race to equity - racial disparities in dane county 2013

7/27/2019 Race to Equity - Racial Disparities in Dane County 2013

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A Baseline Report on the

State of Racial Disparities in Dane County

Ra i s i n g Vo i ces t o M a ke Ev e r y K i d C o

WISCONSIN COUNCIL ON

children&families


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enilies

Foreword.............................................................................................................................................................

Section I: Overview o the Race to Equity Project..............................................................................................

Origin o the Project..........................................................................................................................................3

Initial Scope o the Project..................................................................................................................................

A Quick Snapshot o Dane Countys Arican American Population Numbers.................................................................

Section II: What the Data Tells Us about the State o Dane County Racial Disparities in 2013...............................

The Exceptional Magnitude o Dane Countys Black/White Disparities........................................................................

Dane County Blacks Generally Fare Less Well than Arican Americans Living Elsewhere in the State and Nation...............1

The Racialization o Poverty and Disadvantage in Dane County...............................................................................1

The Costs and Consequences o Racialized Disadvantage........................................................................................1

Section III: The Forces and Factors Contributing to Dane Countys Challenging Racial Disparities Crisis..............1

The Mismatch Between Our Labor Market and Our Low-Income Workorce...............................................................1The Challenge o Small, Under-Resourced, and Disconnected Neighborhoods...........................................................1

The Need or Madison and Dane County to Respond More Efectively, Inclusively, and Accountably to Our Growing Racial

Equity Challenge........................................................................................................................................2

Conclusion: Lessons and Next Steps...................................................................................................................2

Postscript: Summary o Data Collection Issues...................................................................................................2

Data Sources..................................................................................................................................................27

Types and Categories o Data Being Collected.......................................................................................................2

The Strengths and Limitations o Our Current Data Base........................................................................................2

Appendix 1: Data Tables on Baseline Disparity Measures

Appendix 2: Maps (Prepared by Capital Area Regional Planning Commission)

Cs f Rpr


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4/82A project o theWisconsin Council on Children and Families

Origin of the Project

A little over 18 months ago, the Wisconsin Council onChildren and Families, with support rom the Annie

E. Casey Foundation, launched a multi-year initia-

tive known as Race to Equity. Te central goal o the

project is to explore, measure, and analyze the extent

and pattern o racial disparities on key well-being and

outcome measures between Arican Americans1 and

whites living in Dane County, Wisconsin. Our long-

term aspiration is to use this data and analysis as a

oundation or advancing collective action towardssolutions.

Te Project was initially inspired by a handul o recent

local and national studies that suggested that Dane

County was home to some stunningly wide black/

white disparities on several signicant outcome mea-

sures, especially those relating to the criminal justice

system and to educational achievement. In act, in

several national comparison studies looking at juvenileand adult justice system data, Wisconsin and Dane

County were requently ranked among the jurisdic-

tions having the widest arrest and incarceration dis-

parities in the country. Similarly, the growing local

concern over the educational achievement gap here in

Dane County has brought to light some distressingly

1 In this report, we use the racial descriptors black and AricanAmerican interchangeably, ollowing the practice o our prin-cipal source materials, including US Census Reports and Sur-

veys. While there are many opinions about the most appropriateterminology, there is no settled convention on the subject. Ourdecision was to use the language that we thought best contrib-uted to clarity and readability. We ask our readers not to drawany conclusions based on our use o any particular term at anyparticular time.

wide racial disparity numbers in county test scores,

graduation rates, and college attendance.

Te problematic patterns ound in these justice and

school system-ocused reports were also reinorced by

a handul o snapshot studies aimed at describing th

overall condition and progress o minority communi-

ties in Dane County. In 2009, or example, the local

Urban League published a report entitled Te State

o Black Madison, which showed surprisingly high

unemployment and poverty levels alongside discour-agingly low business ownership, home ownership,

and wealth accumulation rates or Madisons Arican

American community.

o those o us who launched this initiative, these

various but scattered statistical portraits o signicant

minority disadvantage appeared at odds with a com-

mon perception o Dane County as a place o positive

opportunity and well-being or children and amilies.Tis is a region with a comparatively high level o eco-

nomic vitality and stability -- with a labor market that

has enjoyed comparatively low aggregate unemploy-

ment rates, even through the current severe national

recession. Compared to most places in the U.S., Dane

County has a well-educated workorce, a airly high

median household income, a statistically strong midd

class, and healthy levels o homeownership and net pe

capita wealth.

Madison and Dane County are also home to high

quality public school systems, with well qualied and

dedicated aculty, that broadly produce solid academic

achievement, graduation, and post-secondary enroll-

ment results or the majority o their students. Te

SeCtion i: oveRview oF the RaCe to equity PRojeCt


5/824 A publication oRace to Equity

region hosts a number o public and private post-

secondary institutions which oer a wide range oadvanced academic, technical, and vocational train-

ing. In addition, Dane County has an established and

earned reputation or well-resourced human service

systems, including quality social, amily, mental health,

employment, youth development, child welare, juve-

nile justice, public saety, and health services. Finally,

Madison and Dane County have long been known or

their support o progressive social, economic, and

political values. Although a predominantly white com-munity throughout most o its history, many in Dane

County have taken pride in being welcoming, support-

ive o inclusion and diversity, and rmly opposed to

racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, and gender prejudice

and discrimination in all their orms.

Te desire to understand the seeming paradox between

reputation and reality was an important motive be-

hind the creation o the Race to Equity Project. Coulda place as prosperous, resourceul, and progressive as

Dane County also be home to some o the most pro-

ound, pervasive, and persistent racial disparities in the

country? And i that is actually the case, how do we

begin to understand the causes and contributors behind

the troubling data in ways that will allow us to ashion

short- and long-term community strategies and actions

that can result in greater equality o opportunity and

outcomes or all groups within our city and county?Initial Scope of the Project

At the outset o our planning or this project, we envi-

sioned putting together an initial report that encom-

passed all the major racial and ethnic groups in the

county. An initial evaluation o the quality and com-

pleteness o available statistics, however, persuaded us

that we should begin our data collection and analysis

with a primary ocus on Arican Americans, and onhow that groups numbers contrasted with those o the

countys white majority. We recognized, o course, tha

signicant disparities (with whites) also exist or other

communities o color: Hispanics, Asians, and Native

Americans. And we ully realize the equal impor-

tance o addressing the equity challenges that each o

these other groups ace. Nonetheless, several practical

considerations argued or beginning with the countys

Arican American population. First, there is simplyclearer and more complete demographic, economic,

and programmatic data on the black population than

on the countys other racial and ethnic minorities.

(Tis is, in part, because o the non-uniormity in the

way dierent data sets dene Hispanic; the diversity

o language, cultural, historical and national origin ac

tors encompassed in the Asian category; and the rela

tively small size o the Native American population.)

Second, early exploration o the data revealed that pat-terns o disparities or blacks were even more severe on

many key indicators than they were or Hispanics and

Asians. Tird, the Projects core sta brought greater

academic, personal, and cultural expertise and amil-

iarity with the Arican American experience than with

that o other communities o color within the county.

All that said, it remains our hope and intention that i

we use our core competencies to demonstrate eective

ways o collecting, presenting, analyzing, and acting onthe disparity data as it aects the black community, we

will have a strong oundation or securing the addi-

tional resources, partnerships, and increased capacity

needed to extend this kind o equity advocacy to all

communities o color in the next phase o the work.

For now, we believe that we have a sucient array o



accurate and trackable numbers to assemble an objec-

tive, comprehensive, and powerul description o thewide gaps in opportunity, resources, outcomes and

well-being which currently dierentiate Dane Countys

black minority rom its white majority. Te available

data, in other words, is more than adequate to convey

the breadth, depth, and pervasiveness o the racial

equity challenge Dane County conronts.

