Race for Results/ Race to Equity

1. Race for Results/ Race to Equity Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Ken Taylor & Erica Nelson Dane Buy Local July 22, 2014

2. Wisconsin Values • Opportunity • Responsibility • Community • The Wisconsin Idea

3. Tale of Two Cities City B Unemployment = 25% Child poverty Rate = 56% Median Income = $20,664 3rdGrade Not Proficient = 48% Suspended/Exp = 21% Not Graduating = 50% JuvDet = 103/1000 Foster Care = 11/1000 Adult Arrests = 295/1000 City A • Unemployment = 5% • Child poverty rate = 5% • Median Income = $63,673 • 3rdGrade Not Proficient = 11% • Suspended/Exp = 2% • Not Graduating = 16% • JuvDet = 7/1000 • Foster Care = .7/1000 • Adult Arrests = 36/1000

4. Context • Dane County is often considered one of the best places to live in America. • Dane County is resource rich and progressively minded. • Despite these positive attributes, Dane County also has some of the highest racial disparities in the United States.

5. Communications Challenges • Break down stereotypes • Equity gaps individual characteristics • Focus on systems and institutional practices • Not zero sum game • Not “Other” people

6. Race and ethnicity in Wisconsin

7. Dane County Demographic Profile (2010) • Dane County’s total population = 488,073. • African American population = 31, 300 (6.4%), • African American child population = 8,804, (8.3% of the county’s child population). • African American children make up about 20% of Madison public schools and 17% of public schools county-wide. • Since 2000 the African American population of Dane County grew by more than 50% (from 20,241 to 31,300), while the White population grew by 10%. • In 2010 African Americans were the county’s most populous community of color, followed closely by an even faster growing populations of Hispanics (28,925) and Asians (26,698).

8. Findings on Dane County’s Black/White Disparities We have organized our data into nine major categories: • Basic Demographics • Economic Well-Being • Family Formation • Education • Health • Child Welfare • Juvenile Justice • Criminal Justice • Mobility

9. Economic Well-Being • Unemployment Rate • Median Household Income • Poverty • Child Poverty

10. Unemployment Rate

11. Median Household Income

12. Child Poverty • The American Community Survey (ACS) shows a Black child poverty estimate of greater than 56%, compared to 5% for White children (3 year average). • An African American child in Dane County is at least 11 times more likely to grow up in poverty than his/her White counterpart. • The child poverty rate for African Americans in Dane County was almost one and a half times higher than the nationwide child poverty rate for African Americans (39%) and was somewhat higher than that for African American kids across in Wisconsin (50%).

13. Education • 3rd Graders Not Proficient in Reading • 8th Graders Not Proficient in math • Absences/ Truants • Suspension/ Expulsion • Students Not Graduating On Time • Students taking the ACT/ Test Scores

14. Third Graders Not Proficient In Reading (2012)

15. Rate of Suspensions (or Expulsions) for Incidents Unrelated to Weapons or Drugs • In 2011, school suspensions of African American students in Dane County numbered 3,198, compared to 1,130 suspensions of White students. • After accounting for the relative size of the African American and White share of total students enrolled, we find that suspensions were 15 times more likely to involve an African American student than a White student.

16. Students Failing to Graduate On Time

17. Percent of Students Taking the ACT In the 2011-2012 school year, 30% of African American seniors in Dane County took the ACT, compared to 63% of White seniors in Dane County and 50% of African American seniors statewide.

18. Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice and Adult Corrections In this category, we look at White and Black data on the following measures: • Children in Foster Care During the Past Year • Juveniles Placed in County Secure Detention Pending Disposition • Juvenile’s Sent to the State’s Correctional Facility (Lincoln Hills) • Adult Arrests • New Prison Placements

19. Juvenile Arrests

20. New Adult Prison Placements • In 2012, Dane County African Americans were admitted to prison facilities at a rate 15 times greater than that for White adults. • While Dane County Black adults in 2012 made up only 4.8% of the total age 18 to 54 adult population, they constituted nearly 44% of all the new adult prison placements from the County.

21. Four Key Take Aways About What The Data is Telling Us • Wide gap between Black and White • Poor well-being of Dane County Blacks, compared to African Americans elsewhere • The racialization of disadvantage • The impact of racialized disadvantage

22. Key Local Factors that Contribute to Dane County’s Exceptional Disparity Rates • A Labor Market Mismatch • Neighborhood Isolation • Capacity of Our Family and Child Serving Systems

23. Key Local Factors that Contribute to Our Exceptional Disparity Rates A Labor Market Mismatch Dane County has a mismatch between the County’s labor markets’ skill/readiness expectations and the skill sets, work experience, support networks, and credentials of many local job seekers of color. There are far too few routes to family supporting jobs in Dane County for less educated, less networked workers.

24. The Business Case For Racial Equity A more diverse workforce brings with it a better understanding of cultures and potential new markets around the world and a greater variety of perspectives, leading to more innovative products and services. Research has shown that business with a more diverse workforce have more customers, higher revenues and profits, greater market share, less absenteeism and turnover, and a higher level of commitment to their organization

25. McKinsey & Company Closing the education achievement gap between African American and Hispanic students, and White students, would increase US GDP by 2-4% ($310-$525 billion). This translates to $6-$10 billion for Wisconsin.

26. Urban League Disparities in health cost the US $60 billion in excess medical costs and $22 billion in lost productivity (2009). Economic loss due to premature deaths was valued at $250 billion.

27. Policy Link 45% of all jobs in 2018 will require at least an associates degree, but among today’s workers on 27% of African Americans, 26% of US born Latinos, and 14% of Latino immigrants have achieved this level of education.

28. Equity is the Superior Growth Model In the coming decades, it is todays younger generation who will drive economic growth, and whose purchasing power will determine the demand for goods and services. The ability of these children, who are increasingly of color, to succeed will shape our shared future.

29. What You Can Do Promote Employment, Financial Security and Economic Inclusion We need the region’s public and private employers, (supported by employment training, family service and child care providers), to create more pathways into family-supporting careers for a larger share of the under-employed or unemployed parents whose children are in or entering our county’s schools.

30. Principles and Values to Address the Racial Equity Challenge • We need to authentically engage the families and communities most affected by these disparities. • Our approach needs to be atwo generation strategy- one that supports under-resourced parents while intensifying investments in at risk children, from cradle to career. • Our programs and services need to be woven together into a more integrated whole - one that is comprehensiveand collaborative, not siloed. • Our major investments of money and time must be more effectively targeted, recognizing the greatest needs are heavily concentrated among low-income families of color. • Given the depth and breadth of problems, our responses have to bedriven by urgency and sustained by long term commitment.

31. Race to Equityongoing work • Communicate and build relationships • Gather and analyze data • Support a two-generation approach • Partner with local community initiatives • Stop the blame game • Make the business case

32. What can you do? • Personal – Internal • Personal – External • Professional • Systems Advocacy • Public Voice

33. Local Factors That Can Help Us Address this Challenge • Dane County has many strengths and assets • The scale of the problem is manageable • Making progress is in ALL our interests

34. “Four years ago, I decided Dane County was the place I wanted to raise my children because it truly is a great place to live. As a single mom, I found a terrific job and have been pleased with the education my children have received, but I know that our experience isn’t the experience of all families. Our community is poised to respond to these concerns, because one of the best things about living here is the people. The people truly care; our neighbors want to make a difference; our community is at a tipping point to becoming the community it always thought it was.” - Dane County Mother