus on equity and inclusion for workers or neighborhoods. The Pratt Center’s Equitable Innovation Economy (EIE) initiative is taking on this challenge to help cities develop strategies that increase access and economic inclusion within the innovation economy and local manufacturing sectors. This effort, a partnership between Pratt, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, and PolicyLink, centers around a learning community with four cities that are each working on different inclusive innovation economy sectors and strategies. Indianapolis, for example, is focused on attracting employers by reviving legacy industrial properties. San Jose is trying to create more career pathways into hardware manufacturing and the maker economy. Portland is focusing on their tech, green-tech and athletic and outdoor industries. New York is seeking to extend innovation-sector opportunity across its five boroughs.

        Working together to share equitable job creation strategies, the four Cities are rejecting the age old notion that Cities must compete with one another for jobs and are instead sharing program ideas and best practices to lift each other up. The goal is to expand their network and the number of cities that are building equitable innovation sectors.

        We look forward to updates about how the partners are advancing their equitable economic development goals and will highlight their progress as they move forward. Many thanks to Adam for sharing with us how he is using the Equity Atlas.

        How are you using the Atlas in your work? Please let us know by filling out this survey or writing me at tsmiley@policlink.org.

        National Journal Uses Equity Atlas Data to Examine Black Education Gaps in Metros

        The most recent article in the Next America series on education gaps by race in metros uses the Equity Atlas to explore the “Best and Worst Cities for Educating Blacks.” Analyzing the data on Black college graduates who come from out-of-state versus native Black college graduates, Janie Boschma highlights how many of the regions with the highest levels of Black achievement like; Washington, Atlanta, Raleigh, Nashville and San Francisco, are still lagging in their preparation of their own Black youth for the jobs of the future. Boschma writes, “Educated transplants mask some of the actual low attainment levels of local students in these cities.”

        National Journal Series 

        Washington DC illustrates the phenomenon. While DC is top ranked for Black educational achievement in both high school and bachelor’s degree attainment, it is not preparing youth for the jobs of the future. According to a study referenced in the article, only 9 out of 100 students in DC public schools will attain a post-secondary degree, a requirement of 36 percent of the jobs created between 2000 and 2010. 

        The analysis draws attention to the ongoing need to invest in the educational attainment of local Black youth, even where attainment levels are high-ranking.

        Where attainment levels are low, investment in Black youth is even more crucial for long-term economic prosperity. Milwaukee has the lowest Black educational achievement of Bachelor’s degrees and is tied with three other cities; Minneapolis, New Orleans and Miami, for the second worst attainment of high school degrees -- only 14 percent of Milwaukee’s Black residents have a Bachelor’s degree.

        Sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, William Velez, told the National Journal Series that, “if you have a large minority population that is not getting a college education they're not going to get the good jobs and contribute to the economy the way a college graduate can do. We have real challenges here in Milwaukee.”

        This story is the third in a series using data from the Atlas, read about the others here.

        Public Policy Research Center Releases an Equity Profile of St. Louis

        The University of Missouri- St. Louis Public Policy Research Center (PPRC) just released an equity report of the St. Louis Region based on National Equity Atlas data. Mark Tranel, the director of PPRC, told St. Louis Public Radio that the report is meant to “be a tool for government agencies and non-profit organizations working to bridge disparity gaps in St. Louis.” Founded 25 years ago, PPRC does applied policy research to promote the region’s progress and prosperity. In an effort to understand inequity in the region, the report authors explored the changing demographics, persisting racial inequities, and the economic benefits of an equitable regional economy. The St. Louis economy would have been nearly $14 billion larger in 2012 if there were no racial gaps in income.

        The first section of the report explores the changing demographics of the St. Louis region and projects that by 2040, people of color will be 33.4 percent of the population, up from 20 percent in 1980. Communities of color have also been driving growth since 1990 whereas White growth decreased in 7 of 15 counties from 2000-2013 and was marginal in the remaining 8 counties.

        Using the Equity Atlas framework for an equitable economy, the report details indicators of economic vitality, readiness and connectedness. Large racial disparities persisted across all three categories. In terms of economic vitality, White St. Louisans make about $5 more per hour than St. Louisans of color, a slight reduction from the $6 gap in 1980. The unemployment rate for people of color in St. Louis was twice the rate of White unemployment and was the highest it had been since 1980.

        There were also large racial disparities in measures of connectedness. One of the report’s most unsettling findings is that nearly 17 percent of Black St. Louisans live in high-poverty neighborhoods compared with less than one percent of Whites.

        Credit: University of Missouri–St. Louis/Public Policy Research Center

        Youth of color were more disconnected from education and work in St. Louis, which is likely to hinder their ability to participate, thrive, and contribute to the region’s workforce and economic prosperity.

        Credit: University of Missouri–St. Louis/Public Policy Research Center

        Ultimately, the report outlined the enormous potential economic gains of racial equity: the region’s economy could be $14 billion larger with an average of 63% income gains for people of color. The authors hope that the report will be a tool for government agencies as the St. Louis region joins, “a growing number of metropolitan areas that are proactively addressing issues of equity.”

        We look forward to seeing how advocates and policymakers use this report as a tool to create a more equitable and prosperous St. Louis region. This report also provides a terrific model of how local communities can develop their own Equity Profiles using data available in the National Equity Atlas.

        National Journal Series Analyzes Education and Workforce Issues in Metros Using National Equity Atlas Data

        Last week, the National Journal began a series of stories exploring the skill and education gaps between whites and communities of color in the workforce based on data in the National Equity Atlas. The series is led by journalist and editorial director Ronald Brownstein, who has written extensively about the political and economic ramifications of America’s changing demographics, and leads the Journal’s Next America project exploring these issues.

        The first article in the series, Education Gaps Pose Looming Crisis for U.S. Economy, examined the education gaps between Whites and Blacks and Whites and Latinos on high school graduation and bachelor’s degrees across the nation’s largest 150 metros. They found large gaps across all types of metros, including those experiencing fast job growth, with smaller gaps only in metros that are “struggling to attract and hold college graduates of any race” such as Flint, Youngstown, and Allentown. Sarah Treuhaft, director of Equitable Growth Initiatives at PolicyLink, spoke with Brownstein about these findings. "It is clear that growth alone does not solve these issues, and we really need to look at structural issues," she said.

        The article includes new data interactives showing education levels by race and racial gaps: 

        Credit: Ronald Brownstein and Janie Boschma/National Journal

        The second piece in the series, Fastest Growing Cities Import their College Graduates, explores how many of the fast-growing regions with large racial education gaps are, as Manuel Pastor, director of PERE, said, “masking a lot of their problems with the importation of highly skilled labor.” Using additional data provided by PERE, Brownstein looked at the shares of college grads among the in- and out-of-state working-age populations in the 20 metros that added the most jobs since 2000. He found enormous gaps in most of the cities, including Denver, Baltimore, Charlotte, and more, as illustrated in the chart below.

        Credit: Ronald Brownstein and Janie Boschma/National Journal

        We are looking forward to seeing additional stories in the series and will share links here when they are up.

        Introducing Four New Indicators: Median Age, Asthma, Diabetes, and Commute Time

        Today we are excited to announce the addition of four new indicators to the Atlas:

        • Median Age
        • Asthma
        • Diabetes
        • Commute Time

         

        Here’s what you can find for each of the indicators:

        Median age: What’s the average age of residents in your community?

        Latinos and other communities of color are comparatively younger than whites in most regions. As younger populations grow increasingly diverse and the senior population remains largely white, ensuring the success of youth of color – our future workforce – will become increasingly important to regional economies.

        What it measures

        This indicator measures the average age of residents by race/ethnicity.

