Opportunity Structures and Social Equity in Monterey County

1. Opportunity Structures and Social Equity in Monterey County Professor john a. powell Executive Director, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society Robert D. Haas Chancellor’s Chair in Equity and Inclusion University of California, Berkeley Nonprofit Alliance of Monterey County — September 17, 2013

2. Changes in Monterey County Over the last decade, major shift in Monterey County’s demographic composition. Are such changes reflected in institutional policies and arrangements that provide services to communities, including to those “undeserved” or underepresented?

3. Demographic Projections 1

4. Demographic Projections 1 cont.

5. Demographic Projections 2

6. Demographic Projections 2 cont.

7. Questions to Consider: the Individual and Society • How should our institutions respond to changes in society? • Who has the ability and opportunity to leverage institutions? Who doesn’t? • Example: George Zimmerman case • Do individuals trust institutions enough to represent their best interests in society? • How do we ensure and achieve social equity for the common good? • How are our everyday relationships mediated through structures and institutions? • Example: social security

8. Defining Opportunity We can define opportunity through accessto… education food transportation economy justice housing healthcare communications

9. Opportunity Structures • Opportunity structures are the web of influences beyond our individualcontrol that enhance and constrain our ability to succeed and excel • Life chances are shaped by opportunity structures, and those structures are often just as important, if not more so, than the choices that individuals make

10. Understanding Structures as Systems We are all situated within structures but not evenly • These structures interact in ways that produce a differential in outcomes

11. Situated Different in Structures People are impacted by the relationships between institutions and systems… … but people also impact these relationships and can change the structure of the system. Not only are people situated differently with regard to institutions, people are situated differently with regard to infrastructure

12. System Interactions • Structures and policies are not neutral • They unevenly distribute benefits and burdens to different groups differently • Institutions can operate jointly to produce racialized outcomes

13. Mediating Forces The linkage between race, place, and opportunity is mediated by three related forces: • Concentrated poverty • Racial and economic segregation • Sprawl (jurisdictional fragmentation)

14. Mediating Forces cont. For example, can lead to disparities between schools • Achievement gap • Discipline rates • Funding/economic disparities • Graduation rates Historical housing discrimination  segregation  dysfunctional schools

15. Example: Housing & Credit • Housing and credit are inextricably linked to other structures and influence wealth accumulation, particularly significant for communities of color • However, access to housing and credit is racialized

16. Public Policy and the Politicsof Social Justice • Policy is not neutral: it reflects the discrete motivations and values of policymakers • What is it that underlies those motivations? How is it that we measure success and “progress”? “Opportunities for building assets and wealth are either advanced or stymied by public policies at the city, county, state, and federal levels.” — Kevin Walker, Northwest Area Foundation

17. The Role of the Unconscious Mind • Human brain: processes 11 million bites of information in a second • Consciously aware of any 40 of these, at best • Only 2% of emotional cognition is available to us consciously • Messages can be framedto speak to our unconscious • The process of Otheringoccurs in our unconscious network: this can lead to racial, ethnic, or religious bias Brooks, David. The Social Animal: A Story of How Success Happens. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/08/david-brooks-key-to-success-interview.

18. Our Brains in Action:Creating Associations Please state the color of the text Green Red Blue Black Black Green Red Blue Black Red Blue Green Green Blue Black Green

19. Our Brains in Action:Filling in the Gaps What shapes do you see?

20. Our Brains in Action:Filling in the Gaps cont. Our subconscious fills in the lines for us, to form a shape we are familiar with

21. Another Way to Think About the Unconscious Mind at Work: Habits • Habits(or mental pathways) are behaviors that we engage in without thinking • Individual habits are created and influenced by our environment • While habits can come from the structures & systems we occupy, those structures also have their own habits – the “way things are done”

22. Putting It All Together • Automatic categorization, learned associations, and “filling in the gaps” act in concert to comprise schemas • Schemas are like the filtersor framesthrough which our subconscious manages the 11 million bits of information we receive every second • They are learnedand acquiredin childhood and in our adult lives • When we encounter things that don’t fit within the schemas that we already have, we experience cognitive dissonance

23. Where Do Schemas Come From? • Schemas are social. They exist in our environment, language, metaphors, etc. • The unconscious is not just an individual or internal phenomenon • The unconscious is social andinteracting with the environment • Because the U.S. is still a highly segregated nation, many Americans havelimited social contact with people of other races • The media—“local” news, television shows, radio, magazines—mediate many people’s experiences of other races

24. Reacting Before We Even Realize It • The subconscious mind uses three processes to make sense of the millions of bits of information that we perceive • Sorting into categories • Creating associations between things • Filling in the gaps when we only receive partial information • These three processes together add up to schemas– the “frames” through which our brains help us understand and navigate the world

