State of Black Ohio by Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

CURRENT STATUS

At the Crossroads Less than a decade into the 21st century, Ohio stands poised at a crossroads in terms of providing opportunity for Ohio’s black communities and families. The direction the state takes will directly affect its future competitiveness and prosperity. While it is clear the state’s African American community has made considerable progress, some troubling trends persist. Inequities continue to weave their way through communities of color. As a whole, those imbalances weaken the overall foundation of the state, jeopardizing Ohio’s ability to reach its full potential. Black Ohio is part of Ohio, and no matter our color, age, ancestry, or economic status, all of Ohio’s citizens have a stake in maximizing Black Ohio’s success. This summary reflects information collected in statewide research by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity begun in 2008. The study draws upon a statewide opportunity mapping analysis, an extensive review of recent research on key issues, and in-depth interviews with 92

individual stakeholders. Quotes in the report are from the interviewees. The full report, “State of Black Ohio 2009,” is available on the Kirwan Institute web site at kirwaninstitute.org/publications.

Bumps on the Road Ahead • Nearly three out of four black Ohioans live in the state’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. • The rate of poverty and unemployment for African Americans is growing faster in Ohio than in the rest of the nation overall. • The widespread financial crisis has reversed economic gains made in the 1990s by Ohio’s black residents. • Systemic institutional and structural challenges negate any claim that we are in a “post-racial” society. • Pervasive racial and economic segregation remain the norm in public schools, resulting in long-term harmful effects on our children’s educational and social development. Black Ohioans face continuing health disparities, increased health risks, and unequal access to treatment. The recession, which hit Ohio hard, was particularly harsh for black families and neighborhoods already facing serious financial impediments.

New Times, New Visions In this age of globalization, isolation is an illusion. It’s never been more clear that, in today’s interconnected world, all Ohio residents and communities share a common future. Addressing the challenges faced by disadvantaged groups can help uplift entire communities. This is the framework policymakers must use to bring about positive changes for Black Ohio. When some people are encumbered with burdensome educational and socioeconomic inequities, the state, as a whole, is less educated, creative, and competitive. To maximize Ohio’s creativity and competitiveness, we must expand opportunity for all and eliminate these inequities. These new times call for new visions. Big-picture solutions must be crafted in a holistic fashion that opens the doors of opportunity for all in education, affordable housing, health care, fair credit, and civic engagement. Ohio is at a crossroads, but the development of a comprehensive, unified strategic plan for Black Ohio can push the state onto the road of opportunity and leadership and into a fair, sustainable, and just future.

Note: Interviews included in this study were not transcribed verbatim. While maintaining the essence of key comments, quotes were sometimes adjusted for readability.

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POSITIVES

A National Secret People in Ohio’s black communities express hope and a positive attitude about the potential for opportunity and advantages. One person even called the promising future prospects “a national secret.” Without doubt, considerable progress and achievements have been reached in recent decades. Black Ohioans have gained leverage in the fields of business, education, and politics, and they have seen the emergence of a formidable black middle and upper class. Locally and nationally, the numbers of African American leaders are growing, and they are making their mark both politically and in the business world. For instance, in 1970, 400 blacks held elected office in the entire United States. By 2001, there were 300 local, state, and federal black officials in Ohio alone; by 2009, black mayors led four of Ohio’s six largest cities.

“I think in Ohio there is tremendous opportunity for social, economic, and educational growth. I have friends in other places…and they are amazed at the positions that African Americans hold in business and political arenas.”

When 19 benchmarks of socioeconomic health are applied, Ohio’s metropolitan areas stack up well in comparison to 21 major U.S. cities with large black populations. Columbus ranks 4th, Cincinnati 11th, and Cleveland 15th, and many of the state’s smaller cities also fare well.

Many share a common hope for African American leaders who now maintain more positions than ever in public and private offices across the state. Black leadership has made impressive gains across the breadth of business, politics, community activism, faith, and education.