        Key facts

        • People of Other/mixed race and Latinos are the youngest racial/ethnic groups in the United States, with a median age of 20 and 27, respectively.
        • The median age of people of color is about 13 years younger than Whites: 29 compared to 42 years old.

         

        How to find it

        1. Click indicators on the navigation bar
        2. Select the “Median age” indicator under Demographics
        3. Select “By race/ethnicity” in the breakdowns underneath the chart
        4. Here is what you will see

        Credit: Median age by race/ethnicy/National Equity Atlas 

        This data can be used to support strategies that would ensure all youth, including low-income children of color can access the education and supports they need to succeed. For example, the implementation of Universal Pre-K in Tulsa has proven to have strong economic and social benefits, improving future earnings potential by thousands of dollars.

         

        Asthma: What share of adults suffer from asthma?

        Healthy workers are critical to a healthy regional economy.  However, adult asthma leads to more frequent absences from work, and can result in lower productivity on the job.  Asthma is more than a physical health problem; its prevalence and severity are directly affected by environmental, housing and social conditions often present in lower income communities of color.  Poor children are more likely to live in neighborhoods with known toxicities and attend schools and recreation centers filled with undetected asthma triggers.  As a result, low-income families spend more of their time and limited resources addressing asthma-related hospitalizations.

        What it measures

        Percent of adults with asthma by race/ethnicity.

        Key facts

        • Nationally, one in every seven Native Americans and those of Other/mixed race suffer from asthma.
        • Among the largest 150 metropolitan regions, Vallejo, CA has the highest share of adults with asthma (14 percent). Yet within the same state, the nearby region of Salinas, CA has one of the lowest rates at 6 percent (ranking 143rd).

         

        How to find it

        1. Click indicators on the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator “Asthma” under Readiness
        3. Select “Ranking,” “Region,” and “All” in the breakdowns underneath the chart
        4. Here is what you will see

        Credit: Percent of adults with asthma by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas

        Data on asthma rates can be used to press for the reduction of hazardous chemicals, pesticides and emissions from industrial plants, automobiles, and diesel engines in your community. It can also be used to call for targeted green jobs and investments in communities with high risks and inequities.

         

        Diabetes: What share of adults are diabetic in your state or region?

        Healthy neighborhoods provide residents with access to parks, healthy food, clean air, safe streets, and health care and social services. When communities lack these components, residents are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, which in turn affect their ability to fully participate in the workforce.

        What it measures

        Percent of adults with diabetes by race/ethnicity.

        Key facts

        • West Virginia has the highest share of adults with diabetes: 12.2 percent compared to 9.4 percent nationally.
        • Latinos in West Virginia have the lowest rate of diabetes (10.2 percent), compared to 12.2 percent of Whites, and 14.5 percent of Blacks.

         

        How to find it

        1. Click indicators on the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator “Diabetes” under Readiness
        3. Select “By race/ethnicity” in the breakdowns underneath the chart
        4. Enter West Virginia in the “Compare” field
        5. Here is what you will see

        Credit: Percent of adults with diabetes by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas 

        Data on diabetes rates can be used promote healthy eating and active living in your community. Policies and programs that improve the quality of school lunches, access to farmers markets, and create opportunities for physical activity can improve health outcomes for all residents.

         

        Commute time: How does average travel time to work vary by race/ethnicity in your state or region?

        In an equitable region, all workers would have comparable commute times regardless of race/ethnicity. Long commute times indicate a lack of nearby job opportunities and slow transit options, and can lead to high transportation and child care costs, job instability, and lower quality of life for workers.

        What it measures

        Average travel time to work (minutes) by race/ethnicity.

        Key facts

        • The average commute time for U.S. workers using public transportation is 47.6 minutes, nearly double the commute time of workers using private modes of transit (24.5 minutes).
        • Blacks on average have the highest public transit commute times at 50.1 minutes, followed Asians at 48.2 minutes, and those of other/mixed race at 47.9 minutes.
        • Commute times vary significantly by geography. For example, public transit users in Nevada on average spend 10 more minutes commuting to work (57.1 minutes). For black workers it’s even longer at 62 minutes.

         

        How to find it

        1. Click indicators on the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator “Commute time” under Connectedness
        3. Select “By year,” “Public,” and “2012” in the breakdowns underneath the chart
        4. Enter Nevada in the “Compare” field
        5. Here is what you will see

        Credit: Average travel time to work (minutes) by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas 

        This data can be used to advocate for the development of robust public transit systems including buses and bus rapid transit that connect low-income communities to jobs, education and training opportunities, and services. Transit-oriented developments (TODs) that include clear equity goals can be an effective tool to expand affordability and access low-income residents and prevent displacement of both people and small businesses.

         

        We hope you'll enjoy exploring these new indicators! Please share your thoughts on these Atlas additions, and tell us how you'll be using this data to inform change in your community. You can contact us at info@nationalequityatlas.org.

        Want to Create Your Own Local Equity Atlas? Start Here

        Have you explored the National Equity Atlas and want to dig in deeper to understand how access to resources and opportunity is distributed across the neighborhoods in your region? It might be time to start thinking about developing your own local equity atlas. And a new set of resources from the Coalition for a Livable Future – the creators of the nation’s first regional equity atlas back in 2007 – is now available to help guide you through the process.

        The National Equity Atlas was inspired by local equity atlases: data tools that local leaders, advocates, and policymakers are using to inform decision-making and make the case for inclusive policies and practices at the local, regional, and state level. Local equity atlases allow users to examine access to opportunity by race and geography. In Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and New York (in addition to Portland), these atlases have put important facts, analyses, and data visualizations in the hands of changemakers, and they are being used to shape investment decisions and policy.

        We’ve written several “Data In Action” stories about how advocates are using these local data resources to advance systems and policy change:

         

        As the pioneers of the approach, the Coalition for a Livable Future has learned a great deal about how to successfully build a local equity atlas, and they want to share those learnings with the many cities that have approached them for advice and the broader field. They teamed up with the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation to develop an online toolkit and are also hosting two webinars in May:

        • RESOURCE: The Equity Atlas Toolkit shares information about the uses of such atlases and describes the process of creating an equity atlas to support research, coalition-building, and policy change. It describes what equity atlases are and why they are valuable tools, and includes sections on planning, building a team, engaging stakeholders, selecting indicators, creating maps, developing a website, and conducting outreach and education.
        • WEBINAR: Equity Atlas Basics, May 12, 2015 11:00-12:00pm PST. Learn more about what equity atlases are and how they can empower communities to advance equity. Register Online
        • WEBINAR: Building an Equity Atlas, May 27, 2015 11:00-12:00pm PST. This webinar focuses on the equity atlas development process. Learn about how you can develop an equity atlas for your community. Register Online

        Meet Our Four Newest Indicators

        The National Equity Atlas is a living resource, and we are thrilled to announce the addition of four new indicators to the site:

        • Wages: $15/hr
        • Income inequality: 95/20 ratio
        • Diversity index
        • Contribution to growth: Immigrants
           

        Here is a breakdown of each new indicator: 

        Wages: $15/hour: What share of full-time workers earn at least $15 per hour?

        In an equitable economy, all workers would earn a living wage that allows them to meet their basic needs, as well as their family's. While the value of a living wage depends on family size and cost-of-living, many are advocating for $15 per hour as a new bare-bones baseline (this equals $31,200 annually for full-time work).

        What it measures

        This indicator measures the share of full-time workers earning at least $15 per hour. It available by race/ethnicity, gender, and educational attainment, and over time (since 1980).