Te range o indicators or which we have solid data is

also diverse and complete enough to oster inormeddiscussion and debate about the causes, orces, actors,

and interconnections underlying what are indisputably

severe and persisting inequalities. Te evidence base

or the problem analysis, in turn, iscomplete enough

to support community-wide conversations about theshort- and long-term investments, initiatives, and ac-

tions that could help move us toward greater equity.

Finally, the data we are collecting are suciently up-

datable to allow us to produce periodic public reports

on the extent to which the county is making progress

over time. In short, it is our belie that the tracking o

these core disparity statistics will oster a ar higher

degree o public accountability or assuring a more

level playing eld in the years ahead or all who live inDane County. (For a more thorough discussion o all

the data issues, including their limitations, See Post-

scripts: Summary o Data Collection).

A Quick Snapshot o Dane Countys Arican

American Population Numbers

Te total population o Dane County, as reported in

the 2010 Census, was just over 488,000. O that to-

tal, Arican Americans numbered 31,300, or about

6.5%. Te Arican American population, as calculated

rom the 2010 Census, is made up o 25,347 individu-

als identiying themselves as black-only and 5,953

as black with another race. Te Arican American

child population (under 18) in 2010 was 8,804 or

almost 8.5% o countys total child population. In that

same year, Arican American students accounted or

about 20% o the total enrollment in Madisons public

schools, and about 17% o all students enrolled in pub-

lic schools countywide. Arican American adults (over

18) made up just over 5% o the countys total number

o adults.

Between 2000 and 2010, the countys total Arican

American population increased by almost 50%, rom

20,241 to 31,300. Over the past 40 years, the number

o Arican Americans living in the county grew almost

ten-old. In 2010, Arican Americans constituted the

most populous community o color in the county,

ollowed closely by even aster growing populations

o Hispanics (28,925 in 2010) and Asians (26,698 in

2010). More than hal o Dane Countys black popula-

tion lives within the City o Madison, while the rest

reside elsewhere in the county.



Over the last 12 months, we have collected data com-

paring the well-being and outcomes o Dane County

blacks and whites on over 40 lie-status measures. (For

a ull overview o data sources and issues, as well as the

baseline disparity numbers on each o these measures,

please see the Appendices to this report: Summary o

Data Collection Issues and Data ables on Baseline

Disparity Measures). Tese numbers not only oer in-

sight into numerous specic issues, but they also reveal

some remarkably important overarching acts about

the state o the local Arican American community

and its contrasts with the countys white majority. In

this section, we single out a ew especially signicant

patterns that help illuminate the stark contours o the

racial equity challenges that Dane County currently

conronts.

SeCtion ii: what the data teLLS uS aBout the State oF dane CountyRaCiaL diSPaRitieS in 2013



The Exceptional Magnitude o Dane

Countys Black/White Disparities

Te rst o these ndings or patterns has to do with the

pervasiveness and the extremity o the countys black-white disparities, which are generally more extreme

than those ound in most other jurisdictions across the

state and nation. Tere is not a single indicator that we

analyzed in which Arican American well-being is on

par with that o whites. In many ways, o course, this

should not be unexpected. Te hard truth is that Ari-

can Americans are worse than whites on virtually all

status indicators in virtually every part o the nation.

What is extraordinary about Dane Countys numbers,

however, is the sheer magnitude o the disparities that

we ound in many o the most undamental status

indicators.

In 2011, or example, the ocial unemployment rate

or blacks in Dane County was 25.2%, compared to

4.8% or whites. Dane County Arican Americans, in

other words, were almost 5.5 times more likely to be

jobless than their white neighbors. By contrast, in the

same year, the national Arican American unemploy-

ment rate averaged only a little more than twice that o

whites.

Dane County Wisconsin U.S.

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

2007 2011

4%

20%

5%

25%

17%

5%

23%

18%

5%

12%8%7%

2007 2011 20112007

Unemployment Rate



Te black/white poverty rate gap in the county is

even wider than our local employment disparities.

In 2011, the Census American Community Survey

reported that over 54% o Arican American Dane

County residents lived below the ederal poverty line,

compared to 8.7% o whites, meaning Dane County

blacks were over six times more likely to be poor than

whites. Compare this with the act that in the country

as a whole Arican Americans were about 2.5 times as

likely as whites to be in poverty.

Even starker and more consequential are the dispari-

ties evident in Dane Countys rates o child poverty. In

2011, the American Community Survey estimated that

more than 74% o Dane Countys black children were

poor, compared to 5.5% o white children. In other

words, Dane County black kids were estimated to be

over 13 times more likely to be growing up in poverty

than white children. Our research suggests that this

13 to 1 disparity ratio may constitute one o the widest

black/white child poverty gaps that the Census Survey

reported or any jurisdiction in the nation.2

2 Even if we speculate that this one-year ACS sample overstates

the countys actual 2011 black child poverty rate, the more con-

servative 3-year averaging method used to control for sampling

error still yields a black child poverty rate of more than 56%,

a level eleven times greater than that for Dane Countys white

children.

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

Dane County

2006 2011

6%

46%

5%

75%

45%

9%

49%39%

11%

35%

14%12%

2006 2011 20112006

Wisconsin U.S.

Percent o Children Living in Poverty



Such wide local disparities were by no means limited

to economic measures. In the education arena, or

example, in 2011 Dane Countys Arican American

third graders were 4.5 times more likely not to meetreading prociency standards than their white class-

mates. Tis is a signicantly wider gap than between

white and black third graders elsewhere in the state

and in the nation. Widely disparate outcomes are

similarly apparent in other key schooling measures. In

2011, Arican American youth in the Madison Public

School District had about a 50% on-time high school

graduation rate, compared to 85% or white students.

And even among those who were on course to gradu-ate, there were wide dierences between blacks and

whites in their prospects or going on to college. In the

2011-12 school year, black 12th graders were only hal

as likely as white 12th graders to take the AC exam.

Finally, o those taking the exam, Arican Americans

averaged a score o 18, compared to a white average o

24.

Tese disparities in graduation rates and college at-

tendance prospects are doubtlessly related to earlier

and even wider disparity rates in school attendance

and suspension rates. In 2011, or example, public

schools in Dane County reported 3,198 suspensions

o black students as against 1,130 suspensions o whit

students. Aer accounting or the relative size o the

black and white shares o total enrolled students, thedata indicates that suspensions rom Dane County

public schools were 15 times more likely to involve a

black student than a white student.

Dane County

2006-07 2011-12

79%

44%

70%

36%

65%

47% 50%41%

2006-07 2011-12

Wisconsin

Non-Hispanic

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

Percent o Students who do not Take the ACT



Tese economic and educational disparity numbers are

more than worrisome they are alarming. As might be

predicted, they clearly contribute to a pipeline o accu-

mulating risk actors that show up even more acutely

in many o the measures o racial disproportionality in

the countys child welare, juvenile justice and the adult

correctional systems. For example, on a typical day in

2011, there were 124 black children in the countys os-

ter care system, compared to 58 white children. Calcu-lated as a disparity ratio, this means that Dane County

black children aced a 15 times greater risk o being

separated rom their amilies and living in residential

or oster care than did white children.

Dane Countys juvenile justice numbers also show dis-

parities that are wider than those ound elsewhere in

the state or nation. In 2010, the countys black youth

arrest rate was 469 per 1,000, compared to 77 per 1,00

or whites, yielding a disparity ratio o 6.1 to 1. o put

this into context, black teens in Dane County in 2010

were six times more likely to be arrested than whites

living here, while black youth in the rest o the state

were just three times as likely to be arrested as whites,and nationally black youths were only a little more

than twice as likely to be arrested than their white

peers.

