1. Structural Change:
Confronting Race and Class
THE KIRWAN INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF
RACE AND ETHNICITY & ISAIAH
OHIO ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE
WEEKLONG TRAINING
TOLEDO, OH
JULY 19, 2010

2. Presentation Overview
 Introduction and Opportunity Stories
 The Geography of Opportunity
 The Disparate Impacts of the Recession
 Race, Equity, and Organizing: the ISAIAH & Kirwan
experience
 Small group exercise and reporting back

3. About Kirwan
 Multidisciplinary applied
research institute, founded
2003
 john powell, Executive Director
 Our mission is to expand
opportunity for all, especially for
our most marginalized communities
 Opportunity Communities Program
 Opening pathways to opportunity for
marginalized communities through
investments in people, places and
supporting linkages
 Opportunity Mapping, Regional
Equity, Neighborhood Revitalization,
Opportunity Based Housing

4. About Our Work
 Emphasis on how systems work to produce
inequity
 How do multiple issues interact to either depress or
uplift certain populations or communities?
 What can we do to “strategically intervene” and improve
outcomes for marginalized communities
 Emphasis on intersections in our work
 Geography, race, class, gender
 Focus on how various populations are situated in our
complex social, economic, civic, political systems

5. The Geography of Opportunity

6. Opportunity Matters….
 “Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals in a
position to be more likely to succeed or excel.
 Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to success:
 High-quality education
 Healthy and safe environment
 Stable housing
 Sustainable employment
 Political empowerment
 Outlets for wealth-building
 Positive social networks

7. Neighborhoods & Community Matters…
 Neighborhoods are critical to
understanding access to
opportunity
 Does your community provide
pathways to opportunity and
success?
 Safe environment, good schools,
positive peers and role models,
employment
 Or does your community present you
with barriers to opportunity and
success
 Unsafe environment, failing schools,
poor peers and role models, no
employment

8. Systems of Disadvantage:
Neighborhoods & Access to Opportunity
 Five decades of research
indicate that your
environment has a profound
impact on your access to
opportunity and likelihood of
success
 High poverty areas with poor
employment,
underperforming schools,
distressed housing and public
health/safety risks depress life
outcomes
 A system of disadvantage
 Many manifestations
 Urban, rural, suburban
8

9. Our opportunity context matters
Some people ride the Others have to run up the
“Up” escalator to reach “Down” escalator to get
opportunity there

10. Why do some people have access to the “good
life” while others do not?
It’s more than a matter of choice….

11. Historic Government Role
11
 A series of federal policies have contributed to the
disparities we see today
 School Policy
 Suburbanization & Homeownership
 Urban Renewal
 Public Housing
 Transportation

12. Policies Enforcing Inequity:
Historical Government Role
“If a neighborhood is to retain
stability, it is necessary that
properties shall continue to be
occupied by the same social
and racial classes. A change in
social or racial occupancy
generally contributes to
instability and a decline in
values.”
–Excerpt from the 1947
FHA underwriting manual
12

13. The Rise of Suburbia:
But not accessible to everyone
In the suburb-shaping years (1930-1960),
less than one-percent of all African Americans were able to
obtain a mortgage.

14. FHA Highway Construction in
Cincinnati –
Demolishing much of the African
American West Side 14

15. Structural Causes and Racialized Outcomes
 Structural disadvantage produces racialized
outcomes
 People of color are far more likely to live in opportunity
deprived neighborhoods and communities
Poverty Rate: White and African American
Neighborhoods in 2000
25% 24% 24%
20%
20%
15%
10% 8% 8% 9%
5%
0%
Avg White Neighborhood Avg AA Neighborhood
Cincinnati MSA Cleveland MSA Columbus MSA

16. Opportunity
Indicators
•Education
•Economic & Mobility
•Housing &
Neighborhood
•Public Health
•Public Safety &
Criminal Justice

17. In Ohio,
Nearly 3 out of 4
Black Ohioans
were living in the
State’s lowest
opportunity
neighborhoods in
2000….

18. …compared to
1 in 2 Latinos
and 1 in 4
Asians and
Whites.

19. Racial Segregation & Educational
Isolation

20. Economic Segregation and Racial Segregation in Public Schools: Southwest Ohio
High Poverty Schools (Red and Yellow) are Concentrated in African American
Neighborhoods (Areas in Gray)
20

21. Ohio Schools: Segregation by Race & Class
Average School Poverty Rate
for the Average Student by Race in 2000
African
White Non American
Metropolitan Area Hispanic Students Students
Akron 25.7% 66.1%
Cincinnati 27.0% 69.4%
Cleveland 25.3% 74.3%
Columbus 23.7% 61.1%
Dayton 26.8% 74.7%
Toledo 29.5% 77.8%

22. Overview: Summing it Up
 “I believe the State is staring at
the crossroads: one path has
opportunities with
advancement…and the other is
more of the status quo, where
folks are falling behind.”
(quote from State of Black Ohio interview
participant)

23. The Disparate Impacts of the
Recession

24. Uneven Impacts Across Various Dimensions
30.0 Underemployment Rate by Race July 2007 to Nov
2009
(Calculated by the Economic Policy Institute)
 An uneven recession
25.0
with many disparate
impacts
20.0  Race, Age, Gender,
Geography,
15.0 Educational
Attainment,
10.0
Occupation
5.0
Black Latino White Total

25. An Uneven Recession…
Unemployment Rate by Race
(January 09 to January 10)
18.0 16.5
16.0
14.0 12.8 12.6
12.0
9.9 9.7
10.0 8.7
7.7
8.0 7.0
6.0
White Black Latino Total
Jan-09 Jan-10
Percent Change in Unemployment, by Race:
(January 2009 to January 2010)
40.0% 38.4%
33.9%
35.0% 32.2%
30.0%
25.0% 22.3%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
White Black Latino Total

