This document summarizes findings from mapping community opportunity for African American males across seven major metropolitan regions. It was found that Black males have significantly less access to high-opportunity neighborhoods than white males. Living in low-opportunity neighborhoods negatively impacts educational achievement, health, and economic outcomes. The document calls for investments in people through programs supporting education, health, and wealth building, as well as place-based investments to improve infrastructure, housing, and development in disadvantaged communities. College admissions policies should account for differing opportunity contexts faced by students.

1. Mapping the Geography of Opportunity for African American Males April 27, 2009 Chicago State University Chicag o, Illinois Andrew Grant-Thomas* Deputy Director, The Kirwan Institute The Ohio State University Grant-Thomas.1@osu.edu (w/thanks to Rajeev Ravisankar, Research Asst ) Presented at the 2009 Black Male Initiative Conference: "Raising Expectations"

2. Overview Opportunity Mapping: Why, What, How? Mapping Community Opportunity for African American Males in Seven Metropolitan Regions So What? What These Findings Tell Us From Individualistic Merit to “Democratic Merit” in College Admissions

3. Opportunity matters. PLACE MATTERS. Opportunity is spatialized. Where is “opportunity” present/absent? How are marginalized groups situated? How are racial and ethnic groups situated relative to spatial opportunity? What can be done to improve the opportunity landscape? 1. Mapping Opportunity: Why, What, How?

4. Opportunity Mapping: 4-Step Method Use Census, state, and local data representing community/neighborhood/census tract conditions Create opportunity index Differentiate neighborhoods based on their composite opportunity scores very low, low, moderate, high, very high opportunity neighborhoods (relatively speaking) Overlay map with demographic data on distribution

5. 2. Mapping Community Opportunity for Black Males in 7 Major Metropolitan Regions Three domains of opportunity were analyzed using GIS mapping software: Educational Quality Economic Health Neighborhood Health

6. Indicators Used: Educational quality percent students poor teacher-student ratio high school dropout and completion reading and math scores

7. Indicators Used: Economic Health public assistance median household income unemployment rates job changes

8. Indicators Used: Neighborhood Health vacant properties property values homeownership rate adult poverty population change crime rate

16. Distribution of Black/White males by neighborhood oppy in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, DC, Houston, LA, and NY 37% 7% (Very low) 11% 17% 30% (Low) ALL WHITE MALES ALL BLACK MALES (Moderate) (High) (Low) 14% 7% 21% (Moderate) (High) 25% 37% (Very high)

17. Young Black/White males, 0-14 years old, live in neighborhoods offering very different levels of oppy 466k (Very Low) 334k (Low) 185k (Moderate) 118k (High) 337k (Low) 493k (Moderate) 641k (High) 198k (Very Low) 953k (Very High) 62k BLACK MALES (1.2 mil) WHITE MALES (2.6 mil)

18. The pattern of black neighborhood disadvantage holds for the Chicago metro area as well

20. 3. So What? What These Findings Tell Us Relative to others, African American males (and females) in these seven major metro areas are substantially segregated from opportunity: K-12 schools that foster high achievement Healthy foods (vs. fast food) Safe play areas, green space Stable housing Libraries, community centers Sustainable employment Healthy tax base Outlets for wealth-building “ Rich” professional networks

21. Which community would you choose?

22. Costs of opportunity segregation: some examples Neighborhoods of concentrated poverty suppress property values by nearly $400 billion nationwide Census tracts with high homicide rates tend to be spatially contiguous to other tracts high in homicide (Chicago) In African American neighborhoods, the closest grocery store was twice as far away as the nearest fast food (Chicago) Tax capacity per household in the Chicago region ranged from $204 in poor (5th percentile) municipalities to $2,422 in wealthy (95th percentile) ones (Chicago, 1998) Odds for mortality were more than 50 percent higher for residents in areas marked by poverty/deteriorated housing (Alameda County, CA) Some privileged individuals experience better mental health and lower obesity rates in low than in high poverty neighborhoods

23. Costs of opportunity segregation: children Living in a (very) low opportunity neighborhood… reduces student “IQ” by 4 points, the equivalent of missing one year of school (Sampson 2007) generates unhealthy levels of stress hormones in children, which impairs their neural development correlates with children having levels of lead in their blood 9 times above average; high levels of lead linked to ADD and irreversible loss of cognitive functioning links to higher levels of violent offending among juveniles is highly correlated with childhood aggression and social maladjustment