25. What Does This Have to Do with Social Equity in Monterey County? • Social categories (race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, class, etc.) comprise some of the most powerful schemas operating at the subconscious level • These schemas give rise to implicit bias • Social categories and schemas affectthe environmentandstructures around us

26. Structural Racialization • Not dependent on individual racialization • Beyond the practices and procedures within any one institution • Way in which various institutions interactand arrangethemselves • Produces predictableunjust outcomes that are cumulative

27. Marginalization • What are the ways structures can marginalize groups? • Race, gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, language, religion, geography, etc. • Groups are pushed toward the edges (or outside) of the circle of human concern through a process of marginalization • Although these groups may be comprised of vulnerable individuals, that vulnerability is not intrinsic; it is a result of that process

28. These cows are ill. Why?

30. Spatial Segregation & Health • Structural racialization involves a series of exclusions, often anchored in (and perpetuating) spatial segregation • People of color and the very poor have historically been isolated from economic, political, educational, and technological power • Example: contemporary foreclosure crisis and local health departments (Schaff 2013) • Examining the role of leadership

31. Question to Consider • What is the problem you are trying to solve? Is it individual, interpersonal, or structural?  The problem can exist at all levels; however, we tend to focus on the individual level

33. Realities of Structural Marginalization • Structures unevenly distribute benefits and burdens to various groups differently • Institutions can operate jointlyto produce biased outcomes • History matters • Disparities result and matter • Harms entire society

34. The Circle of Human Concern LGBTQ persons Felons Citizens Children Mothers Elderly Undocumented immigrants Muslims Non-public/non-private space

35. Social Equity Prescriptions • Communities of Opportunity • Targeted Universalism and Race • Enlarging the Circle of Human Understanding

36. Social Equity Prescriptions:1. Communities of Opportunity Pioneered at the Kirwan Center for Race & Ethnicity • Place-based mobilization: supporting local economies • People-based mobilization: supporting access to affordable housing

37. Social Equity Prescriptions:2. Targeted Universalism and Race • Acknowledging having biases is human • Efforts to be colorblind can increase racial anxiety and tension • Create positive associations and experiences • Constructive name anxieties • Pay attention to structures and the work they are doing. Make them work for us • Research has confirmed that instead of repressing one’s prejudices, if one openly acknowledges one’s biases, and directly challenges or refutes them, one can reduce them

38. 2. Targeted Universalism cont. Universal Programs • Universal programs alone are not truly universal • Often based on a non-universal standard • Example – social security: able-bodied white males working outside the home full-time for pay • Targeted programs alone are not desirable because they appear to show favoritism toward a certain group, thus stigmatizing them • Targeted universalism recognizes racial disparities, while acknowledging their presence within a larger inequitable, institutional framework Targeted Programs Targeted Universalism

39. 2. Targeted Universalism cont. This strategic framework… • Starts with identifying the universal goals for all • Yet, the current position of whites should not be normalized in the system whereby becoming the universal goal for all • Recognizes racial disparities and the importance of eradicating them, while acknowledging their presence within a larger inequitable, institutional framework • Should support the identification of specific obstacles in particular geographies that limit certain populations from reaching those goals

40. 2. Targeted Universalism cont. • An intervention strategy • Funders need to fund direct services and other programs to repair social cleavages • A communicationsstrategy • Funders also need employ strategic communications regarding universal goals and targeted approaches to inform the allocation of resources and policy approaches

41. Social Equity Prescriptions:3. Widening the Circle of Human Concern Citizens LGBTQ persons Children Felons Mothers Elderly Undocumented immigrants Black and Latinos Non-public/non-private space

42. 3. Widening the Circle of Human Concern cont. • Social interactions with a common purpose • Humanizingthe “Other” • Sharing perspectives • Parable: The Elephant & the Blind Men

43. Ensuring Racial Justice • Racial justice: proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all • Not the same as racial diversity, which only requires the presence of people of color in an organization. Racial diversity is a component of racial justice • Requires an analysis and strategy for addressing racism in institutions

44. For more information, visit: http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/806639 Like the Haas Institute on Facebook! www.facebook.com/haasinstitute

45. Distinguishing Universal Goals & Universal Strategies. Community A had 80% insured + excellent facilities. Community B had 60% insured, and a few moderate quality facilities. Community C had 40% insured and NO hospitals; very few other medical facilities. Example: Universal Healthcare

46. Distinguishing Universal Goals & Universal Strategies.

47. Distinguishing Universal Goals & Universal Strategies.

48. Distinguishing Universal Goals & Universal Strategies.