26. An Uneven
‘Recovery’….
In June 2010, private
sector employment
grew by 83,000 jobs…
From June 2009-June
2010:
White unemployment
decreased by 1.7%
Black unemployment
increased by 4.4%
Latino unemployment
increased by 3%

27. Ohio’s Challenges
 Unemployment
 Foreclosures and Vacant property
 Budget Crisis

28. Growing Unemployment
28
Unemployment Rate in Ohio, 1990 - 2007 (%)
18.0%
16.0%
16.3%
15.3% 15.5% 15.2%
14.0%
12.0%
Percentage
10.0% 11.2%
8.0%
6.0%
4.0%
2.0%
0.0%
1990 2000 2005 2006 2007
White 5.7% 4.2% 6.4% 6.1% 6.3%
Black 15.3% 11.2% 16.3% 15.5% 15.2%
Asian 5.1% 3.7% 5.2% 3.7% 4.6%
Hispanic 7.9% 9.1% 9.9% 9.7%

29. Ohio: 3rd highest black unemployment rate
Top Five States with the Highest Unemployment Rates by Race (Ranked by 2009 3rd Quarter Unemployment)
Projected Projected Projected Projected
3rd Quarter 3rd Quarter 3rd Quarter 3rd Quarter
Total 1st Quarter Black 1st Quarter White 1st Quarter Latino 1st Quarter
2009 2009 2009 2009
2010 2010 2010 2010
Michigan Michigan Michigan Nevada
15.2% 15.7% 23.9% 24.8% 13.7% 14.2% 20.1% 19.0%
South Rhode
Nevada California
13.0% 12.3% Carolina 20.4% 22.7% Island 11.2% 11.7% 15.6% 16.9%
Rhode
Ohio Oregon Florida
Island 12.8% 13.4% 19.5% 22.0% 11.0% 12.4% 13.1% 14.3%
New
California Illinois Kentucky
12.1% 13.1% 18.6% 20.2% 10.6% 11.2% Jersey 12.0% 12.6%
Oregon Alabama Nevada Arizona
11.8% 13.3% 18.0% 18.8% 10.6% 10.0% 11.6% 13.1%
Source: Derived from data tables and analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute. Available on the EPI website at: www.epi.org

30. Will Growing Poverty Lead to a Recession
Generation?
Top Ten States for Child Poverty (By Race) in 2008
Child Poverty Child Poverty Child Poverty Child Poverty
Black 2008 Native American 2008 Latino 2008 White 2008
Mississippi 48% New Mexico 37% Kentucky 41% West Virginia 22%
Arkansas 47% Arizona 35% Arkansas 39% Kentucky 20%
Kentucky 44% California 24% Tennessee 39% Montana 18%
Louisiana 43% Oklahoma 24% Alabama 36% Arkansas 17%
Oklahoma 43% Alaska 23% Pennsylvania 36% Oklahoma 17%
Wisconsin 42% Nevada 9% Rhode Island 36% Tennessee 16%
Michigan 41% Data unavailable for other States Massachusetts 35% Mississippi 15%
Ohio 41% Oregon 35% Indiana 14%
Indiana 40% North Carolina 34% Maine 14%
Alabama 38% Oklahoma 34% Missouri 14%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau Data (American Community Survey), Analyzed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Database

31. Unemployment
Remains High
Highest Rate:
Clinton County
16.7%
Lowest Rate:
Delaware County
7.2%
National Rate: 9.7%
Ohio’s Rate: 10.7%

32. Ohio
Unemployment
Using the U6
measure of
unemployment—
which includes
underemployment
and those who have
dropped out of the
workforce-- Ohio’s
unemployment rate
climbs above 17%
Source: Monthly Report on Ohio’s Economy and State Finances, May 2010 http://obm.ohio.gov/

33. Foreclosure Crisis
From Redlining…
…to Reverse Redlining

34. Disparities
Cost us All
….
Lost Home Equity
from nearby
foreclosures,
2009-2012
US: $1.9 trillion
Ohio: $17.2 billion
Almost 4 million
Ohio homes are
experiencing a
foreclosure-related
decline…

35. “Race or Risk” ?
…what about fair credit
Source: United for a Fair Economy

36. Ohio has a long history of foreclosure
problems…
Rising
foreclosures
Almost ten-fold from
1995

37. Changing
causes of
foreclosures?
From a subprime
problem…
Foreclosures
increased by 155%
between 1994 and
2001 despite
strong economic
growth in Ohio….

38. Foreclosures
contd.
…to an
unemployment
problem?
•Morgan has an
unemployment
rate of 13.8%, 6th
highest in Ohio
•6 out of these 10
counties had
unemployment
rates greater than
Ohio’s average in
May 2010…
Table from “Home Insecurity”, David Rothstein, Policy Matters Ohio, March 2010
http://www.policymattersohio.org/pdf/HomeInsecurity2010.pdf

39. Budget Crisis
•2012-2013
budget deficit
could be as large
as $8 billion
•In 2009, tax
collections
declined by 12%,
an historic high
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/07/other_states_in_much_worse
_fis.html

40. ISAIAH and Kirwan
RACE, EQUITY AND ORGANIZING
DORAN SCHRANTZ
ISAIAH

41. Small Group Exercise
 Each group will generate a list for each of the
following questions:
 Q1: How did opportunities decline in the Rust Belt?
 Q2: How could we open up opportunity for all in the Rust Belt?
What are the key items in a new Rust Belt agenda?
 Each person will vote for their “top two” items from
each list
 Each group will report back to the larger group

42. www.KirwanInstitute.org
www.race-talk.org
KirwanInstitute
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