The Racialized Structure of Opportunity

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The Racialized Structure of Opportunity
Stephen Menendian Senior Legal Research
Associate, The Kirwan Institute For the Study of
Race and Ethnicity The Ohio State
University January 17, 2009
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Overview

• What is an Opportunity Structure?
• Opportunity Mapping
• To represent the distribution of opportunity
• To design interventions to challenge these
  structures

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Opportunity MattersRace, Place and Life Outcomes
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Opportunity Structures

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

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• The opportunity structure includes the
  geographically varying set of institutions,
  systems, and markets of the area in which a
  person is born.

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Structural Racialization

• This is a claim that these opportunity structures
  are racialized, meaning that they produce and
  reinforce racial advantages and disadvantages.
• The linkage between race, place, and life
  outcomes is mediated by three related forces
• Sprawl (Jurisdictional Fragmentation)
• Concentrated Poverty
• Segregation

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• Sprawl Between 1950 and 1990, the number of
  municipalities in metropolitan areas grew from
  193 to 9,600.
• Segregation Typical white resident resides in a
  neighborhood that is 80 white. A typical Black
  person lives in a neighborhood that is 33 white.
• Concentrated Poverty 3 of 4 persons living in
  concentrated poverty are Black or Latino even
  though more whites are poor.

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Cross-Domain Impacts of Opportunity Segregation
Segregation impacts a number of life-opportunities
Impacts on Health
School Segregation
Educational Achievement
Exposure to crime
Transportation limitations and other inequitable
public services
Job segregation
Neighborhood Segregation
Racial stigma, other psychological impacts
community power, civic participation and
individual assets
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Adapted from figure by Barbara Reskin at
http//faculty.washington.edu/reskin/
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Opportunity MappingThe Geography of Opportunity
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Opportunity Mapping

• Since opportunity is a spatial phenomena, maps
  are naturally an effective way to represent it
• Opportunity mapping is a research tool used to
  better understand the dynamics of opportunity
• Maps allow us to understand volumes of data at a
  glance through layering

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Demand
Connection
Supply
Layering of Information
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Comprehensive Opportunity Map
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Comprehensive Opportunity Map Greater Boston
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Maps can visually track the history and presence
of discriminatory and exclusionary policies that
spatially segregate people.
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Access to Opportunity Race

• Racialized isolation from neighborhoods of
  opportunity in Massachusetts
• More than 90 of African-American and Latino
  households in 2000 were isolated in the lowest
  opportunity neighborhoods in the State
• Over 55 of Asian households were found in
  low-opportunity neighborhoods
• By contrast, only 31 of White, Non-Latino
  households were found in low-opportunity
  neighborhoods

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• School Composition layered over census tract data
  in Montclair, NJ
• Maps illustrate how residential segregation can
  manifests in schools

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Opportunity Mapping For Schools

• Mapping the geographic distribution of
  opportunity helps us to evaluate where these
  opportunity mismatches exist in a community and
  to design interventions to move people to
  opportunity
• Education Quality and Opportunity
• Student Expenditures
• Student Poverty Rate
• Test Scores for Neighborhood Schools
• Graduation and Dropout Rates
• Teacher Quality (Experience, Qualifications, etc)

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Solution? Equitable Regionalism

• Since opportunity varies within a region, we can
  promote regional policies which foster equity.
• Example Minneapolis-St. Paul local revenue
  sharing policy, which pools 40 of growth in tax
  base valuations to be redistributed among the
  regions seven counties, based on each countys
  need.
• We can use regional policies to overcome
  jurisdictional boundaries and promote
  integration.
• Example Regional Magnet schools (Harford)

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Appendix
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Application Thompson v. HUD

• Baltimore, MA

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Example Opportunity Based Housing in Practice
(Baltimore Thompson Litigation)
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• Plaintiffs used opportunity mapping to frame
  their remedial proposal, in response to a
  liability ruling that found the U.S. Department
  of Housing and Urban Development in violation of
  the Fair Housing Act
• The plaintiffs have proposed establishing 7,000
  affordable housing units in the regions high-
  opportunity communities, available to volunteers
  who wish to relocate out of the City of
  Baltimores public housing

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Proposed remedy identifies Communities of
Opportunity
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• Used 14 indicators of neighborhood opportunity to
  designate high and low opportunity neighborhoods
  in the region
• Neighborhood Quality/Health
• Poverty, Crime, Vacancy, Property Values,
  Population Trends
• Economic Opportunity
• Proximity to Jobs and Job Changes, Public Transit
• Educational Opportunity
• School Poverty, School Test Scores, Teacher
  Qualifications

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Cleveland Foreclosure and Race
Maps produced and adapted from Charles Bromley,
SAGES Presidential Fellow, Case Western University
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MethodologyIndicator Categories

• Education
• Student/Teacher ratio? Test scores? Student
  mobility?
• Economic/Employment Indicators
• Unemployment rate? Proximity to employment? Job
  creation?
• Neighborhood Quality
• Median home values? Crime rate? Housing vacancy
  rate?
• Mobility/Transportation Indicators
• Mean commute time? Access to public transit?
• Health Environmental Indicators
• Access to health care? Exposure to toxic waste?
  Proximity to parks or open space?

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