Black

White

Dane County

2005 2010

123

864

77

469 430

145

329

714184 3398

2005 2010 20102005

Wisconsin U.S.

Juvenile Arrest Rates, per 1,000 Juveniles


12/82 1A project o theWisconsin Council on Children and Families

Te racial disparities in juvenile justice sanctions

and dispositions are large as well. In 2011, a Dane

County Arican American youth was 15 times more

likely to spend time in the countys secure detention

program than a white youth. Statistics rom the same

year suggest that Dane County black youths were 25

times more likely to be sent to the states secure acil-

ity at Lincoln Hills than whites. Te striking result o

these disparities is that Arican American adolescents,while constituting less than 9% o the countys youth

population, made up almost 80% o all the local kids

sentenced to the states juvenile correctional acility in

2011.

Finally, and not surprisingly, these black-white dispari-

ties carry over rom the juvenile justice to the adult

systems. In 2012, Arican American adults were ar-

rested in Dane County at a rate more than eight times

that o whites. Tat compares to a black-white arrest

disparity o about 4 to 1 or the rest o Wisconsin and

2.5 to 1 or the nation as a whole. Te racial imbalanc-

es in Dane Countys 2012 incarceration numbers were

remarkable as well. While black men made up only

4.8% o the countys total adult male population, they

accounted or more than 43% o all new adult prison

placements during the year.

Sadly, the disparity examples described above are airly

representative o the patterns we ound in almost all

o our 40 plus indicators. In act, the alarming truth

is that our numbers, taken as a whole, suggest that

the distance between whites and blacks (in terms o

well-being, status and outcomes) is as wide or wider in

Dane County than in any jurisdiction (urban or rural,

North or South) or which we have seen comparable

statistics.

Black

White

Dane County

2005 2012

58

441

36

295252

64

230

8233

8733

53

2005 2010 20102005

Wisconsin U.S.

Adult Arrest Rates, per 1,000 Adults



Dane County Blacks Generally Fare Less

Well than Arican Americans Living Else-where in the State and Nation

As noted earlier, this project was initially prompted by

a desire to better understand the unexpectedly wide

racial disparities that had been identied in recent

reports on Dane Countys justice system contacts and

on key academic achievement benchmarks. Our initial

hypothesis was that the extreme degree o dispari-

ties here was largely a unction o a long prosperous

community producing exceptionally high levels owell-being or Dane Countys white population. Put

plainly, we expected to nd the well-being statistics or

Dane County whites to be signicantly more positive

than or whites nationwide, while we assumed that the

levels or Dane County blacks would likely be similar

to Arican Americans elsewhere. Tose presumptions,

i valid, would go ar to help explain the countys wider

than normal black/white disparities.

As it turned out, our hypotheses proved to be only

partially accurate. We did nd that whites in DaneCounty do indeed measure well above national white

averages on the vast majority o the well-being indices

we examined. However, what we did not expect to n

were numbers showing that, on most o our measures

the 32,000 Arican Americans in the county were

aring worse -- sometimes ar worse -- than Arican

Americans in the country as a whole.

In 2011, or example, the unemployment rate orblacks in Dane County was calculated at 25.2%, com-

pared to a national black jobless rate o 17.7%. Te

black poverty rate in the county was estimated at 54%

almost twice the national black estimate o 28.1%.

And the 2011 poverty rate or Dane Countys black

children was reported by the ACS to be nearly twice

the national black child poverty rate o 39%.

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

Dane County

2006 2011

9%

33%

9%

54%

35%

8%

39%

28%

9%

25%

11%10%

2006 2011 20112006

Wisconsin U.S.

Percent o Population Living in Poverty



Dane County

2005 2011

45%

10%

48%

11%

42%

14%

42%

14%

2005 2011

Wisconsin

Non-Hispanic

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

Percent o 3rd Graders Not Procient at Reading

Te comparatively disadvantaged status o Dane

County blacks, when measured against blacks else-where, extends well beyond the economic realm. In

2011, statewide tests revealed that black third graders

in Dane County were less likely to be reading at pro-

ciency levels than other black third graders across Wis-

consin. Department o Public Instruction data or the

same year also indicate that Madisons black studentswere signicantly less likely to graduate high school on

time (49.9%) than Arican Americans living elsewhere

in the state (63%).

Non-Hispanic

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

Madison Metropolitan

School District

2009-10 2010-11

13%

52%

16%

50%

40%

9%

36%

9%

2009-10 2010-11

Wisconsin

Students not Graduating with a Regular Diploma in Four Years



Te pattern o Dane County Arican Americans do-

ing less well than Arican Americans nationally has

two signicant exceptions. Te rst relates to amily

ormation and composition. Tere we ound, as oneexample, that the rate o teenage births or Arican

American moms in Dane County was slightly lower

than the teen birth rates or black women in Wisconsin

and nationwide. Similarly, the percentage o Arican

American mothers in Dane County who have earned

at least a high school diploma was slightly higher than

the percentage or black mothers elsewhere in the state

and or Arican American mothers nationwide. What

makes these statistics noteworthy is that teen birthrates and maternal education levels are oen seen as

actors that help explain high rates o child poverty. In

Dane County, however, the pattern is obviously more

complicated. Here the black child poverty rate is sig-

nicantly higher than the national black poverty rate,

despite the act that Dane Countys black teen pregnan

cy, single parent household and maternal education

levels compare avorably to national Arican American

averages. Clearly other actors are contributing to theexceptionally disadvantaged economic status o a large

raction o Dane Countys Arican American amilies.

Te one other area where local blacks ared compara-

bly or better than their peers nationally is the health

domain. In Dane County in 2012, Arican Ameri-

cans were more likely to have health insurance and to

receive adequate prenatal care than their black peers

nationally. And while it is true that wide racial disparities with whites still exist on health indicators within

Dane County, it appears that Wisconsins policy o

investing in broad access to quality health care has had

a positive infuence on the comparative health status o

Dane County Arican Americans.

Non-Hispanic

Black

Non-Hispanic

White

Dane County

2005 2010

1%

7%

1%

4%

5%

2%

6%7%

2%

4%3%

2%

2005 2010 20102005

Wisconsin U.S.

Percent o Births to Mothers with Insufcient Prenatal Care



The Racialization o Poverty and

Disadvantage in Dane County

Te one inescapable and pivotal nding that arises

rom all the numbers we have collected is the extraor-dinary degree to which poverty and disadvantage in

Dane County have become correlated with color -- or,

to put it in even more stark terms, the extent to which

economic deprivation has become prooundly racial-

ized. For Dane Countys Arican American children,

growing up poor is the norm; while or local white

kids, being poor is an exceptional and oen short-lived

circumstance. Tis same kind o color-based dispro-

portionality and imbalance is evident in a host o otheroutcome arenas. Te countys black children, while

constituting about 9% o all our kids, make up 60% o

our oster care population on any given day. Arican

American students account or the largest raction o

those who are suspended or expelled rom our schools.

Black youth also constitute the majority o those who

spend time in the countys juvenile detention cells, and

they account or almost all o those sent to the states

secure juvenile jail. Similarly, black adult males, whilenumbering only about ve percent o the countys

adult male population, make up nearly hal o all those

arrested and incarcerated.

The Costs and Consequences o Racialized

Disadvantage

Conscious racism and color prejudice may not have

been the primary cause o this extreme racialization

o disadvantage, but allowing such a close link be-tween color and disadvantage to persist can only serve

to nurture stereotypes, oster proling, and produce

dierential expectations or achievement within the

community at large, while at the same time undermin-

ing motivation, aspiration, sel-esteem, condence,

and hope among Arican American children and their

amilies. We should add here that the impact and con-

sequences o this racialization o disadvantage have no

been conned to just those Arican Americans who

are low-income or at greatest risk. In act, during our

community presentations over the past year, scores oproessionally successul and nancially secure Arican

Aricans noted that the Dane Countys unusually close

link between color and disadvantage had real impli-

cations or their lives and their amilies lives. Tey

recounted personal experiences with being stereotyped

proled, or patronized. Even more commonly, a sur-

prisingly large number o middle class Arican Ameri-

can parents shared their deeply elt concerns about the

impact that the countys severe racial disparities mighthave on the expectations, opportunities,sel-image,

aspirations, and identity ormation o their children.