        Key facts

        • Only 57 percent of women earn at least $15 per hour compared with 68 percent of men.
        • Latinas are the least like to earn at least $15 per hour (40 percent), followed by Native American women and Latino men (46 percent).
        • 50 percent of Black women at least $15 per hour, compared with 57 percent of Black men and 62 percent of White women.

         

        How to find it

        1. Click Indicators in the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator "Wages: $15/hr" under Economic Vitality
        3. Select “By gender” in the breakdowns underneath the chart
        4. Here is what you will see

        Credit: Share of workers earning at least $15/hour by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas 

        Momentum is growing across the country to change these numbers and ensure that all workers can earn at least a living wage. Use this data to inform policy and organizing strategies such as raising the minimum wage or passing a living-wage ordinance. In the city of Los Angeles, for example, the two-year Raise LA campaign led to a new living wage ordinance raising the wages of hotel workers to $15.37 per hour.

        Income inequality: 95/20 ratio: How unequal is your state or region?

        Rising inequality is one of the defining challenges of our generation, and there is a growing consensus that inequality is not just bad for those left behind—it is bad for our economy and democracy as a whole. Recent research shows that this is true for metropolitan regions as well as nations. Harvard economist Raj Chetty and his collaborators found that regions with lower inequality and segregation provide their residents with more chances to move up the economic ladder. And Manuel Pastor and Chris Benner found that regions with less inequality are more economically resilient and experience longer periods of growth.

        What it measures

        This indicator measures inequality using the 95/20 ratio, which is represents the income earned by the households at the 95th percentile (just making it into the top 5 percent) divided by the income earned by the households at the 20th percentile (just falling into the bottom 20 percent). Nationwide, households at the 95th percentile earned $181,768 in 2012, and households at the 20th percentile earned $19,888, for a 95/20 ratio of 9.14. In other words, households at the 95th percentile earned more than 9 times the incomes of households at the 20th percentile.

        Key facts

        • Inequality has consistently grown over the past several decades: the 95/20 ratio was 6.91 in 1980 and grew to 9.14 by 2012.
        • Among the largest 150 regions, Bridgeport, CT has the highest inequality on this measure (95/20 ratio of 14.08), and Ogden, UT has the lowest (5.72).
        • Regions within the same state can have very different levels of inequality: Durham, NC, for example, has the 10th highest inequality (95/20 ratio of 10.29) and Charlotte, NC ranks 42nd (8.71).

         

        How to find it

        1. Click Indicators in the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator "Income inequality: 95/20 ratio" under Economic Vitality
        3. Enter “Durham” as your region in the box near the top right corner of the page
        4. Select “Ranking” in the breakdowns underneath the chart
        5. Enter “Charlotte” in the Compare box under the chart
        6. The chart below is what you will find

        Credit: Household income, 95th and 20th percentile/National Equity Atlas 

        Press for policies to reduce inequality, such as expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and pursuing full employment. Washington, DC, for example, recently upgraded its local EITC by increasing its amount and extending it to workers without children and non-custodial parents.

        Diversity index: How racially diverse is your community?

        Diversity—in the context of inclusion—is a driver of innovation, business growth, and economic progress. Research shows that companies with more diverse workforces are more competitive, with greater market share, higher revenues, and more customers. McKinsey & Company’s recent analysis, for example, found that more diverse companies (in the top 25 percent) were 35 percent more likely than those in the bottom 25 percent to have financial returns above their industry medians.

        What it measures

        The diversity index measures the representation of six major racial/ethnic groups (White, Black, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Mixed/other race) in the population. The maximum diversity score (1.79) would occur if each group were evenly represented in the region.

        Key facts

        • Nationally, the diversity index is 1.1 now, and it was .71 in 1980.
        • Hawaii (1.3) and California (1.29) are the most diverse states, and Vermont and Maine (both .3) are the least diverse.
        • Vallejo (1.45) and San Francisco (1.48) are the most diverse among the largest 150 regions, and McAllen, TX (.37) and Portland, ME (.34) are the least diverse. Chicago ranks 21st (1.19).

         

        How to find it

        1. Click Indicators in the navigation bar
        2. Select the indicator "Diversity index" under Demographics
        3. Enter “Chicago” as your region in the box near the top right corner of the page
        4. Select “Ranking” as your breakdown under the chart
        5. Select “Region” as your geography under the chart
        6. Here is what you will find

        Use this data for policy change

        Use this data to develop and advocate for policies that ensure all of the diverse groups in your community can access the resources and opportunities they need to reach their full potential. Due in large part to the advocacy of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Illinois has passed policies, like the Office of New Americans and the Illinois DREAM Act, that have made it one of the most welcoming states for immigrants.

        Contribution to growth: Immigrants

        Immigration is a significant driver of population growth nationwide, and in many distressed communities, new immigrants are fueling neighborhood revitalization and business growth. Policies that increase access to education, services, and living-wage jobs for immigrants, and remove barriers to their full and equal participation, will help immigrants and their entire communities thrive.

        What it measures

        This indicator measures the net change in population by nativity, broken down for six major racial/ethnic groups. It also measures the share of the net change in population attributable to immigrants (restricted to range between 0 and 100 percent).

        Key facts

        • Nationally, the U.S.-born population grew by 19 million between 2000 and 2012, and the immigrant population grew 8.7 million, contributing 31 percent of total population growth.
        • There are three states where immigrants contributed all of the net population growth between 2000 and 2012: Michigan, Rhode Island, and New York.
        • Immigrants contributed all of the net population growth between 2000 and 2012 in 16 of the largest 150 regions, including Dayton, New Orleans, and Detroit.​

         

        How to find it

        1. Click Indicators in the navigation bar
        2. Select the indicator "Contribution to growth: Immigrants" under Demographics
        3. Enter “Rhode Island” as your state in the box near the top right corner of the page
        4. You will see the below chart


        Credit: Change in population by nativity/National Equity Atlas 

        Use these facts to advance policies to promote immigrant inclusion ranging from facilitating citizenship to improving language access and extending voting rights to residents who are aspiring citizens. New Haven, for example, launched the Elm City Resident’s Card in 2007 and became the first city to issue a municipal ID card as a strategy to protect and integrate its growing immigrant population into the community.

        How Our Foundation is Using an Equity Framework—and Equity Data—to Guide Our Investments

        For 95 years, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo has been committed to realizing its vision of a vibrant, inclusive region with opportunity for all. Our foundation makes the most of its clients’ generosity by bringing together seemingly different groups to develop collaborative solutions that realize this vision in Western New York. Now, more than ever, there is momentum to take on the region’s longstanding challenges and reverse the decline of the past decades.  

        One of our key community goals is to improve racial equity. Approximately 90 percent of all board-directed resources support communities of color. While racial equity stands on its own, it is also a critical factor in addressing our goal to improve educational achievement for low-income students. Other goals include enhancing and leveraging significant natural resources (using an environmental justice perspective), and strengthening the region as a center for architecture, arts and culture by ensuring that all children have access to consistent arts instruction. 

        Key Equity Data Points Driving Our Work

        Data that is disaggregated by race and ethnicity plays an important role in grounding our work and, in combination with storytelling, helps to inform our key initiatives. Powerful data points that drive our portfolio include the following:

        • The Buffalo Niagara region ranks 98th out of 100 metros in black/white equity and 89th in Latino/white equity (from the U.S. Census)
        • People of color are disproportionately clustered in urban centers and Buffalo is the third poorest city in the U.S. (also from the U.S. Census)
        • Population growth in the region is driven mainly by foreign-born people of color, recent immigrants to America (from City Vitals 2.0)

         

        Our foundation selected these three data points very intentionally to make the case for increasing racial and ethnic equity, especially as a driver for economic growth. As communities of color grow as a share of the population, it is even more urgent to dismantle racial barriers and ensure all of our residents can access the educational and economic opportunities they need to contribute to the region’s revitalization, resilience, and prosperity.

