Race Matters: PowerPoint

1
Todays Face, Tomorrows Future
Friends of Talladega College Meeting New York,
NY October 11, 2005
NYC ACS 06/24/08, 07/17/08, 09/17/08
2
Overview of the Day

• Toolkit Assumptions, Definitions, POV
• Glimpse of Toolkit Components We Will Use
• Child Welfare Fact Sheet
• Whats Race Got to Do With It?
• Racial Equity Impact Analysis
• How to Talk About Race
• Q and A and Next Steps

3
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.

4
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.

5
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

6
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

7
What is Racial Equity?

• Racial equity is achieved when advantage and
  disadvantage cannot be predicted by race
• This can be measured!

8
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

9
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

10

• Back Stories to Racial Disparities/Disproportional
  ity often involve inequitable policies and
  practices
• So..
• to demonstrate how policy advantages
  disadvantages accumulate
• POP QUIZ!

11
What Single Policy from Decades Ago Contributed
to These Present-Day Outcomes?

• Homeownership disparities
• Neighborhood disparities
• Surveillance assessment disparities
• Health disparities
• Wealth disparities

12
What Single Policy from Decades Ago Contributed
to These Present-Day Outcomes (continued)

• In short, what policy strongly contributed to
  opportunity-rich or opportunity-poor
  settings/circumstances for raising kids the
  judgments accompanying each?

13
The GI Bill A Story of Embedded Racial Inequity

14
Philips Story
Child Born Fathers GI Bill FHA Consequences
Consequences Right After Status VA
loans for Childs for Childs WWII Education
Well-being in Adulthood Low-income, Whi
te Able to use Family borrowed Philip
gets White veteran, high low-interest from home
equity professional school mortgage to support
childs job, buys own diploma, from provisions
to college education house, Philadelphia move
family (first in family to inherits from
public go to college) appreciated housing
to house segregated when suburban f
ather home ownership dies
15
Thomass Story
Child Born Fathers GI Bill FHA Consequences
Consequences Right After Status VA
loans for Childs for Childs WWII Education
Well-being in Adulthood Low-income, Bl
ack Could not access Family could not Thomas
works Black veteran, high home loan b/c
of afford to send in minimum school racially-re
strictive child to college wage jobs, diploma,
from underwriting high school continues
to Philadelphia criteria family diploma is
from live in family remained in
rental under-resourced home, housing in the
city segregated school considers joining
the Army, has to borrow
when father dies to
give him decent funeral
16
Juans Story
Child Born Fathers GI Bill FHA Consequences
Consequences Right After Status VA
loans for Childs for Childs WWII Education
Well-being in Adulthood Low-income, La
tino Could not access Family could not Juan
works Latino veteran, high home loan b/c
of afford to send in minimum school racially-re
strictive child to college wage jobs, diploma,
from underwriting high school continues
to Texas criteria family diploma is from live
in family remained in rural under-resourced hom
e, rental housing language
marries segregated and newcomer
racially Latina, sends segregated par
t of school familys limited income
to her extended family in
Mexico
17
Fast Forward to Today . . .

Philips Children Thomas and Juans
Children Philip gives children his
fathers They have no houses to appreciated
house inherit They live in thriving
communities They live in disinvested
communities Their college educations paid At
work, they complete college on work study and by
home equity student loans, with subsequent
starting debts to pay back Philip
establishes trust fund Thomas and Juan have few
personal assets to leave for grandchildren grand
children
18
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?
19
POSSIBLE PATHWAY FROM THE GI BILL TO CURRENT
CHILD WELFARE/JJ/EDUCATION DISPARITIES
Desegregation Produces Class Separation w/in
Communities of Color
Out-migration of Jobs from Inner City, Resource
Disinvestment from Schools, Infrastructure
GI Bill
Racial Segregation, City Suburbs
Opportunity-Poor Neighborhoods for Lower-Income
Families of Color
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
20
Era of Equal Opportunity Policies (50s, 60s, and
70s)

• Opportunity Victories . . . But Inequitable
  Outcomes
• Mendez vs. Westminister Schools today
• Brown vs. Board of Education 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.

21
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
  proceed- ings, 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

22
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?

23
Bottom Line

• Being classified as Black, Asian, Native
  American or Latino has never carried, and still
  doesnt carry, the same advantages as being
  classified as White.

24
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!

25
Whats different about work that uses an
embedded racial inequities lens?
26
Whats different about work that uses an embedded
racial inequities lens?

• Makes the case differently
• Does the actual work differently
• Shapes the message differently

27
RACE MATTERS

• Slides for DVD

Making the Case
28
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)

29
Making the Case Looking at data and analyzing
the problem differentlyTOOL Whats 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)

30
Whats 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

30
31
The Tool Whats 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?
•  
•  
•  
•  
•  

31
32
RACE MATTERS

• Slides for DVD

Doing the Work
33
Doing the Work Defining success
differentlyTOOL Racial Equity Impact Analysis

• Different from what?
• Generic, across-the-board outcomes
• How is it different?
• Equitable outcomes (e.g., juvenile detention)

34
Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiatives
Detention rate for Latino youth decline by 43
from 19971998 to 19992000. During that time,
the average daily population of the detention
center dropped from 49 to 37.
35
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)

35
36
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?

37
RACE MATTERS

• Slides for DVD

Shaping the Message
38
Shaping the MessageTalking about issues
differentlyTOOL 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)

39
How to Talk About RaceThe 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

40
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

40
41
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

42
Q A

• How might the Race Matters Toolkit help you?
• The entire toolkit is available at
• http//www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter/PublicationsSe
  ries/RaceMatters.aspx