24. Costs of opportunity segregation: K-12 Moving to low-poverty neighborhoods had positive effects on 11-18-year-old boys' achievement scores compared with those of their peers in high-poverty neighborhoods The Illinois Education Research Council found that four in five very high-minority schools place in the bottom quartile for teacher quality Students at high poverty schools face higher teacher turnover and lower educational aspirations and career options Schools with higher concentrations of low-income students had less vigorous curricula The nation’s dropout problem is concentrated in high poverty schools Attending a high poverty school is linked to the absence of strong positive peer influence , which has negative impact on achievement Economists already suggest that the black-white achievement gap can be reduced by 25% just by reducing residential mobility

25. 4. From Individualistic Merit to “Democratic Merit” in College Admissions

26. College admissions for African American youth: Neighborhood factors that matter Access to preschool Access to social capital and networks Environmental stresses Availability/quality of prenatal care, healthcare and nutrition through childhood Quantity and quality of parental involvement K-12 instruction, expectations, teacher quality, coursework rigor K-12 special education, tracking, disciplinary practices K-12 funding Lack of support in application/college prep. process

27. When looking “backwards” at achievement, admissions policies and practices must…. See that “what we are calling merit is actually the opportunities that students have enjoyed by virtue of their privilege” (Lani Guinier) Recognize that past achievement may not reflect future potential Cumulative disadvantage based on group identity – race Account for the (sometimes dramatically) varying opportunity contexts of student accomplishment

28. Acknowledge the higher education mission to prepare students for citizenship in a multiracial democratic society Seek to provide upward mobility and opportunity for more people to improve their lives, produce new knowledge, and train future leaders Re-connect their notions of merit to that democratic mission Seek students in whom to invest, rather than simply reward Seek students who will contribute to society Consider institutional treatment effects (“military model”), not just selection effects (“beauty school model”) College admissions policies and practices must also “face forward”….

29. Current Programming Indiana’s 21 st Century Scholars Program Low and moderate income students who take and successfully fulfill a good citizenship pledge are guaranteed the cost of 4 years of undergraduate education at a public university (or the equivalent amount for a private university) in Indiana.

30. Current Programming Texas Ten Percent Plan Admits the top 10% of students from every graduating high school class in the state to a public college or university in Texas Introduces diversity of race, class, and geography Prevents certain schools (typically in white, suburban districts) from monopolizing the admissions

31. Current Programming Clark University (Worcester, MA) Worked to revitalize and uplift the local community rather than relocate the university Opened its own high school; admitted students by a lottery Students, many of whom were not meeting grade-level standards prior to entering Clark’s high school, flourished with the support of the university behind them

32. Current Programming University of Texas-Austin: President’s Achievement Scholarship Embraces “strivers” by offering scholarships to students who have overcome significant adversity while maintaining a strong academic record (compared to their peers) Utilizes an Adversity Index that includes various indicators for family socioeconomic status, school quality, peer performance, and academic merit

33. Current Programming The Posse Foundation Gathers students from public high schools to form multicultural “posses” and attend top-level colleges and universities nationwide Uses a Dynamic Assessment Model for recruitment “ An innovative approach to identifying exceptional students who might be missed by traditional college admissions processes” Leadership talent, ability to work in teams with students from different backgrounds, desire for success, etc. www.possefoundation.org

34. Visit Us: www.KirwanInstitute.org

35. Recommendations: Investing in People Community organizing and leadership development Support for early childhood education/development Improving education opportunity and investment Family supportive services Labor force development and worker training Asset and wealth building strategies

36. Recommendations: Investing in Places Public health investments Developing anchor institutions Infrastructure investments Strategic collaborative investments Supporting minority owned and small businesses Vacant land redevelopment and land banking Foreclosure mitigation and prevention activities

37. Recommendation: People/Place Links Regional fair housing strategies Policies to support inclusionary housing development Opportunity based subsidized housing investments Aligning housing and educational policies Strengthening professional and social networks for businesses and residents in low opportunity areas