        Our Racial Equity Framework

        We also adopted a framework introduced by PolicyLink to close the racial wealth gap through seven strategies:

        1)     Fortify the cradle-to-career pipeline

        2)     Reconnect the long-term unemployed

        3)     Grow businesses owned by people of color

        4)     Build power among a workforce comprised of people of color

        5)     Open up access to economic opportunities in high-growth sectors

        6)     Build wealth in communities of color

        7)     Leverage urban resurgence to grow income and wealth

        We adopted this framework because it articulates the community-level strategies needed to support a stronger regional economy that decreases our racial disparities and increases the equity dividend: the benefits to our whole region that will come from expanding opportunity for all. The framework also gave our board a new way to evaluate their work and investments.

        Investing in a Data-Driven Equity Strategy: Say Yes Buffalo

        Equity data plays a major role in several of foundation-supported initiatives that bring together stakeholders across multiple sectors to advance the seven strategies. One of the Community Foundation’s most powerful data-driven cross-sector partnerships is Say Yes Buffalo, which is aligned with the PolicyLink strategy to fortify the cradle-to-career pipeline. “Recognizing the clear link between future economic prosperity and educational achievement, the Foundation committed to launching Say Yes Buffalo in late 2011,” said Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker, President and CEO of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. “Say Yes Buffalo is an unprecedented, cross-sector partnership, focused on increasing post-secondary completion rates for urban youth.”

        While the driving force behind Say Yes Buffalo is a universal scholarship program offered to students in the Buffalo Public Schools, financial aid for college is just one component of the effort, which seeks to remove all barriers to educational success. To the academic, health and behavioral challenges our students face, Say Yes Buffalo and its partners are putting people and programs run by respected community-based organizations directly into the Buffalo Public School buildings. For example, in 2014 with the help of Erie County and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, 19 schools now have an on-site mental health clinic to provide students and families easy access to social and emotional supports.  

        To date, Say Yes Buffalo has provided scholarships for over 1,500 high school students and after just the first year, the number of Buffalo Public High School graduates enrolling in two and four-year institutions increased by 9-percentage points.

        “The leadership of the Community Foundation has set the groundwork for the transformational work of Say Yes Buffalo,” said Alphonso O’Neil-White, chair of the Say Yes Buffalo Scholarship Board. “Say Yes Buffalo and its partners are committed to implementing data-driven programming to enhance Say Yes Scholarships by removing barriers that prevent students from being academically successful.”

        Credit: Say Yes Buffalo

        Equity Data Helped NYC Advocates Expand Transit Access Through Bus Rapid Transit

        Better policies and more equitable outcomes result when data informs policymaking. In New York City, advocates used data to highlight urgent transit needs and built out the transit system to meet these needs. Maps and charts compiled into a Transportation Equity Atlas provided power visuals of the racial and economic inequities in the city’s transit system. Advocates could then point out where transit routes could be placed to better serve low-income communities and communities of color. This data gave policy makers the information they needed to make the transit system more equitable.

        The Pratt Center for Community Development has been working on transportation equity since 2007. New York City has a widely developed public transportation system and the Pratt Center wanted to see how well it was serving all New Yorkers. To do so, the Center developed a Transportation Equity Atlas with maps illustrating where people lived and worked to understand commuting patters of 289,000 residents in 13 predominately low- and moderate income communities in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, as well as nearly 300,000 workers at major job centers.

        Through this analysis, the researchers found substantial disparities in transportation access between higher-income, professional workers and low-wage manual and service workers. The Atlas showed that over 750,000 New Yorkers traveled more than 60 minutes each way to work and two-thirds of these commuters were from households that earn less than $35,000 per year. Workers or color were also more likely to have longer commute times.

        The Pratt Center and its partners in the coalition Communities United for Transportation Equity (COMMUTE) began to explore whether Bus Rapid Transit could improve transit options and reduce commuting times for underserved communities. Together, they created a vision for a citywide Bus Rapid Transit Network that would collect fares before riders boarded, have dedicated street lanes, and receive priority at traffic signals to allow the buses to quickly connect underserved neighborhoods and workplaces.

        The data on the racial and economic inequities of transportation access helped bring the coalition together to focus on transportation equity. As Joan Byron, Pratt Center’s Director of Policy said, “Data helped move people and make the case for Bus Rapid Transit. The basic thing data did was raise up transportation and transit access as an equity issue.” This was a new and uniting issue for many advocates according to Byron. “Social, economic, and environmental justice advocates work on a vast array of issues and there wasn’t a sense of ownership of transportation as a social justice issue. The disparity in commute times across race and issue showed how commuting time was, in fact, a racial and social justice issue.”

        The coalition’s vision became a reality when the city’s transit departments launched the Select Bus Service (SBS) program that incorporated key Bus Rapid Transit features in 2008. The Phase 2 study from the transit agencies adopted the Pratt Center transit equity approach and looked at underserved areas and difficult connections to identify priority transit corridors. As the map below shows, seven SBS routes have been implemented providing substantial reductions in travel times and improved reliability to low-wage residents and communities.

        The data in the Transportation Equity Atlas combined with the data presented in the Bus Rapid Transit vision has helped decision makers and advocates work together to improve transit access for workers across the five boroughs. They are now working toward an even more expensive Bus Rapid Transit system.

        Byron said, “As they (the transit agencies) have moved forward on the Bus Rapid Transit routes, they have engaged in a real process with stakeholders down the corridor. The agencies have really learned to work with communities.”  The result is a transit system that is more accessible and responsive to all New Yorkers, regardless of race or income.

        Tell the Census to Keep Important Questions on the ACS

        The National Equity Atlas is part of a growing movement toward data-driven decision-making and policy happening in this countryand consistent collection of data by government agencies is a critical foundation for these efforts. But data is almost always on the short-list when it comes to government spending cuts.

        Case in point: the Census Bureau just announced plans to drop six questions about undergraduate education and family structure from the American Community Survey. At first glance, these cuts might sound fairly benign, but in reality, it would be a huge loss. These data points are critical for understanding—and developing policy solutions for—some of the country’s most pressing challenges.

        Here are some of the equitable economy-related questions that we will not be able to answer if these cuts go forward:

        • Are America’s students learning the skills that are in increasing demand by employers?
        • Are we reducing racial inequities for students of color and female students in access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education
        • Which undergraduate fields of study lead to good-paying jobs? In which fields is there greater pay equity by race and gender?

        Please join us and other data advocates in telling the Census not to cut these questions! Send Jennifer Jessup in the Department of Commerce (jjessup@doc.gov) an email request to keep these questions.

        My letter is below. You can use it as a template to make your own points or simply copy and paste it into an email with a quick note at the top saying “I agree with Justin Scoggins’ points in his letter below. These questions are important for researchers, practitioners, and advocates working to ensure equitable access to higher education, strengthen the workforce, and build an equitable economy.” Whatever you do, please copy the folks at the University of Minnesota who are leading the advocacy effort (nhgis@umn.edu).

        For more information:

         

        Dear Ms. Jessup,

        I am writing to express my dismay at the intent to drop questions on marital history and field of undergraduate study from the American Community Survey (ACS). I can understand the constraints imposed by budgets and wanting to keep the survey less burdensome for respondents – which can arguably improve response rates and data quality – but the costs of losing this valuable information are likely to outweigh any gains. These two particular sets of questions are highly important to the study of the impacts of changing family structures as well as field of study on economic and policy outcomes.

