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.

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