Today’s Face, Tomorrow’s Future
Friends of Talladega College Meeting
New York, NY
October 11, 2005
NYC ACS
06/24/08, 07/17/08, 09/17/08
Overview of the Day
Toolkit Assumptions, Definitions, POV
Glimpse of Toolkit Components We Will
Use:
• Child Welfare Fact Sheet
• What’s Race Got to Do With It?
• Racial Equity Impact Analysis
• How to Talk About Race
Q and A and Next Steps
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Our Starting Assumptions . . .
• Class Matters. Poverty is a significant obstacle to
success. Yet, within-class racial disparities remain.
• Race Matters, too. Almost every indicator of well-being
shows troubling disparities/ disproportionality by race
within class groupings.
• Place Matters. Access to resources is connected to
spaces (rural, urban, suburban), and these spaces may
be “racialized.”
• Personal Responsibility & Self Determination Matter.
Everyone should have a voice in matters that affect
them.
3
Our Starting Assumptions
(continued)
• Disparities are often created and maintained through
policies and practices that contain barriers to
opportunity.
• The only way to close gaps is with an intentional focus
on race.
• Given the right message, analysis, and tools, people will
work toward racial equity.
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Definitions/Distinctions
• Race -- a social/political construct used to confer
advantage and disadvantage
• Social identity (what others assign) and self identity (how we
name ourselves)
• Ethnicity and culture -- shared history, values, language,
traditions that are sources of strength; these also can be
“racialized”
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Doing Work Around Race:
Various Valuable Approaches
Our Approach:
Anti-racism (focus on policies and practices)
Other Valuable Approaches:
• Prejudice reduction
• Healing and reconciliation
• Diversity/multiculturalism
• Democracy building
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What is Racial Equity?:
Racial equity is achieved when
advantage and disadvantage
cannot be predicted by race
This can be measured!
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What are Embedded
Racial Inequities?
The effects of public and private sector policies
and practices that produce:
• the accumulated advantages for whites as a
group
• the accumulated disadvantages for people of
color as a group
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What are Embedded
Racial Inequities?
(continued)
These effects are reinforced by:
• Differential perceptions and images of people of color
and whites (stereotypes)
• Dominant U.S. norms and values
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Back Stories to Racial
Disparities/Disproportionality
often involve inequitable policies
and practices
So…..
to demonstrate how policy
advantages & disadvantages
accumulate:
POP QUIZ!
10
What Single Policy from Decades
Ago Contributed to These PresentDay Outcomes?
• Homeownership disparities
• Neighborhood disparities
• Surveillance & assessment disparities
• Health disparities
• Wealth disparities
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What Single Policy from Decades
Ago Contributed to These PresentDay Outcomes (continued)
In short, what policy strongly contributed to
opportunity-rich or opportunity-poor
settings/circumstances for raising kids & the
judgments accompanying each?
12
The GI Bill: A Story of
Embedded Racial Inequity
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Philip’s Story
Child Born
Right After
WWII
Father’s
Status
GI Bill: FHA
& VA loans
Consequences
for Child’s
Education
Consequences
for Child’s
Well-being in
Adulthood
Low-income,
White
White
veteran, high
school
diploma, from
Philadelphia
Able to use
low-interest
mortgage
provisions to
move family
from public
housing to
segregated
suburban
home ownership
Family borrowed
from home equity
to support child’s
college education
(first in family to
go to college)
Philip gets
professional
job, buys own
house,
inherits
appreciated
house
when
father
dies
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Thomas’s Story
Child Born
Right After
WWII
Father’s
Status
GI Bill: FHA
& VA loans
Consequences
for Child’s
Education
Consequences
for Child’s
Well-being in
Adulthood
Low-income,
Black
Black
veteran, high
school
diploma, from
Philadelphia
Could not access
home loan b/c of
racially-restrictive
underwriting
criteria; family
remained in rental
housing in the city
Family could not
afford to send
child to college;
high school
diploma is from
under-resourced
segregated school
Thomas works
in minimum
wage jobs,
continues to
live in family
home,
considers
joining the
Army, has to
borrow $
when father
dies to give
him decent
funeral
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Juan’s Story
Child Born
Right After
WWII
Father’s
Status
GI Bill: FHA
& VA loans
Consequences
for Child’s
Education
Consequences
for Child’s
Well-being in
Adulthood
Low-income,
Latino
Latino
veteran, high
school
diploma, from
Texas
Could not access
home loan b/c of
racially-restrictive
underwriting
criteria; family
remained in rural
rental housing
Family could not
afford to send
child to college;
high school
diploma is from
under-resourced
language
segregated and
racially
segregated
school
Juan works
in minimum
wage jobs,
continues to
live in family
home,
marries
newcomer
Latina, sends
part of
family’s limited
income to her
extended family
in Mexico
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Fast Forward to Today . . .