        There are currently no other regularly updated and sufficiently detailed sources of information in the U.S. on marriage, divorce, widowhood, and remarriage. Given the ways in which federal allocation of Social Security and other entitlement programs are, in part, based on marital status, lack of good data means less efficient allocation and forecasting of public expenditures. This constrains our understanding of how marriage impacts economic well-being (which is particularly important as family structures shift).

        There are myriad reasons why the questions on field of undergraduate study are important to keep. As costs of education are spiking, real questions are surfacing about the financial prudence of making an investment in one’s education – long assumed to be the most sound. Of course, financial returns vary widely by field of study, so without this information it is not possible to draw any strong conclusions on the value of this investment or whether its returns are in fact diminishing. Keeping this question will allow us to provide data-driven answers.

        Perhaps more important, the questions on field of study help us understand how well we are doing at improving equity in pay by race and sex, and also at equipping the next generation with the sorts of skills that are in increasing demand by the labor market – such as those gained from a background in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Our nation is faced with the challenge of a stark underrepresentation of young people of color in STEM fields, a challenge that is particularly alarming (even for those less concerned with social and racial equity) given imminent demographic trends that suggest people of color will be the majority of the workforce by 2050. Fortunately, there are people and organizations from various sectors working to improve access to STEM fields of study and equity in pay, but without good data the ability to track progress will be difficult at best.

        The proposed elimination would sacrifice accuracy for efficiency. Given the high stakes in accurately measuring demographic and educational shifts, it is vital that we preserve these questions. I appreciate your consideration of my thoughts on this matter and hope that prompt action is taken to avoid the loss of these valuable questions from the ACS.

        Sincerely,

        Justin Scoggins
        Data Manager
        USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity

        Getting to Equitable Growth in the Heartland Region

        Nationally, the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro—locally dubbed the Heartland region—stands out for its admirably low unemployment rate. As of September 2014, only 3.6 percent of the region’s residents who are in the labor force were unemployed, compared with 5.7 percent nationally. That means the region is at full employment, if you measure it based on Dean Baker and Jared Bernstein’s standard of 4 percent.

        But as is often the case, this broadbrush statistic masks quite a bit. Not everyone is thriving in the Heartland. The unemployment rate for African Americans is closer to 12 percent: three times the average. While communities of color are driving the region’s growth, more and more Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans cannot make ends meet, even if they are working. And the region has not escaped the challenge of flat wages, either: when you account for inflation, most workers haven’t gotten a raise in the past two decades. (Hopefully Nebraska’s recent minimum wage hike will help budge that statistic.)

        This afternoon, community leaders are gathering in Omaha to talk about these trends and why they matter not only for those who are being left behind now, but for the entire region’s economic future.

        As a part of the Heartland 2050 process to plan for how the region can double in size by 2050 while increasing equity and resilience, PolicyLink and PERE partnered with the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency and many local organizations to develop a report that lays out the trends and presents strategies for equitable growth.

        Released today at a pre-event to Voices for Children in Nebraska’s “Race Matters” conference, the Equitable Growth Profile of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Region illustrates the region’s changing demographics, shows how different groups are faring in the regional economy, and describes what can be done to reduce inequality and steer the region toward equitable growth. You can access the full profile and the summary (which includes the recommended strategies) here.

        Here are a few of the trends highlighted in the report:

        The region is experiencing a major demographic shift. Between 1980 and 2010, its people-of-color population doubled from 10 to 21 percent. Communities of color will continue to drive growth in the coming decades, growing to 39 percent of the population by 2040.

         

        Credit: Racial/ethnic composition/National Equity Atlas 

        Omaha-Council Bluff's African Americans face disproportionately high rates of unemployment at every level of education.


        Credit: Unemployment rate by race/ethnicity and education/National Equity Atlas

        Working poverty, defined as working full-time with an income less than 1.5 times the poverty level, is on the rise regionally and is particularly high for Latinos and African Americans.

        Credit: Actual GDP and estimated GDP without racial gaps in income/National Equity Atlas 

        The Equity Atlas and DC KIDS COUNT: A Portrait of the Lived Experiences of DC Residents

        Here at DC Action for Children, we recognize the power of data, when presented clearly and creatively, to shape the conversations we have about the well-being of children in Washington, DC. Given our interest in the intersection between data and public policy, we wanted to highlight the National Equity Atlas, a fascinating and instructive new data tool created by PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity.                       

        Taking the recent rapid growth of inequality in the America as a starting point, the site explores data on equity related indicators locally and nationally. Similar to our work with the Data Tool 2.0 for DC Kids Count, The Equity Atlas finds creative ways to visually represent data through interactive maps and charts, illustrating how complex issues like demographic and income trends vary over time and geography.

        While their focus on income inequality is not explicitly related to children and youth, their work supplements and overlaps with ours. In this blog post, I wanted to highlight some of the Equity Atlas indicators that are especially relevant to understanding the relationship between education and child-well being in the District and inequality. Taken together, the data offered by The Equity Atlas and DC KIDS COUNT present a more encompassing portrait of the lived experiences of the residents of our city.

        The gaps between the District’s white and minority residents—in both educational outcomes and economic well-being—are the defining challenges facing our city today and in the future. In order to begin closing this income gap, residents of all racial/ethnic backgrounds must have the education necessary to compete for jobs in the changing twenty-first century economy. In 2020, 63.6% of the jobs in the city will require at least an Associates degree, yet only around one-quarter of the District’s native born Black and immigrant Latino/Hispanic residents have the necessary educational attainment to qualify for these jobs.

        Credit: Current educational attainment and projected state/national-level job education requirements by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas 

        Furthermore 23% of the city’s 16 to 24 year olds of color are unemployed or not in school, a rate more than seven times greater than for white young adults of the same age. Given how interconnected educational attainment and income are, these figures offer a sobering prognostication for income inequality in the future.

        Credit: Percent of 16 to 24 year olds not working or in school by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas 

        The relationship between economic outcomes and educational attainment is also reciprocal; a 2010 study found that a $3,000 increase in income to a working family between a child’s prenatal year through the age of five is associated with 19% higher earnings when that child reaches adulthood. Closing racial gaps in income and employment would mean a nearly 150% increase in the average income for people of color in the city.

        Credit: Income by race/ethnicity/National Equity Atlas

        Combating inequality will require a comprehensive approach that includes both a quality education that gives all students the skills needed to succeed in careers when they graduate as well as increased economic investment in the city’s low-income neighborhoods and material assistance to help lift children and their families out of poverty. Our success today will go a long way in determining the type of city Washington will be in the future.

        Welcome to the National Equity Atlas!

        The Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) are thrilled to share the National Equity Atlas with you!

        We built the Atlas as a tool for those who are working to transform America's economy into one that is equitable, resilient, and prosperousregion by region, and state by state. 

        Think of it as your one-stop-shop for accessing data and policy ideas to track, measure, and advance inclusive growthin your region, your state, and the United States. At the click of a button, you can access 20 relevant, useful, field-tested indicators of demographic change and racial and economic inclusion. The Atlas currently includes data for the largest 150 regions, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States as a whole.

        The Atlas is a tool for social change. It equips community leaders and policymakers with facts and analyses to:

        • Understand how your community’s demographics are changing;
        • Assess how well diverse populations can participate in your community's economic vitality, contribute to its readiness for the future, and connect to its assets and resources;
        • Catalyze and inform new conversations about why—and how much—equity matters to your community’s future; and
        • Inform policies, plans, strategies, business models, and investments to advance equitable growth.
           

        Our aim is to democratize data and make it easy for you to understand, discuss, and use. Explore the Atlas to find:

        • Data summaries that provide a snapshot of how your community is doing on six key indicators of demographic change, equity, and the economic benefits of equity;
        • Charts, graphs, and maps to share with your colleagues and add to your presentations, fact sheets, reports, and funding proposals;
        • Stories about how local leaders are using equity data to drive new conversations and implement new equitable growth strategies and policies; 
        • And much more!