Much ground remains to be covered, but these developments speak to Ohio’s successes in affirmatively embracing diversity and opportunity for all.

With the median age of African Americans in Ohio at 26.9 years, the community must encourage and develop younger leaders—a scenario that has gained traction recently as young people become more involved in the political process and in the wake of the election of Barack Obama. The climate for mentoring must be improved to offset a current generation gap between existing and emerging leaders.

A Strong Community Base Interviews with Ohioans revealed that: • Church and a resilient sense of family and community are recognized pillars of strength for the black community. • The black middle and upper classes have made significant reinvestments in the community. • Progressive health care programs, like the Commission on Minority Health, are making an impact. • Increasing numbers of black-owned businesses provide beacons of optimism.

Positive Signs Prior to the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn, the past two decades saw marked improvement in the overall economic conditions of African Americans in Ohio. Between 1990 and 2007, the poverty rate for black Ohioans dipped slightly, while the state’s black home ownership rate increased by 23%. The economic recession has reversed some of these gains.

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Also noteworthy is a 60% increase in African American-owned businesses and a 20% increase in black college graduates. By 2007, 21% of black adult Ohioans had a college degree, up from only 14% in 1990. High school graduations for black students have also increased steadily, to 71% in 2006, compared to 62% in 1995. Furthermore, the achievement gap is narrowing. In the last decade, on average, African American students made gains at faster rates than white students across most subjects and grade levels.

CHALLENGES

All of these positive signs indicate that Ohio’s African Americans have made significant strides, but they do not signal the end of barriers to advancement. They merely indicate improved access to opportunity over time. Future policy must be designed to build upon existing successes to further empower Black Ohio.

Leaping High Hurdles Some African American families in Ohio have attained a better life, but far too many, especially inner-city residents, remain trapped in poverty, seriously threatening their own future and their children’s as well. The recession has only inflamed the challenges. For the poor and undereducated, current conditions are bleak, and for many those conditions have grown worse. The dismal economic climate has wounded Ohio’s black community. Poverty and unemployment are growing faster for black Ohioans than for other African Americans nationwide. While the poverty rate declined from 32.3% in 1990 to 26.5% in 2000, it has risen steadily since then. Ohio’s black poverty rate in 2007 was 30.9%, compared to a national black poverty rate of 24.7%. Clearly, families in these disadvantaged communities face extreme barriers and daunting odds. To realize any improvement, poor families must be given opportunities for access to education and jobs. They must find a way to overcome years of intergenerational poverty.

“We’re clearly progressing, all things considered. A lot of things are better now than a decade (or three or four years) ago. However, some of the things that are really bad are getting worse.”

It will take monumental efforts to break these cycles.

Barriers to Prosperity Interviewees identified the following key barriers to prosperity: • Imbalances in educational achievement and opportunity • Pervasive poverty and unemployment • Deteriorating neighborhoods • Poor health and limited access to health care • High family stress • Soaring incarceration and recidivism rates • Persistent “softened” racism • A fast-growing class divide Compounding these challenges is the lack of a clear, strategic agenda to find solutions. Also contributing is a growing class divide, which is seen as the largest and fastest-growing division within the African American community.

This widening gap between the expanding middle class and those entrenched in poverty is a barrier to uniting the community around a common agenda with clear priorities. If a unified approach is to be developed, those seeking change will have to clearly understand that the many challenges facing the community are not independent and isolated, but rather are interrelated and systemic. Collaboration at the grassroots, political, and institutional levels will be needed to identify and work on the root causes of racial and socioeconomic inequity in Ohio. Structural and institutional barriers to opportunity must be removed if Ohio’s black community is to flourish and contribute meaningfully to the state’s future. And that collaboration must occur at all levels—locally, regionally, statewide, and nationally.

“Some see a growing class divide as an impediment to finding solutions. Many see that gap as part of the reason why Ohio’s black communities have failed to unite around a common, strategic agenda with clear priorities.”