Philip’s Children:
Thomas’ and Juan’s Children:
Philip gives children his father’s
appreciated house
They have no houses to
inherit
They live in thriving communities
They live in disinvested communities
Their college education’s paid
by home equity
At work, they complete college on work study and
student loans, with subsequent starting debts to
pay back
Philip establishes trust fund
for grandchildren
Thomas and Juan have few personal assets to leave
grandchildren
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Fast Forward to Today . . .
Neighborhood-Based Opportunities include good schools,
accessible jobs, affordable quality services,
fair financial & retail outlets,
safe recreational space, etc.
How Do “Opportunity-Rich” and “Opportunity-Poor”
Neighborhoods Affect the Kids/Families You Serve Today?
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POSSIBLE PATHWAY FROM THE GI BILL TO CURRENT CHILD WELFARE/JJ/EDUCATION DISPARITIES
GI Bill
Racial
Segregation,
City &
Suburbs
Opportunity-Poor
Neighborhoods
for Lower-Income
Families of Color
Desegregation
Produces Class
Separation w/in
Communities of
Color
Out-migration of
Jobs from Inner
City, Resource
Disinvestment
from Schools,
Infrastructure
Heightened
Surveillance &
Stigma from
Authorities:
Hospitals, Child
Welfare, Juvenile
Justice, Police,
School
Administrators, Etc.
Disproportionate
Expulsion from
Mainstream
Institutions
(Schools, Homes)
& Intake into Deep
End Systems
Drugs
& Drug Law
Disparities
Disparities in Family
Supports &
Individual
Treatment, Which
Lengthen Stay in
Deep End Systems
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Era of Equal Opportunity
Policies (50s, 60s, and 70s)
Opportunity Victories . . .
But Inequitable Outcomes
Mendez vs. Westminister
Brown vs. Board of Education
Schools today
remain racially
segregated and
still unequal in terms of access
to resources.
Fair Housing Act of 1968
Discrimination persists
in zoning, real estate practices, and
lending.
Affirmative Action
Largest beneficiaries have
been White women.
Voting Rights Act of 1965
More elected officials of color
but w/o adequate resources in
urban areas to govern effectively;
redistricting to erode political power;
ballot box inequities.
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Era of Retrenchment (80s, 90s, 00s)
Challenge to Opportunity Victories
Inequitable Outcomes
English Only Laws as state referenda
Deprives civil
rights (e.g. vote,
legal proceedings, and education) for those
with limited English proficiency
“Racial Privacy” Act as state referenda
If it had passed, no data for
accountability to promote equity
in education, public contracting,
or employment
Anti-affirmative action legal challenges
Erode the small employment and
education gains that have been
made and increase the likelihood
of return to previous practices
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How do Child Welfare Policies Map in
Terms of Victories & Retrenchment for
Racial Equity?
Adoption & Safe Families Act 1997– quicker permanency but
quicker termination of parental rights (impact
on
incarcerated mothers, who are
disproportionately women of color)
Family Preservation & Support 1994/Promoting Safe & Stable
Families 1997 – Do disparities exist in terms of who gets
services?
Multi-Ethnic Placement Act 1994/Interethnic Adoption
Provisions 1996 (MEPA-IEPA) – “Diligent recruitment largely
ignored” (Race Matters Consortium: MEPA-IEPA)
Others?
Bottom Line
Being classified as Black, Asian, Native
American or Latino has never carried, and
still doesn’t carry, the same advantages as
being classified as White.