A signicant share o these parents went so ar as to

acknowledge that they have considered relocating thei

amilies to environments where the risks o disadvan-

tage and underachievement are not so disproportion-

ately connected to color.

Sooner rather than later, this nexus between risk ac-tors and race has to be severed. Te status quo is toxic

or the uture o the Arican American population

and, by extension, or other communities o color in

Dane County. But it is also poisonous or the county

as a whole. Failure to alter the current imbalances in

opportunity, well-being, and outcomes will ultimately

corrode Madison and Dane Countys reputation or

an enlightened and progressive commitment to social

justice. It will discourage some amilies o color romcoming or remaining here. And, perhaps most impor-

tantly, the continued marginalization o communities

o color will undermine the regions cultural vitality,

economic competitiveness, and overall quality o lie

in a world that increasingly values and demands racial

and ethnic diversity and inclusion.



Over this past year, Race to Equity project sta have

been reviewing the disparity research and literature,

consulting with local and national race equity experts,

and most importantly, talking ace to ace with over

1,500 local residents, rom our highest elected ocials

and civic leaders to community members and activists

in the countys most under-resourced neighborhoods.

Trough all these learning activities and conversations,

we have been listening or ideas, insights, and observa-

tions that would help explain our exceptionally wide

local racial disparity numbers.

O course, every honest discussion o the orces and

actors that lie behind racial inequalities in America

has to begin with the legacy o slavery. wo-and-a-hal

centuries o bondage, 100 years o segregation, dis-

crimination, and exclusion, and 50 years o persisting

racism embedded in our attitudes, economy, politics,

institutional practices, and social structures -- all o

this history is still very much at work disadvantaging

Arican Americans and privileging white Americans.

Indeed, the legacies o slavery and racism clearly

underlie many o the signicant white-black opportu-

nity, status, and outcome gaps that exist in every city,

county and state across this country. And surely they

explain much o the gap we are nding in black-white

well-being measures today in Dane County.

But there is also much in what we are nding about

our countys particular disparity challenges that re-

quire a more local and present day analysis. Why, or

example, is such a comparatively prosperous environ-

ment ailing to create anything close to a rising tide

that lis all boats? Why are Dane Countys Arican

Americans actually aring so much worse, on average,

than blacks in poorer and less resourceul cities and

counties? Why, in a place so sincerely committed to

social equality, is the distance between black and white

achievement and outcomes on most key measures so

exceptionally wide?

We dont pretend to have any conclusive answers to

these questions, but a years worth o conversations

with over a thousand community leaders, other local

stakeholders and scores o national experts have at

least pointed us toward some local acts and actors

that might upon urther and deeper analysis -- help

us better understand how we got to these alarming

levels o inequity and how we might more eectively

attack them.

The Mismatch Between Our Labor Market

and Our Low-Income Workorce

One line o analysis centers on what may be an excep-

tionally severe misalignment between Dane Countys

labor market demands and expectations, on the

one hand, and the work experience, education, and

skill sets o a growing segment o our low-income

workorce on the other. Te hypothesis here is that

a signicant share o the amily supporting jobs in

Dane Countys labor market are oriented to advance-

degreed, heavily credentialed, and well-networked job

seekers, with correspondingly ewer pathways to qual-

ity jobs or lower skilled, less-networked, entry-level

workers.

Tis comparative bias toward highly credentialed

workers is likely a natural outgrowth o the larger than

typical share o Dane Countys local economy that is

SeCtion iii: the FoRCeS and FaCtoRS ContRiButinG to dane CountySChaLLenGinG RaCiaL diSPaRitieS CRiSiS



devoted to sophisticated technical, research, inorma-

tion management, higher education, teaching, health

care, and public sector enterprises. Furthermore, it is

a bias doubtlessly reinorced by having the luxury oan abundant stream o highly educated, local college

graduates who opt to stay and look or career paths

within the Madison/Dane County economy.

Te very presence o some 40,000 college students also

means that there is a vast supply o young people com-

peting or retail, hospitality, personal service, construc-

tion, manuacturing, and transportation jobs -- not

necessarily as a career, but as a short-term source osupplementary income or meeting the costs o their

schooling.

aken together, these local labor orce/labor market

realities clearly create increased obstacles and steeper

competition or less credentialed and oen less-net-

worked job seekers who are looking to nd a perma-

nent and productive role in the Dane County economy.

Moreover, these basic labor market hurdles are verylikely exacerbated by hiring and human resource

practices that set credential, reerence, training, or

background thresholds at levels that operate, perhaps

unintentionally, to discourage or exclude highly mo-

tivated and capable applicants who possess less devel-

oped resumes or less ormal education.

While these job market issues are by no means the

only important actors behind high local rates o Ari-can American poverty, they are almost certainly part

o the challenge. In order to address these disparities,

we will need to bolster community-wide resolve to

work harder on at least two ronts. First, we need to

do whatever it takes to see that a much higher raction

o our students o color come out o our public schools

ready to succeed -- with the skills and credentials they

need to compete eectively or the best jobs in Dane

Countys high tech and high literacy economy. Sec-

ond, and perhaps even more immediately important,

we must build pathways that allow many more lower-income, less networked and less educated jobseekers to

enter, remain, and advance in the countys workorce.

We do not want to understate the challenge we are

posing. It will not be easy. o begin with, employ-

ers, labor, and community leaders will need to build

a practical consensus around a set o strategies that

balance employers legitimate need to have qualied,

and eective employees with our economys and com-munitys longer term need to enhance the opportunity

security, and success o those currently unemployed

or underemployed households who are struggling to

raise their children with below poverty-level incomes.

o achieve this will no doubt entail new initiatives and

approaches. It will likely require some greater targeting

o our outreach and training to potentially harder to

reach populations, with a particular ocus on parents

o at-risk school-age children. Similarly, custom-ized work readiness and skills training will need to be

expanded and strengthened. But, in the end, what wil

make the most dierence is a high priority commit-

ment on the part o all the regions public and private

employers-- with real support rom job-training and

amily service agencies-- to signicantly expand the

opportunities or lower skilled, less credentialed a-

thers and mothers who want and need to get jobs, keep

jobs, and achieve nancial security.

o meet these goals civic leaders and employers may

have to re-examine and reorm some o their human

resources policies and on-the-job training and super-

visory practices. At the same time, nonprot, city,

and county agencies will need to work more respon-

sively with public and private sector employers to help



assure that essential and sucient amily supports

-- like transportation and fexible child careare

more practically available to more low-income work-

ing parents. In short, success in this challenge willdemand real change, but unless we make some signi-

cant and strategic employment-related reorms, there

is little likelihood we are going to make real progress

in narrowing our signicant income disparities or in

reducing the intergenerational disadvantages that poor

parents too oen, despite their best eorts, pass down

to their children.

Tis kind o labor market reorm is unquestionablycomplex and dicult, but the challenges are not in-

surmountable, and the scale o change required is not

overwhelming. I, or example, we could nd ways,

over the next ve years, to bring 1500 currently un-

employed or underemployed parents o at-risk public

school students into sustainable, amily-supporting

jobs, we would make a meaningul and positive dier-

ence in the countys existing income and employment

disparities, as well as have a measurably benecial im-pact on the academic achievement gap that presently

compromises the uture o too many o the countys

low-income children o color. Committing to a goal

o this kind and then achieving it would necessarily

involve the coming together o our most important

government, non-prot and private sector employers

in a concerted eort, supported by community leaders,

unders, job trainers, volunteers, and service providers.