NEIGHBORHOOD IMPACT

Neighborhood Conditions Shape Lives It is in neighborhoods that people are educated, find first jobs, make friends, and get involved in civic activities. More than 40 years of research have documented the powerful ripple effects of neighborhood conditions for shaping life outcomes. Community conditions profoundly affect how people gain access to opportunity and acquire the ability to excel and to thrive. Three out of four of Ohio’s black citizens live in neighborhoods that offer the least opportunity for advancement. This means that significant concentrations of black Ohioans from all income groups live in neighborhoods that provide low to very low potential for improving lives. A highly disadvantaged, poverty stricken neighborhood can severely inhibit a bright future, especially for young children. Recent studies show that living in a severely underprivileged neighborhood is equivalent to missing an entire year of school. Data reveals stark differences between Ohio’s majority African American communities and majority white communities. Many African American neighborhoods are more likely to face racial and economic isolation, and are often unsafe, unstable, and isolated from jobs and other critical elements designed to improve lives.

Long-Term Housing Challenges for Black Ohio Interviewees identified several housing-related challenges: • Lack of affordable housing

Map E: Comprehensive Opportunity Map with African American Population overlay

Map C: Comprehensive Opportunity Map with African American Population overlay

Map B: Comprehensive Opportunity Map with African American Population overlay

CINCINNATI

CUYAHOGA COUNTY

FRANKLIN COUNTY

This map displays the spatial pattern of distribution of opportunity based on Education, Economic & Mobility, Housing & Neighborhood, Public Health, and Public Safety & Criminal Justice indicators.

Source: U.S. Census 2000; HUD; ODRC; ODE; USDA (Rural Development); State Library of Ohio; ESRI Date: Feb. 13, 2009

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• Concentration of affordable housing in distressed neighborhoods

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• Discrimination in the real estate market

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• Discriminatory or predatory lending practices Housing is critical to economic and social health. It is a primary link for access to stable or high-quality neighborhoods.

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But access to quality housing is limited for black Ohioans. Kirwan Institute research conducted earlier this decade indicated that nine out of 10 of the new single-family homes built in Franklin County were unaffordable to 70% of black households.

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Another challenge for black Ohioans is the high prevalence of risky loans in many urban communities. Statewide in 2007, nearly 60% of home loans and 56% of refinanced loans given to black borrowers were high-cost loan products. Across the nation, the African American community has lost an estimated $164 billion to $213 billion from subprime loans. The instability of these loans has resulted in a large number of foreclosures for black Ohioans.

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• Loss of home and wealth • Housing instability • Surge in vacant property • Property deterioration and blight • Declining property values • Crime • Population turnover • Increased fiscal distress and a growing demand for government services Restricted access to sustainable credit for Ohio’s African Americans has depleted community development investments, home ownership and wealth, and neighborhood stability. Meanwhile, foreclosures are expected to increase. Ohioans experienced 80,000 foreclosures in 2008. An additional 291,000 foreclosures are expected by 2012.

Recommendations In order to achieve maximum impact in a time of dwindling public resources, available funds should be leveraged to make strategic and meaningful investments in a limited number of key areas within distressed communities. To reduce the community isolation of Ohio’s African Americans, the state should develop more fair housing policies. Fair housing means both improving access to high-opportunity neighborhoods and bringing investment into low-opportunity ones. • Preserve the supply of existing affordable housing and expand the supply of decent housing for low- to moderate-income families in opportunity-rich neighborhoods across the metropolitan area. • Ensure that all residents can buy or rent homes in the neighborhoods of their choice that are racially and economically integrated, and that feature a rich set of social, economic, and educational opportunities. • Increase wealth opportunities through homeownership for all families in neighborhoods where home values are rising rather than falling. • Plan for the development of affordable housing on a regional scale that intentionally connects housing to quality schools, plentiful employment opportunities, and an accessible transportation infrastructure. • Promote a more balanced type of metropolitan growth that promotes the health of the region as a whole and connects all communities to opportunity.