        The Atlas is a living resource. We will be adding new data on a regular basis and we invite you to tell us what data you'd like to see. We also invite you to share your story about using equity data for social change. Please sign up  for our email list to find out about new data, analyses, and stories about how people are using data to build an equitable economy.

        Enjoy exploring! 

        Sarah, Jennifer, and the entire Equity Atlas team (Justin, Pamela, Josh, Victor, Rosa, Angela, and Manuel)

        Portland's Regional Equity Atlas: Institutionalizing Equity Since 2007

        The nation’s first regional equity atlas originated out of Portland, Oregon. Launched by the planning and policy advocacy group Coalition for a Livable Future in 2007, the original Regional Equity Atlas provided a visual representation of equity and inequity across the region and catalyzed a metrowide discussion about equity and inclusion. Today, equity is seen as an outcome to strive for by advocates and government officials alike, and the equity atlas played a major role in that shift, according to Mara Gross, the coalition’s Executive Director.

        The first Equity Atlas was a book that included maps and text about the distribution of people and assets in the region, and the relationship between demographics and opportunity. In 2013, CLF launched version 2.0, an online tool that maps a wide range of measures of health and well-being.

        Equity Atlas 2.0 includes data on the issues that stakeholders from across the region view as priorities, including:  

        • Demographics:  Race/ ethnicity, income, age, and household composition
        • Access Measures:  How well the residents of a particular geographic area can access key opportunities including a healthy environment, food, housing, transportation, parks and nature, education, economic opportunity, services, and other community resources
        • Health Outcome Measures:  Key diseases that are affected by the conditions in which we live, such as the rates of asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, as well as other health outcomes such as obesity and birth outcomes
        •  

        With the health outcome measures added, advocates and decision-makers can map different variables to see correlations with health outcomes. Seeing how race, income, geographic distribution, or access to transportation corresponds with health helps pinpoint where interventions and supports should be targeted.

        As Beth Kaye, Healthy Eating Active Living Cities Campaign Manager at the Oregon Public Health Institute, says:

        “Maps are the language of cities. They help tell the story of inequity because pictures don't lie.  It’s really powerful to show that obesity rates are higher in places with few sidewalks and poor access to transit, parks, and greengrocers. That correlation is usually invisible, but a good map makes it evident. Community voices add nuance by describing their experiences living in a place.  Maps push local governments to think about physical fixes, like installing sidewalks and safe crossings between an affordable housing development and a playground."

        The impacts of the Equity Atlas are wide-ranging. Organizations and government agencies working on health equity, transportation and land use, affordable housing development, anti-poverty initiatives, and food access have all used the Atlas to inform their efforts.

        Institutionalizing an equity focus within government agencies is a key outcome. “The greatest impacts from the Equity Atlas are that it has helped prompt local governments to start institutionalizing an equity lens,” says Gross. Atlas data has “shaped investment priorities, guided system design, and supported advocacy campaigns.”

        Here are several examples of how government initiatives have used the Atlas:

        • The Oregon Prosperity Initiative used Equity Atlas maps to inform which communities should be targeted for a pilot program that aims to address and prevent poverty through systemic reforms in several areas, including education, economic and workforce development and healthcare. Atlas maps helped pinpoint which areas were most in need.
        • The Washington County Women Infants and Children (WIC) department located its new WIC office based on information provided through the Equity Atlas’s transit and demographic maps showing where transit was available in relation to where low-income populations live.
        • The Portland Bureau of Transportation used Equity Atlas data to determine where to prioritize investments in street lighting upgrades. They used Equity Atlas maps to see which neighborhoods had the highest level of need based on demographics, access to active transit, and transportation safety.

         

        Still going strong and evolving to meet community data needs, Portland's Regional Equity Atlas illustrates how equity data and maps can be crucial tools for embedding equity throughout institutions and building inclusive communities across regions.

        12 Facts About Wage Trends in the States and Regions Where Minimum Wage is on the Ballot

        UPDATE (11/5): Voters said yes to raising the minimum wage in all of the state and city minimum wage propositions described below.

        On Tuesday, voters in voters in four states—Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota—will decide whether to raise their states’ minimum wages. In Illinois, voters will also cast their ballots on an advisory measure to raise their state minimum. According to an analysis by Ben Casselman at FiveThirtyEight, raising the minimum wage in these five states (by a $0.25 per hour in Arkansas to $1.75 per hour in Illinois) could affect 680,000 low-wage workers. Minimum wage hikes are also on the ballot in the Bay Area cities of Oakland and San Francisco.

        Moving the minimum wage closer to a family-supporting “living wage” is a critical policy to shift the nation toward inclusive growth. Most of the jobs being added to the economy are low-wage jobs, and nearly everywhere, the minimum wage is simply not enough to make ends meet (the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour). Since low-wage workers are disproportionately workers of color, raising the minimum wage has the double benefit of addressing racial as well as economic inclusion.

        Interested in learning some more facts behind these wage debates? The National Equity Atlas is a great source of data on long-term wage trends in states and regions. Here are 12 facts—two about each of these five states and two from the San Francisco Bay Area—drawn from the Wages, Income Growth, and Job and Wage Growth indicators in the Atlas:

        ALASKA

        #1 Alaska’s full-time workers at the 10th percentile earned about $7,700 less in 2012 than in 1980—a 25 percent decline.

        #2 Over the past two decades, Alaska grew low-wage jobs (74 percent increase) much more quickly than middle- (21 percent) or high-wage ones (53 percent).

        ARKANSAS

        #3 In Arkansas, full-time workers at the 10th percentile earned about $1,700 less in 2012 than in 1980—a 9 percent decline.

        #4 Since 1980, the median wage for workers of color in Arkansas has been $13 per hour and the median wage for white workers has been $17 per hour.

        ILLINOIS

        #5 In Illinois, full-time workers at the 10th percentile earned about $5,000 less in 2012 than in 1980—a 20 percent decline.

        #6 Since 1990, Illinois grew low-wage jobs (22 percent increase) much more quickly than middle- (.3 percent) or high-wage ones (7 percent).

        NEBRASKA

        #7 Nebraska’s full-time workers at the 10th percentile earned about $800 less in 2012 than in 1980.

        #8 The median wage for Nebraska’s workers of color in 1980 was $18 per hour; in 2012 it was $13 per hour.

        SOUTH DAKOTA

        #9 South Dakota’s full-time workers at the 10th percentile earned just $670 more in 2012 than in 1980—a 3 percent raise over more than three decades.

        #10 The median wage for both white workers and workers of color in South Dakota today is a dollar less per hour than it was in 1980.

        SAN FRANCISCO-OAKLAND-FREMONT METRO AREA

        #11 In the Bay Area, full-time workers at the 10th percentile earned about $2,500 less in 2012 than in 1980—a 10 percent decline.

        #12 The median wage for white Bay Area workers has increased from $27 to $34 per hour between 1980 and 2012; for workers of color the median wage only increased from $22 to $23 per hour during that time period.

        Follow us on Twitter (@PolicyLink and @PERE_USC) for more facts and charts about wages in these states and regions, as well as others that are debating legislation to raise their minimum wage.

        Denver's Regional Equity Atlas: Improving Urban Planning With Equity Data

        Data can, and should, play a central role in urban planning. In Denver, CO, the Denver Regional Equity Atlas overlays educational, income, health, and other equity metrics on the new transit network to paint a picture of how transit impacts equity. As a result, the Atlas has helped advocates fight for better transit access, strengthen existing partnerships and engage new partners. The Atlas continues to be an important organizing tool.