It may take years o creative investment, but the re-wards o such an initiativeor kids, amilies, and the

countywould surely outstrip the costs.

The Challenge o Small, Under-Resourced,

and Disconnected Neighborhoods

In addition to singling out local labor market issues,

many o those who shared their ideas about why Ari-can Americans in Dane County were measurably more

disadvantaged than their peers elsewhere pointed to

the consequences o the dierent and distinguishing

character o the neighborhoods where a considerable

share o the countys Arican American population

resides.

It appears that about hal o the areas low-income

black households live in approximately 15 small, com-pact residential concentrations scattered within the

city and around its perimeter. (See Appendix 2: Maps

ning Commission) Tese largely rental developments

are each home to anywhere rom 100 to 400 amilies

o color, and they are typically surrounded by larger,

predominantly white homeownership neighborhoods.

Along with this dispersion o the Arican American

population into numerous small enclaves, the city andcounty actually have ew, i any, large-scale and promi-

nent black neighborhoods, such as those that culturall

and politically anchor the Arican American commu-

nity in most major American cities. In act, despite a

total black population o almost 32,000 county-wide,

there is not a single aldermanic district, supervisory

district, planning unit, or even a census tract where A

rican Americans constitute the a majority o residents.

Not surprisingly, most o the small Arican Ameri-

can residential communities trace their history back

to rental or aordable housing developments dating

Provided to us by the Capital Area Regional Plan-



rom the 1960s, 70s or 80s. Even to this day, a major-

ity o amilies in these small neighborhoods qualiy or

housing assistance, and live near or below the poverty

line. ypically, these enclaves do not include a church,a ull service grocery, a public school, social or civic

clubs, developed open spaces, a bar, restaurant, or a

signicant employer.

Work by sta rom city and county agencies as well as

the Race to Equity Project is currently underway to

draw more complete demographic, social, and eco-

nomic portraits o these small, predominantly Arican

American communities. Mapping completed so arsuggests that these residential concentrations are thinly

or unevenly served by the city and countys public

transit systems -- a situation made more consequential

by the lower than average rates o car ownership and

drivers licensure in these places. Early geo-mapping

also suggests that these areas are disproportionately

distant rom key city and county oces, rom major

cultural and civic institutions, rom public job place-

ment agencies, senior services, recreation resources,quality ood and retail outlets, and places o worship.

Even more negatively, public agency reports show that

most o these communities are the site o dispropor-

tionally high rates o emergency calls, child welare

placements, arrests and convictions, as well as housing

code inractions.

Our early work on neighborhood characteristics also

suggests that many o these Arican American commu-nities are highly dynamic, with distinct histories and

uneven levels o social cohesion. Statistical and anec-

dotal evidence suggests there is a high degree o house-

hold mobility both within these enclaves and rom one

community to another. Furthermore, in many o these

areas the population includes a signicant raction o

relatively recent arrivals, amilies who have migrated

to Dane County over the last ten to orty years rom a

variety o other cities and localities across Wisconsin

and the Midwest region.

aken together, all o these geo-demographic and

place characteristics have obvious and oen proound

impacts on the comparative security, strength, sta-

bility and opportunities experienced by the Arican

American amilies raising children in these chal-

lenged neighborhoods, as well as on the overall social

cohesion, cultural infuence and political voice o the

countys black community as a whole. For example, the

dispersion o the Arican American population intowidely scattered and small enclaves creates obstacles

to political visibility and to the emergence o powerul

county wide black leadership on issues o importance

to amilies and children o color. In 2013, or example

while blacks make up almost 9% o the countys total

population, and 20% o Madisons public school enroll

ment, Arican Americans held only a handul o the

several hundred elected oces in the county. Similarly

the isolation and distance rom jobs, rom aordablegoods and services, and rom employment training,

amily support, and adult education institutions have

doubtlessly contributed to the comparative economic

exclusion and amily hardship that is so evident in the

countys racial disparity statistics.

Finally, the small size, high mobility, recent arrival,

and diverse origins o a good share o the populations

that make up many o the countys black neighbor-hoods all help create real challenges to building strong

social networks and responsive community-based

amily support systems. Kin networks, or example,

appear less wide, less deep, and less multi-generational

in Dane Countys black areas than in the larger, more

rooted Arican American neighborhoods ound in

most American cities. Likewise, the lack o in-neigh-



borhood inrastructure institutions (churches, clubs,

civic organizations, entertainment venues) inhibits

growth o inormal support systems, diminishes lead-

ership development opportunities, and makes positivecommunity organizing ar more challenging.

Here again, there is no easy, quick x or addressing

the challenges created by these distinctive patterns o

black residential geography in Dane County, but there

are some general directions that could be, and should

be, pursued to mitigate the unavorable consequences

or amilies and children o these marginalized and

under-resourced community environments.

At a minimum, we need to redouble support or cur-

rent and recent eorts to link these neighborhoods

to critical county resources and to each other. For

many years, city, county, and non-prot organizations

have worked to bring more public and private resourc-

es to the communities that need them most. Some

county services, such as Joining Forces or Families

and the Early Childhood Initiative, are neighborhood-based. Te Boys and Girls Club thoughtully sited its

wonderul new acility in Allied Drive. Te Center or

Resilient Cities located its innovative multi-purpose re-

source and school in the Rimrock Road area. Te City

o Madison has reinvigorated the deployment o its

multi-agency Neighborhood Resource eams to eight

target neighborhoods. Public health and other health

providers are working to build greater accessibility and

stronger community connections through a variety ostrategies. And an increasing number o churches and

non-prot organizations, along with some businesses,

are looking at creative ways to build up closer and

more reciprocal relationships with under-resourced

neighborhoods.

Despite these promising eorts, much more has to be

done to break down the isolation and marginalization

o these vulnerable communities i they are to prog-

ress and thrive. One big piece o the unmet challenge

is adequate public transportation. Te recent initia-tion o regular bus service to the Owl Creek commu-

nity, thanks in part to advocacy rom LaFollette High

School students, is an encouraging example o where

we need to be headed, but it is just a start.

Perhaps even more critical, we need to expand the

opportunities available to residents o each o these

small communities to engage, interact, and organize

with residents o like neighborhoods across the countySignicantly narrowing our racial disparities will

demand the kind o sustained and robust advocacy

that will only come through a more coordinated and

broad-based demand or change rom all parts and

levels o Dane Countys Arican American and other

communities o color, along with strong support rom

white allies.

Finally, more energy, time, and eort has to be investein basic community building activities. Expanded

leadership training and leadership development op-

portunities have to be ostered at both the grassroots

and organizational levels. Neighborhood-level social,

cultural, planning, and recreational activities should b

initiated or expanded to strengthen the kind o com-

munity networks that support parents, protect kids,

reduce crime, and advance neighborhood interests.

Te Neighborhood Intervention Program and themore recent South Madison Promise Zone are good

aith responses to this challenge, but they are only a

raction o what must be done even more intensely

and in more places.

It is a common social policy mantra these days to

say that kids do well when their amilies do well, and



amilies do well when they live in sae and supportive

communities. But the truth is, or too many o Dane

Countys low-income Arican American amilies, the

places where they are trying to raise their children arenot nearly as healthy, sae, supportive, connected, or

opportunity-rich as they need to be.

The Need or Madison and Dane County to

Respond More Efectively, Inclusively, and

Accountably to Our Growing Racial Equity

Challenge

Te legacy o slavery and racism, the mismatch be-

tween our labor markets and key parts o our work-orce, and the ragmentation and underdevelopment o

too many o our neighborhoods o color -- these are all

large and powerul drivers o the vast inequalities that

separate white and black Dane County. But they are

not the whole story.

