Equity and Opportunity: Our Biggest Challenges

Equity and Opportunity: Our Biggest Challenges

It’s coming! On Thursday, June 2nd, the Community Advancement Network (CAN) will release the seventh annual CAN Dashboard to provide an overview of the social, health, educational and economic well-being of Travis County and the greater Austin area. As CAN’s new Executive Director, I’ve really enjoyed working with both the CAN team and the Dashboard Steering Committee to prepare the 2016 annual report. The experience has been eye opening and inspiring, we live in a community full of passionate individuals who share our commitment to research and data, and understand the value of tracking population-wide measures that indicate whether we are moving toward our shared Community Vision.

While the goal of the Dashboard Report and companion website has always been to highlight data trends and generate conversation around the ways we can work together to meet our community goals, this year we decided to add a new Equity Analysis to dive more deeply into disparities in outcomes and experiences of low income families and people of color in our community.

For many Central Texas residents, it is no secret that Austin faces persistent challenges when it comes to equity and opportunity. Just last year: the Martin Prosperity Institute named Austin as the nation’s most economically segregated city; The Equality of Opportunity Project found Travis County to be one of the worst counties in the nation in helping poor children up the income ladder; and research from the Brookings Institute highlighted an unsettling trend – concentrated poverty is increasing in our city. Why does this matter? The Brookings Institute found that people who live in areas of concentrated poverty, whether they are poor or not, tend to face higher crime rates, poorer physical and mental health outcomes, poorer educational outcomes and weaker job-seeking networks. According to this report, “These challenges disproportionately fall to people of color, and, while they have long been particularly pronounced in inner cities, as poverty has spread beyond the urban core, so too has concentrated disadvantage.”

While the CAN Dashboard has typically examined differences in outcomes for people of different races and ethnicities and low income families in the indicator by indicator analyses, we felt that the differences in outcomes would be more effectively addressed in a stand-alone section relating to equity. This new Equity Analysis allows CAN to present a more comprehensive picture of equity and opportunity for Austin/Travis County. Some of the trends noted in this section include:

  • Public safety: Disproportionality in jail bookings remains a challenge, as Blacks are much more likely than Whites and Hispanic to be booked into Travis County jail.
  • Poverty: The Hispanic (27%) and Black (22%) poverty rates are more than double the White (9%) poverty rate in Travis County.
  • Health: Blacks have the highest rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, while the Hispanic population has the highest rates of uninsured residents.
  • Education: One-half of Central Texas high school graduates earn a post-secondary credential within six years of enrolling in a Texas college or university. Only 33% of Black students and 35% of Hispanic students earn a post-secondary credential within this six-year period.

CAN will release key findings from this year’s report and a press announcement on May 24th, the full report will be distributed Thursday, June 2nd at CAN’s annual Press Conference at City Hall. There is much work to be done. We look forward to being a part of collaborative efforts across the community to move the needle on some of our most persistent challenges.

– Raul Alvarez, Executive Director, Community Advancement Network

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