        Using Data to Advocate for Transit

        Transit routes that help connect people to the places in which they work are particularly important for low-income families, who heavily rely on public transportation. Using data from the Atlas, advocates were able to save a bus route that served low-income residents but had been slated for closure when the city’s new light rail service opened. Coalition coordinator Davian Gagne says, “The Equity Atlas helped us understand which communities we needed to be prioritizing for outreach and where bus services routes had the highest level of impact.”

        Bringing Partners Together

        Mile High Connects, the creator of the original Atlas, sees it as one of the most fundamental tools in forming their equity collaborative. A partnership between private, public, and nonprofit organizations that are committed to developing inclusive, affordable and livable communities within walking distance of public transit, Mile High Connects engaged new partners through the original Atlas. As Dace West, Director of Mile High Connects says, “The first Atlas was a static map and it was instrumental in bringing people to the table, especially the philanthropic community, which hadn’t been as involved in equity work until then. It was a way to invite our public sector partners to take a look at some of the other actions taking place around the region.”

        The Atlas is now in its second iteration as an online interactive tool that creates custom maps and summaries of statistics for particular interest areas in the region. The online tool was launched in partnership between Mile High Connects and the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the regional planning office, along with the Piton Foundation. The planning agency hosts the website and the foundation created the data engine and open data framework that makes the data accessible and sharable. A Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Sustainable Communities Initiative Grant allowed these groups to deepen their relationship and have joint ownership over the Atlas. 

        The Atlas also facilitates data sharing and coordination between the two, a benefit that will lead to more equitable long-term planning. “The Equity Atlas is a piece of the story and through the Sustainable Communities Initiative Grant there are a number of ways we are interacting with our MPO, including a longer term Memorandum of Understanding to preserve the work we have done together,” said West. “Over several months, we’ve had the opportunity to explore more ways in which we can work together that go even beyond the Atlas.”

        Now that the Atlas is online, Mile High Connect is looking to respond more directly to the interests and needs of their partner organizations, especially when it comes to the data they are most interested in and that they access most frequently. The maps created through the Atlas help provide a visual tool to help advocates make the case for areas that need fresh food or transit connection from housing to job centers, for example. West say, “The Atlas has really provided the ability to visually represent where some of those mismatches are happening.”

        A Tool for Organizing Communities

        The Atlas can also be an important tool in organizing communities. Stephen Moore, a policy analyst at FRESC, uses the Atlas with community leaders so they can map their own communities and see what impact developments can have on their communities. When a development is proposed, Moore can show community leaders what happened in similar communities. Moore said, “We can show the displacement caused in other communities and say, ‘here’s some information about what these communities used to look like and what they look like now. The median house cost has increased and demographics have shifted. Looking at that neighborhood and looking at your own, what do you think about the kind of displacement that is likely to take place?”

        By providing a visual understanding of the change taking place in the City, the Denver Regional Equity Atlas is helping advocates shape how they want their communities, and region, to look and advancing equity through smart, community based urban planning.

        3 Ways to Use the National Equity Atlas

        Last week, Angela Glover Blackwell, the founder and CEO of PolicyLink made a bold statement at a conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston: “if people of color don’t become the middle class, there will be no middle class.”

        Her statement, grounded in forecasts that predict that America’s population will be majority people of color by 2043, is a sharp synopsis for the subject of that conference, “The Inequality of Economic Opportunity.” It also poses a challenging follow-up question: “Now what?”

        Enter the National Equity Atlas, a website that we built in partnership with PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at the University of Southern California. 

        At Bureau Blank, whenever we are faced with a big challenge, we look for whatever data we can find to inform our approach. Now, with the Atlas, policymakers, educators and community leaders can access a large pool of data to use in research and advocacy for racial equity. 

        It’s not a vault of PDFs. It is truly a tool to visually analyze this data based on location and it’s easy to use!

        So, how does the Atlas help users tackle the middle class question? Here are 3 step-by-step approaches to investigate key areas:

        #1 Disconnected Youth: Are all young Americans ready to enter the workforce?

        How to find it

        1. Click Indictators in the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator "Disconnected youth" under Readiness
        3. Here's what you'll see

        The data

        In 2012, 14% of all 16 to 24 year olds were not in school or working. Native-American and Black youth experienced the highest rates of disconnect, at 27% and 22%, respectively.

        Why it matters

        Educational and work opportunities for young people translate into higher lifetime earnings and decreased reliance on public assistance.

        #2 Homeownership: How do my region’s rates compare to other U.S. regions?

        How to find it

        1. Click Indicators in the navigation bar
        2. Select the Equity indicator "Homeownership" under "Economic Vitaility"
        3. Click "Ranking" in the "Breakdown" bar and "Region" in the "Geography" bar under the graphic
        4. Begin typing your city where you see "Enter a region state" and click the arrow
        5. Here's what you'll see

        ​The data

        In 2012, 61.9% of Boston metro area homes were occupied by their owners, putting it in the bottom third of the 150 metro regions listed. Whites in Boston had the highest rate of homeownership at 68.4%, while Latinos had the lowest at 25.4%. Click "By race/ethnicity" in the "Breakdown" bar to toggle this data.

        Why it matters

        Communities of color were disproportionately affected by the foreclosure crisis, placing an imperative on policies like California’s Homeowner Bill of Rights to guarantee basic fairness and transparency for homeowners.

        #3 Economic benefits: If we achieve a country with no inequality, what is the payoff?

        How to find it

        1. Click Indicators in navigation bar
        2. Select the Economic Benefits indicator and click "GDP gains with racial equity"
        3. Here's what you'll see

        The data

        In 2012, the United State’s annual GDP was $15.6 trillion. If racial gaps in income or employment were closed, the projected GDP would increase by over $2 trillion. What’s not to love about that? 

        Why it matters

        Rising wages, particularly for households in the lowest income groups, leads to increased spending power which is a key driver of job creation and economic growth across groups and income levels.
         

        Links to policy campaigns, advocacy groups and strategic initiatives accompany every indicator on the Atlas, so users can see real examples of action around the country. By aligning data, narrative and action, the Atlas demonstrates that these disparities are more than a matter of fairness – they will determine our collective economic future. 

        As Angela Glover Blackwell says, understanding where we stand now, region by region, state by state is the first step toward building a more equitable and prosperous future for us all.

        How will you use the Atlas to connect the dots in your work? Tell us about it on Twitter @bureaublank!

        Cross-posted from Bureau Blank's blog. See the original story at http://bureaublank.com/#/blog. 

        In New Orleans, A Deeper Look at Jobs Data Catalyzes Economic Strategy Focused on Connecting Black Men to Work

        Data can be a jarring wake up call and prompt major institutional action. In 2013, the Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy at Loyola University and The Data Center released a report on the economic potential for African American men in New Orleans with findings nothing less than shocking:

        • More than half of all working-age African American men – 52 percent – did not have jobs.
        • Four out of every 10 black men were not in the labor market, meaning they were discouraged and stopped looking for work.  
        • Between 1999 and 2011, the median wages of African American men fell while median wages for white men rose.
        • The median wage of white men in New Orleans, $60,075, is nearly twice that of African American men, $31,018.
           

        Honing in on the key equity challenge

        New Orleans would never be able to reverse its economic decline without addressing the employment and wage crisis among its African American men. As Allison Plyer, executive director of The Data Center says, "Black men are often marginalized as part of the solution for a lot of our community problems. You only have to think about that for a couple of minutes to see that’s silly."

        While data collection was the necessary first step, knowing what data to present and how to present it was key to getting the right attention from decision makers. "There was a lot of data that we pulled together and it took some strategy not to release all of it. We wanted to highlight those pieces that really speak to the specific concerns and issues that leaders are thinking about and shift their attention to equity issues," Plyer said.