Te whole story has to include a broader and more

orthright evaluation o the composition, priorities,

policies, training, and practices o many o the countysmajority-dominated institutions, especially those that

directly infuence the uture education, employment,

opportunity, status, achievement, security, health, and

empowerment o Dane Countys growing populations

o color.

Among the rst changes we need to pursue is to in-

crease the diversity o the proessionals and sta who

work in our schools and our major counseling, rec-reational, job training, and social service institutions.

Arican Americans are almost % o the countys

total population and almost 20% o Madisons pub-

lic school enrollment. Moreover, as our data clearly

shows, Arican Americans make up a disproportionate

share o those who are at greatest risk o poor educa-

tional, behavioral, economic, and amily outcomes.

Yet, despite these realities, Arican Americans are

under-represented, sometimes vastly, in the ranks o

our teachers, counselors, job trainers, mental health

practitioners, and court personnel. A commitment togreater diversity in all o these vocations would make a

real dierence: it would provide more positive and in-

fuential role models or children and youth o color; i

would increase the quality o communication and trus

in the complex challenges o doing eective social and

behavioral health work; it would enhance the cultural

competence o institutional and agency practice and

policy; and it would expand the still too ew career

paths and leadership opportunities or aspiring AricaAmerican proessionals in our community.

Similarly, we need to make the changes necessary to

recruit, retain, and promote more persons o color

into the management-level ranks o our countys ma-

jor non-prot, public, and private sector employers.

Research has clearly shown that presence o senior

managers o color substantially increases the capacity

o their companies, agencies, departments, or orga-nizations to identiy, place, and retain a more racially

diverse workorce throughout their employment ranks

Given the crisis levels o unemployment and under-

employment in the countys black community (and the

consequences that fow rom that), it would seem that

placing a priority on enhancing executive level diver-

sity could prove an essential strategy or enhancing the

countys overall level o economic inclusion.

We also need to strengthen the eectiveness, skills,

and knowledge o our existing majority workorce o

white proessionals who are in positions to help at-risk

children and their parents achieve better outcomes.

Dane Countys teachers, youth workers, social workers

child welare proessionals, job trainers, counselors,

police, and corrections proessionals are characteristi-

8



cally hardworking, dedicated, highly proessional, and

talented. And the overwhelmingly majority are com-

mitted, oen passionately, to the values o airness,

equal opportunity, inclusion, and social justice.

But that said, it is also true that many o the people

who are being asked to help meet the challenges o the

countys growing populations o at risk children and

amilies have uneven personal and proessional experi-

ence (and limited training) or identiying and eec-

tively responding to the complex needs and strengths

presented by at-risk children and adults rom diverse

cultural, ethnic, and racial backgroundschildren andadults who are oen coping with the maniold chal-

lenges o poverty, insecurity, and amily stress.

o underestimate the experience, skills, and tools

required to do this work is an unhelpul orm o denial

or naivete. It will do nothing to move the status quo.

Instead, what we need to do is make a commitment to

meaningul, sustained, and creative sta development

and proessional growth initiatives -- initiatives thatequip people o all backgrounds with the ideas, tech-

niques, resources, coaching, eedback, and supports

they need to be more eective and accountable.

In recent weeks, the Madison Metropolitan School

District released a new strategic ramework or

supporting student achievement that puts a heavy

ocus on sta development, team building, and proes-sional growth to better meet the districts continuous

improvement goals. It is an appropriate and timely

emphasis, and hopeully it will serve as an exemplary

approach or other systems dedicated to enhancing

their capacity to better serve the countys most vulner-

able children and amilies.

Finally, our whole community aces a major challenge

in pulling together a more comprehensive and collab-

orative strategy that is powerul enough to attack the

root drivers o the disparity crisis we ace. Te strategyhas to be a two-generation approach that ocuses

on increasing the health, developmental readiness,

motivation, academic achievement, graduation, and

post-secondary training o all our at risk children

and youth, while at same time addressing the income,

employment, housing security, child care, health, and

parenting inormation needs o their amilies.

Well-intended and helpul eorts in any one sectorare less likely to make much o an impact unless they

occur in a broader context or setting where individu-

als and amilies get all the basic support and tools

they need to make progress. So, or example, even the

best eort by public schools to educate children will

ounder i parents dont have the nancial and practica

wherewithal to support their amilies.

We have no illusions about the diculty o puttingtogether the kind o meaningul and sustainable col-

laboration across the communityrom private and

public employers, rom city and county government,

rom non-prot providers and unders, rom parents

and teachers. And yet, without a broad and deep com

mitment to a genuinely shared and comprehensive

strategy, we are never going to get beyond small, rag-

mented, oen narrow programs and services that are

insucient in scale, intensity, continuity, and scope tomake a lasting impact on the lie trajectories o at-risk

children and their amilies.

o move meaningul numbers o historically disad-

vantaged and under-resourced men and women into

productive, amily-supporting roles in the workorce

will require a long-term joint eort by employers, job



placement and training providers, child care resources,

amily support workers, along with a lot o inormal

help rom volunteers, neighbors, and kin. In a grow-

ing number o places across the country, communities

are creating place-based resources called centers or

working amilies that bring together, in an accessible

location, all the diverse resources and supports needed

to move the most disadvantaged amilies rom the eco-

nomic margins to the economic mainstream. It is an

approach that warrants exploration o its applicability

to the challenges we ace here in Dane County.

In the end, the willingness o the city, county, school

districts, business, non-prot providers, and unders to

come together to build and sustain this kind o tar-

geted two-generation strategy may determine whether

we in Dane County undo our deep racial disparities, o

whether they undo us.



Te members o the Race to Equity team have learned

many lessons over the last year-and-a-hal, but twodeserve special note. First, we have come to ully ap-

preciate that we are hardly the pathnders or pioneers

in this local social justice work. Long beore we came

along, mission-driven institutions and a host o com-

mitted Dane County activists had been compiling an

impressive record o struggle against racism, discrimi-

nation, and unequal opportunity. Tey have ought

or equality and airness or people o color rom their

positions as public ocials, in the classroom, rom thepulpit, at neighborhood centers, and in the day-to-day

work o improving the uture or at-risk children and

amilies

Race to Equity aspires to reinorce and advance the

goals and values o these remarkable organizations

and leaders, many o whom remain at the oreront o

making positive change today. Organizations like: the

NAACP; the Equal Opportunity Commission; the Ur-ban League o Greater Madison; One Hundred Black

Men; Women in Focus; the YWCA o Dane County;

Centro Hispano: American Friends Society; the or-

mer Harambee Center; the Boys and Girls Club o

Dane County; the South Madison, Wilmar, Goodman,

and Lussier Neighborhood Centers; Freedom Inc.;

Te Capital CityHUES; UMOJA; Te Madison imes;

Simpson Street Press;Te Center or Resilient Cities;

Access Health; the Disproportional Minority Contactask Force; the Superintendents Human Relations

Advisory Council; Schools o Hope; the United Way;

the AVID-OPS program; the Restorative Justice Ini-

tiative; Operation Fresh Start; the Southside Raiders;

Dane Dances; Drum Power; the First Wave Scholars

Program; Arican American Ethnic Academy; Latino

Workorce Development Academy; LUCES, Club

N; Madison Metropolitan Chapter o the Links,

Inc.; La Comunidadnewspaper; UW Odyssey Project;Delta Sigma Teta and Alpha Kappa Alpha sororities;

La Mujer Latina; Omega School; Nehemiah Center or

Urban Leadership Development; La Movida radio sta-

tion; UW People Program; Mann Scholars; the Rain-

bow Project; Madison area Urban Ministry (MUM),

Literacy Network; Mt Zion, S.S. Morris Church and

many others.

