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 Atlantic, Grist, 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 to: jobs@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.

Pages