        Prompting mayoral action  

        The strategy succeeded. Calling the unemployment rate, "unacceptable," the Mayor's office worked with several stakeholders and advocacy groups, including PolicyLink, and in August 2014 Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced an ambitious economic opportunity strategy with a focus on connecting these men to the job opportunities associated with the city’s growing sectors.

        "Who are the 52 percent? What are their barriers to employment?  How can we ensure that the people who need work are matched with employers who have jobs? said Landrieu. "What types of skills are employers looking for? And, how can we ensure the people of New Orleans rebuild New Orleans so that we do not leave anyone behind?"

        Through focus groups and surveys, the city found a variety of issues preventing these 52 percent from securing jobs. Some individuals needed more training, some needed more education, and some, "just need to be given an opportunity." This information helped the Mayor’s office tailor their jobs program. 

        Leveraging the economic power of anchor institutions  

        The strategy builds around the strength of economic opportunities offered by the city’s anchor institutions – including hospitals, universities, and the New Orleans International Airport. The goal is to "pave the way for New Orleans to close the income gap and create equity for all New Orleanians."

        The Strategy has generated $1.1 million in foundation support and the city is also leveraging its workforce and community development resources toward the effort. Several large employers and anchor institutions have stepped up as partners, including CMC Health, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Ochsner Health System, Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System, Tulane University, and Xavier University of New Orleans.

        Implementation will begin in Fall 2014 with five main strategies:

        1. Establish a collaborative of local anchor institutions committed to expanding economic opportunity to disadvantaged job seekers and businesses.
        2. Create a workforce intermediary that connects disadvantaged job seekers to employment opportunities through anchor institutions, providing case management, foundational skills training and supportive services.
        3. Start a procurement intermediary that connects qualified disadvantaged businesses to contracting opportunities through anchor institutions.
        4. Build a worker-owned cooperative that connects job seekers to employment by leveraging procurement and purchasing opportunities through anchor institutions.
        5. Establish and align customized job training based on employer needs that prepares disadvantaged job seekers for in-demand jobs through anchor institutions and major infrastructure projects. 

        City and business community embrace equity as a growth strategy

        Through the support and information provided by the Lindy Boggs National Center for Community Literacy and The Data Center, New Orleans is galvanizing city resources and the business community to fight the unacceptably high rate of non-employment among working-aged black men. The data on non-employment helped not just the Mayor’s office make equitable employment a priority for the mayor, it also helped the New Orleans Business Alliance make equity a priority. Plyer said that after the data was released, she received a call from the Business Alliance asking if they could highlight the non-employment data point to justify using equity as a growth strategy in their strategic plan for economic development.

        Data Helps Set the Agenda and Expand Networks for Kansas City Region Advocates

        In-depth data on community demographics and equity can provide a more complete picture of challenges and opportunities and help advocates prioritize their agenda. That's what happened in Kansas City when the regional planning agency and equity network partnered with PolicyLink and PERE to develop an equity profile of the region.

        The Kansas City Regional Equity Network is a 16-member collaborative that meets monthly to strategize ways to ensure community members understand the importance of equity and inclusion in creating sustainable places. Data on the region's diversity has been key in helping the network form a plan for action. The Network has selected eight issue items as its focus, including housing, transportation, health, and workforce development.

        Dean Katerndahl, a member of the group and director of the government innovation forum at the Mid-America Regional Council, explains how knowing more about their region's young people of color helped set their priorities. "The data point that intrigued me the most was the one showing the large number of youth of color who were disconnected, not in school or employed," Katerndahl said. The profile also revealed how a disproportionate share of Kansas City's 27,000 youth out of work and school in 2010 were black or Latino. "This finding has become a real priority for the equity network, as folks were really surprised, and so we have put together a committee around youth."

        Maps highlighting the growing presence of Latinos in the eastern portion of the region and the large clusters of low-income neighborhoods not located near major employers also gave the network a point around which to rally for transportation equity, according to network member and WestSide Housing Organization Executive Director Gloria Fisher. A region-wide discussion about constructing a new streetcar line in Kansas City's urban core is now underway. "We hope to change the conversation around transportation by inserting equity," Fisher said. Fisher described how if equitable development were not prioritized, the route would likely only go through neighborhoods with money while avoiding those without any, perpetuating transportation inequality.

        Data can also open conversation on why equity matters to those who may not be so familiar with these concepts. Katerndahl said the data, charts, and graphs presented in the profile resonated with the business community, including the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. His group, the Mid-America Regional Council, which serves as the metropolitan planning organization for Kansas City, has also added equity to its long-run planning objectives "pretty much as a direct result of the work with PolicyLink," he said.

        Kansas City's full equity profile can be found here.

        Data Inspires Equity-Focused State Policy in Rhode Island

        When done right, data can be more than a collection of numbers and statistics: it can uncover a reality that may not be immediately apparent to advocates or decision makers. In Rhode Island, new data on the state's changing demographics sparked policy changes to leverage its increasing diversity as an asset.

        In 2013, PolicyLink and PERE worked with local partners to produce an Equity Profile of Rhode Island. The profile revealed a growing racial generation gap between the white senior population and the increasingly diverse youth population. Thirty-six percent of Rhode Islanders under the age of 18 were people of color in 2010, compared with 9 percent of those over age 64. This demographic divergence between young and old presents a challenge to securing adequate public funding for educational systems and community infrastructure.

        The profile also showed that people of color fare worse in the state's labor market even when they have the same levels of education as their white counterparts. Unemployment rates for college graduates were, for example, 3.5 percentage points higher and wages about $6.50 per hour lower for Rhode Island's people of color than for its whites.

        By painting a more complete picture of how the state's population is changing and the extent to which communities of color can participate in the state's economy, the profile lent critical facts to policy discussions. Amanda Martin, a planner for the state who worked with PolicyLink and PERE to produce the Equity Profile, said the data have fostered new discussions about her state's demographics.

        And the data did more than change discussions. Shortly after the Equity Profile was released, Governor Lincoln D. Chafee issued an executive order to increase diversity among government employees and contractors. The order led to the creation of the state's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Opportunity, which will be opened in 2015 with a $1.1 million budget and a goal of ensuring fair-hiring and inclusion in all aspects of government.

        Governor Chafee cited figures from the profile documenting how, in the past three decades, people of color had grown from 7 percent to 24 percent of Rhode Island's population, and that by the year 2040 Rhode Island was projected to be 41 percent people of color. These statistics undergirded the governor's proactive steps to ensure that Rhode Island's workforce and state government accurately reflected the state's changing demographics. Currently, the state employs 15,000 workers, but only 15 percent of them are people of color.

        The Governor also highlighted the state's changing demographics during his State of the State and Budget Address, urging lawmakers to allocate more funding toward education. "This is the future of Rhode Island," he said in the January 2014 speech. "And the best way to prepare for it and translate it into prosperity is to ensure that all Rhode Islanders have access to quality public education. We cannot afford to have disparity in Rhode Island where there are areas of opportunity and others where poverty and lack of education self-perpetuate and hold back our economy as a whole."

        Relevant data about changing demographics and the extent to which diverse groups can participate in economic life can lead to the process and policy changes necessary to work toward equity. "This has opened up a new focus on equity issues for our department, helped us to develop a new vocabulary, and given us information we need to incorporate equity into our work," Martin said.

        Going forward Martin said she believes the data will continue to shape the public discussion about the equity imperative and contribute to a deeper understanding of where the state stands and how to plan for a prosperous future. Far from contributing to data overload, the equity profile is helping to build a more equitable Ocean State economy.