We also hope to add our voice to the chorus o theindividual advocates, champions, thinkers, and lead-

ers whose example has inspired us in the work we

have taken up. Path-breaking leaders like: Eugene

Parks, Reverend James Wright, Richard Davis, Dr.

Perry and Dr. Virginia Henderson, Ray Allen, Kwame

Salter, Anne Arnesen, David Couper, Ken Haynes,

Betty Banks, Milele Chikasa Anana, Stan and Yolanda

Woodard, Alonso and Janet Studesville, Barbara

McKinney, Donna Mackey, Brenda Brown, Dr. How-ard Fuller, Dr. Richard Harris, Dr. Floyd Rose, Jona-

than Gramling, Dr. John Odom, Cora White, Stephen

Blue, Wayne Strong, Oscar Mireles, Betty Franklin-

Hammonds, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, Dr. Pamela

Oliver, Darrell Bazzell, Jackie Boggess, Salli Martin-

iak, Andreal Davis, and many more. More recently,

the legacy o these changemakers is being advanced

by an emerging new generation o advocatesmen

and women like Annette Miller, Denise DeMarb,Shiva Bidar-Siela, Kaleem Caire, Michael Johnson,

Rachel Krinsky, Everett Mitchell, Shahanna Balden,

Wesley Sparkman, Peng Her, Ananda Mirilli, Col-

leen Butler, Yorel Lashley, Dr. Maisha Winn, Justice

Castaneda, Michelle Robinson, Joshua Wright, Will

Green, Mahlon Mitchell, Dave Dahmer, Jessica Strong

Langston Evans, Brenda Gonzalez, Karen Menedez

ConCLuSion: LeSSonS and neXt StePS



Coller, Henry Sanders, Baltazar de Anda, Gloria Reyes,

and countless more. In short, we know that we are not

launching a movement, we are joining one.

We are also painully aware o the risk involved in

creating a list like the one above. Despite our best

eorts to learn the history o justice work here, we

have doubtlessly le out individuals and groups

whose contributions we are not yet aware o.

Nevertheless, we concluded that our inability to

acknowledge everyone who deserves recognition is

not a good reason to be silent about the work and

leadership o those we have been privileged to learn

rom. And to those whom we have regrettably

overlooked: our sincere apologies.

Ironically, the second lesson we have learned was that

while it is imperative to give credit where its due, it is

equally important to avoid assigning blame when it

serves no purpose. Te racial equity problem that

Dane County aces in 2013 is not the ault o any one

group, or interest or sector. We accomplish little by

trying to single out any one entity, organization, orinstitution as a scapegoat.

Put plainly, we have come to see that the task ahead is

not about assigning blame; it is about accepting shared

responsibility. As an entire community we need to

own greater accountability or the situation we are in.

We need, or example, to acknowledge that we have

devoted ar too little attention, visibility or discussion

to the indeensible degree o disadvantage that burdensar too many o our countys amilies and children. We

need to admit we have paid too little heed to the calls

or action that have been coming rom our communi-

ties o color or decades. And we all need to accept the

act that we have simply placed too low a priority on

making the dicult changes required to narrow the

exceptionally wide gaps between whites and blacks.

Finally and importantly, all o us who care about this

issue need to be willing to replace our ragmented,

piecemeal, undersized, and oen competitive pro-

grams and initiatives with a more evidence-based,

comprehensive, coordinated, and scalable set o mutu-

ally reinorcing investments, interventions, reorms,

and supportsthat is, a sequenced set o collective

actions that are strong enough, broad enough, eective

enough, and durable enough to make a meaningul

dierence in the troubling numbers recorded in this

Baseline Report.

Te Race to Equity Project is determined to nd at

least some ways to contribute to this kind o crucial

mobilization. Our current plan includes our next

steps that are designed to build on the ideas, consen-

sus, and momentum generated by the October, 2013

Summit Conerence. First, we will publish regular

updates on our key disparity measures. It is our hope

that these periodic reports will help us do several

things, including: to track positive or negative changesrom our baseline; to oster a more inormed under-

standing o the inter-relationships among risk actors;

to sharpen our recognition o the pivotal contribu-

tors to underachievement and poor outcomes; and to

keep a public spotlight on urgent issues o racial and

economic equity in the county. Second, we hope to

use the Projects proessional relationships to recruit

local, regional, and national experts willing to con-

tribute their experience, expertise, research, and timeto help the county identiy and implement promising

approaches, practices, and policies or reducing racial

disparities and disproportionalities. Tese resources

will include many o the experts and organizations

invited to the October Summit, as well as other con-

sultants and technical assistance providers who have

indicated a readiness to support Dane Countys racial



disparity reduction work in the year ahead. Race to

Equity will also use its national contacts to advocate

or the increased involvement o major national oun-

dations and appropriate ederal programs as poten-tial investors in expanding important and nationally

relevant Dane County initiatives to reduce local racial

disparities. Lastly, the Project hopes to play a construc-

tive role as a communication hub or connector to help

the many entities, agencies, and sectors who have to

work more closely together around agreed upon goals,

i we are to make any real progress in leveling the play-

ing eld or all amilies and kids in the county. More

specically, Race to Equity, with the help o the An-

nie E. Casey Foundation, will explore the potential o

Caseys Leadership in Action model as an example o

a mechanism that could help bring together a cross-section o county and community leaders into a unc-

tioning coalition capable o achieving real results and

real change in 2014 and beyond.

It is our aspiration that all these next steps will prove

useul to our allies and partnersand to all others wh

are committed to creating a more inclusive, equitable,

and thriving Dane County in the decade ahead.



Data Sources

Over the past 12 months the Project has scouredavailable data bases to nd reliable statistics that can

accurately measure and track local white/black dispari-

ties on a wide range o status and outcome indicators.

Not surprisingly, the most important sources have

been U.S. Census-related reports, including: the 2010

Decennial Census, U.S. Census Bureau; the American

Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau; County

Quick Facts, as well as other Special Census Reports.

Also critical have been: Bureau o Labor Statistics

Data on Employment; Wisconsin Interactive HealthStatistics, Wisconsin Department o Health Services;

Te National Vital Statistics Report, Centers or Dis-

ease Control; the HealthyDane.org Website, and State

and Local Vital Statistics and Public Health Data. For

education-related measures, we have relied on the Wis-

consin Inormation Network or Successul Schools

(WINSS), Wisconsin Department o Public Instruc-

tion, as well as program data and special reports rom

the Madison Metropolitan School District. Inorma-tion on child welare measures has been accessed rom

Dane County Department o Human Services Agency

program data and special reports. Juvenile justice and

criminal justice data have been drawn rom a variety o

sources, including the Wisconsin Data Justice Portal,

the Oce o Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Pre-

ventions Easy Access to Juvenile Populations website,

the Federal Bureau o Investigations Unied Crime

Reports, Dr. Pamela Olivers statistical studies and

articles, and program inormation requested rom theDepartment o Corrections. Finally, we have ound

helpul additional inormation on local disparities in

a host o special studies, task orce reports, research

papers and program data, including publications and

reports rom the Urban League o Greater Madison,

the Wisconsin Council and Children and Families, Te

Annie E. Casey Foundation, Te Center or the Study

o Social Policy, PolicyLink, the United Way o Dane

County, Healthy Dane.Org, the Dane County askForce on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice Sys

tem, the City o Madison Planning Division, and the

Capital Area Regional Planning Commission.