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Reasons for Hope
• FEDERAL POLICIES and POLITICS
GAO report on disproportionality in CW
DMC work within JJ
• STATE & LOCAL POLICIES
Subsidized guardianship (disproportionately supports
caregivers of color)
Disproportionality and Disparity child welfare efforts
• ORGANIZATIONAL PRACTICES
Your work!
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What’s different about work
that uses an embedded
racial inequities lens?
25
What’s different about work
that uses an embedded
racial inequities lens?
•
Makes the case differently
•
Does the actual work differently
•
Shapes the message differently
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RACE MATTERS
Slides for DVD
Making the Case
Making the Case: Telling a
different story of race
TOOL: Fact Sheets
Different from what?
Typical focus on the individual
How is it different?
Focus on structural explanations for racial disparities
(i.e., policies and practices)
(e.g., News magazine report on pedestrian fatality and
racially-drawn public transportation routes)
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Making the Case: Looking at
data and analyzing the
problem differently
TOOL: What’s Race Got To Do With It?
Different from what?
Across the board aggregated data or quick
assumptions on the basis of simple disaggregation
How is it different?
Data are always disaggregated by race and deeply analyzed
(e.g., school suspensions and expulsions)
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What’s Race Got to Do with It?:
Value of the Tool
• Prompts the need for disaggregated data &
guides what to do with it
• Organizes discussion to uncover the “back
stories” for disparities
• Identifies possible intervention points for
change
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The Tool: What’s Race Got to Do With It?
• For data that show disproportionality and disparities
across racial/ethnic groups, what are the possible
explanations?
• Do these explanations themselves contain
disparities? If so, what causes those?
• How can we unbundle diversity and equity issues?
How can we focus on structural rather than
individual issues?
• What does this discussion suggest for possible
policy or practice interventions to reduce racial
disparities/disproportionality?
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RACE MATTERS
Slides for DVD
Doing the Work
Doing the Work: Defining
success differently
TOOL: Racial Equity Impact Analysis
Different from what?
• Generic, across-the-board outcomes
How is it different?
• Equitable outcomes (e.g., juvenile detention)
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Juvenile Detention
Alternative Initiatives
Detention rate for Latino youth decline by 43% from 1997–1998 to 1999–
2000. During that time, the average daily population of the detention center
dropped from 49 to 37.
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The Racial Equity Impact Analysis:
Value of the Tool
• Encourages broad participation in discussion
• Turns generally good ideas into ones that can close
racial gaps (Move from necessary to sufficient
policies and practices)
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The Tool: Racial Equity Impact Analysis
• Are all racial/ethnic groups who are affected by the
policy/practice/decision at the table?
• How will the proposed policy/practice/decision affect each
group?
• How will the proposed policy/practice /decision be
perceived by each group?
• Does the proposal ignore or worsen existing disparities?
• Based on the above responses, what revisions are needed
in the policy/practice/decision under discussion?
RACE MATTERS
Slides for DVD
Shaping the Message
Shaping the Message:
Talking about issues differently
TOOL: How to Talk About Race
Different from what?
Divisive, rhetorical, and individually focused messages
How is it different?
Leading with values that unite instead of divide; bundling
solutions with problem descriptions; leading with structural
and embedded issues
(e.g., community good over interest group; predatory
lending before financial literacy)
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How to Talk About Race:
The Value of the Tool
• Helps frame discussions on racial equity in a way
that engages diverse audiences
• Organizes a story that focuses on the structural
explanations behind disparities
• Bundles possible solutions to address disparities
with the problem
The Tool: How to Talk About Race
• Start the message with a value or “big idea” that
virtually everyone shares related to the issue
• Identify the barriers standing in the way of that
big idea
• Provide the data that document the
consequences of the barriers
• Identify strategies to address the barriers
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How the Race Matters Tools are Used
Use Toolkit Fact sheet as a template to develop your own fact sheets
Improve publications – lift up racial inequities and communicate about
them effectively
Improve policies & practices – ensure that these are more likely to have
racially equitable results
“Hard-wire questions” about racial equity into staff guidelines for shaping
policy priorities and presenting data
Train partners to use racial equity lens
Request Racial Equity Impact Analysis on all legislation affecting kids
Q&A
How might the Race Matters Toolkit help you?
The entire toolkit is available at:
http://www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter/PublicationsSeries/RaceMatters.aspx
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