Types and Categories o Data

Being Collectedo date, these sources have allowed the Project to

calculate black/white disparity and disproportion-

ality ratios on over 40 dierent status, outcome or

achievement measures. For presentation and analysispurposes, we have clustered these 40 plus measures

into seven larger categories or domains. Tey are: (1)

Economic Well-being (e.g., unemployment, poverty

rate, child poverty rate, median income, etc.); (2)

Family Structure (e.g., rate o births to teens, percent

o single parent amilies, births to mothers without a

high school diploma, etc.); (3) Educational Achieve-

ment (e.g., third grade reading prociency, eighth

grade math prociency, attendance measures, rateso suspension and expulsion, graduation rates, rates

o participation in college entrance exams, entrance

exam test scores, etc.); (4) Health Status (e.g., rate o

health insurance coverage, percent o births to mother

without adequate prenatal care, percent o low-weight

births, inant mortality rates, comparative death rates

rom major diseases, etc.); (5)Involvement in the

Juvenile Justice System (e.g., juvenile arrest rate, rate o

placement in county juvenile detention , rate o place-

ment in state secure acilities, etc.); (6) Child WelareInvolvement (e.g., rate o reerrals to child protective

services, average daily population in oster care, length

o stay in oster care, etc.) (7) Involvement in the Adul

Justice System (e.g., rates o arrests, rates o incarcera-

tion, etc.);

PoStSCRiPt: SuMMaRy oF data CoLLeCtion iSSueS



In addition to calculating these baseline numbers,

the Project is also mining a variety o data and map-

ping sources to create a geographic and demographic

portrait o the black population in Madison, including

inormation on their numbers, age composition, the

relatively recent growth in the black populations share

o the countys total population, and the geographic

distribution o Arican American households across

the city and county. From this latter data on residen-

tial geography, we are hoping to build a description o

the community characteristics o the approximately

een neighborhood areas or residential enclaves

where a signicant raction o the countys lower

income Arican American population resides. Westrongly believe that these community characteris-

tics (e.g., assets, degree o isolation, saety, distance to

resources, poverty concentration, residential mobility,

housing quality, etc.) are important to understanding

some o the negative Arican-American well-being

and status levels captured in our disparity data.

The Strengths and Limitations o Our

Current Data BaseTe on-going data collection eort described above has

not been ree o problems and complexity. o begin

with, we have been unable to nd solid inormation

on a handul o measures we think would be helpul in

understanding and addressing the disadvantaged state

o the countys black population. For example, we do

not yet have useul data that would allow us to accu-

rately compare the school readiness levels o black and

white children entering kindergarten. Similarly, we

lack the kind o data that would permit us to useullycompare housing status (quality, stability, aordabil-

ity) or mobility (requency o residential changes) by

race. We also lack the data we need to make reliable

comparisons o black/white status on such important

indicators as hunger, nutrition, homelessness, obesity,

and mental health (incidence o depressions, chemi-

cal dependency). Finally, there are other areas where

our data collection is moving orward, but the results

remain incomplete; these include some important sys

tem indicators such as rates o placement in special

education, rates o placement in congregate settings

within child welare, and potential disparities within

rates o incarceration or similar oenses. We hope to

capture several o these missing measures in the com-

ing year.

On other indicators, where we do have reported data,

there are sample size challenges. For example, we have

accurate race-specic annual data on inant mortal-

ity or the county, but the limited size o the total

black population (32,000) and, hence, the relativelysmall number o black births each year, means that an

increase or decrease o two or three black inant death

can cause large, but not statistically meaningul, swing

in the annual Arican American inant mortality rate.

Sampling issues also potentially aect the precision

o other measurements. Several o our indicators rely

on ndings rom the American Community Sur-

vey, which, unlike the Census, are based on samples

rather than a ull count. Any such sampling technique

involves some margin o error. Our estimates o child

poverty, or instance, are based on the ACS survey, and

consequently these may overstate or understate the

true poverty rate by signicant margins. One remedy

or this imprecision is to adopt a three-year averag-

ing approach, and we are considering employing that

methodology in the 2014 update o our report.

While these data limitations are real, the good news isthat we have a sucient array o accurate and trackabl

numbers to assemble an objective, comprehensive and

powerul description o the wide gaps in opportunity,

resources, outcomes and well-being which currently

dierentiate Dane Countys black minority rom its

white majority. We believe that the available data is

more than adequate to convey the breadth, depth,



and pervasiveness o the racial equity challenge Dane

County conronts.

Te range o indicators or which we have solid data is

also diverse and complete enough to oster inormed

discussion and debate about the causes, orces, actors

and interconnections underlying what are indisputably

severe and persisting inequalities. Te evidence base

or the problem analysis, in turn, iscomplete enough

to support community-wide conversations about the

short and long term investments, initiatives, and ac-

tions that could help move us toward greater equity.

Finally, the data we are collecting are suciently up-

datable to allow us to produce periodic public reports

on the extent o progress the county is making over

time. In short, it is our belie that the tracking o these

core disparity statistics will oster a ar higher degree o

public accountability or assuring a more level play-

ing eld in the years ahead or all who live in Dane

County.


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APPENDIX I

DATA TABLES ON BASELINE DISPARITY

MEASURES


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APPENDIX I

Data Tables on Baseline Disparity MeasuresDEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................................. 3

ECONOMIC WELLBEING DATA ...................................................................................................................... 4

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE ............................................................................................................................ 4

MALE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE .................................................................................................................. 5

FEMALE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE .............................................................................................................. 6

POVERTY ................................................................................................................................................... 7

CHILD POVERTY......................................................................................................................................... 8

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME ................................................................................................................ 9

INCOME DISTRIBUTION .......................................................................................................................... 10

FAMILY FORMATION DATA ......................................................................................................................... 11

BIRTHS TO TEEN MOTHERS .................................................................................................................... 11

BIRTHS TO UNMARRIED MOTHERS ........................................................................................................ 12

BIRTHS TO MOTHERS WITHOUT A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA ................................................................. 13

HEALTH DATA ............................................................................................................................................. 14

UNINSURED ............................................................................................................................................ 14

BIRTHS TO MOTHERS WITHOUT SUFFICIENT PRENATAL CARE .............................................................. 15

LOW BIRTHWEIGHT BABIES .................................................................................................................... 16

INFANT MORTALITY ................................................................................................................................ 17

DEATH RATE DUE TO LUNG CANCER ...................................................................................................... 18

DEATH RATE DUE TO DIABETES .............................................................................................................. 19

DEATH RATE DUE TO CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (STROKE) ................................................................. 20

EDUCATION DATA ....................................................................................................................................... 21

3RD GRADERS NOT PROFICIENT IN READING ........................................................................................... 21

3RD GRADERS NOT PROFICIENT IN READING 2012 .................................................................................. 22

8TH GRADERS NOT PROFICIENT IN MATH ............................................................................................... 23

8TH GRADERS NOT PROFICIENT IN MATH 2012 ...................................................................................... 24

PERCENT OF STUDENTS WHO ARE SUSPENDED ..................................................................................... 25


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RATE OF STUDENTS WHO ARE EXPELLED OR SUSPENDED FOR INCIDENTS RELATED TO WEAPONS OR

DRUGS ..................................................................................................................................................... 26

RATE OF STUDENTS WHO ARE EXPELLED OR SUSPENDED FOR INCIDENTS UNRELATED TO WEAPONS

OR DRUGS ............................................................................................................................................... 27

SCHOOL ABSENCES ................................................................................................................................. 28

HABITUAL TRUANTS ............................................................................................................................... 29

STUDENTS NOT GRADUATING ON TIME ................................................................................................ 30

STUDENTS NOT TAKING THE ACT COLLEGE TEST ................................................................................... 31

AVERAGE ACT SCORES ............................................................................................................................ 32

JUVENILE JUSTICE DATA ............................................................................................................................. 33

JUVENI

race to equity - racial disparities in dane county 2013

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