“I think the best thing that could happen to people is… a livable wage that allows them to make decisions for themselves and their families, to move up or out.”

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Impacts of Foreclosures

Fiscal Ailing Data shows that income levels and economic health are getting worse for Black Ohio. The numbers suggest the economic crisis is reversing the gains African Americans made in the 1990s.

The Symptoms • Median household income for Ohio’s African Americans in 2007 was about $29,000 annually, compared to $47,000 for the state as a whole. • The rate of unemployment is increasing faster for the black community in Ohio than it is for African Americans nationally. • Unemployment for black Ohioans increased from 7.6% in 2000 to 11.6% in 2007. Black unemployment in Ohio shot to 14.8% in 2008. We must find a way to: • End high unemployment, especially for young black Ohioans, which limits upward mobility and entrepreneurship;

• End educational disparities and broaden workforce training to prepare for jobs in the new economy. We also need to improve chances for networking for jobs, and to encourage businesses to hire ex-prisoners. African American men in Ohio are eight times as likely to serve prison time as white men and are therefore disproportionately in need of re-entry services.

Recommendations Connect Minority Businesses Throughout the State • Expand hiring of minority firms and meet Minority Business Enterprise quotas for public work. • Offer education and training for businesses in emerging sectors and industries. • Provide equity capital for firms competing in the new economy.

While Ohio’s African American communities share many harsh realities that are uniquely different and multi-layered, there are ways to leverage economic development opportunities.

• Sponsor partnerships with Ohio’s business schools and community colleges.

There must be a renewed emphasis on economic recovery, particularly within communities isolated from the means to improve themselves.

• Give tax incentives to private companies that consistently work with minority firms.

Expanding access to economic opportunity for African Americans will increase Ohio’s productivity, enhance the state’s budget outlook over the long term, and make the state attractive to businesses.

“In terms of economic development…I’d love to see a Minority Chamber of Commerce or a subsidiary or a comprehensive business incubator.”

• Increase low-cost business loans to ease companies through the credit crunch.

“There is a lot of individual achievement of elected and appointed political leadership, but there is not a collective strategy to utilize these achievements to benefit the community and the whole state.”

LEADERSHIP

• Expand the creation of new jobs within African American communities; and

Expansive and Diverse Leadership As a growing number of Ohio’s African Americans take on leadership roles, many in the community say they feel that the future is hopeful. Politically, Ohio has increased diversity in its leadership and representation at the state and local levels. African Americans have been elected in ever-increasing numbers as members of city councils, school superintendents, state lawmakers, and in the Ohio secretary of state’s office. Black Ohioans seem to be faring well in terms of leadership and representation, with six African American mayors, numerous judges, and expanding leadership in state educational institutions. A strong legislative Black Caucus, founded in 1967, represents more than 2.5 million constituents. With a focus on public policy, advocacy, community development, and state and national politics, it has improved opportunities for minority firms, affirmative action, and access to higher education.

A variety of civic organizations provide leadership development opportunities, but a number of issues must yet be overcome to produce a new generation of leaders. Interviewees indicated that a widening gap between older and younger leaders is creating friction, and efforts must be made to mend these fences for a smooth transfer of leadership.

Building Leadership Clearly, efforts need to support mentorship programs that develop future leaders and encourage civic engagement and political participation in the community, especially for young people. In addition, we should utilize grassroots and other nontraditional organizations to cultivate new leaders, if Black Ohio is to realize transformative and progressive change. The goal of leadership should not be to reorder existing conditions but to meaningfully change and improve conditions. New approaches should take into account personal and social responsibility, with a goal of dismantling barriers that hinder political empowerment and leadership. Those strategies can bring about lasting, meaningful outcomes. In general,

“Part of the job is to deal with the black community that is suffering. Some are doing this, but it’s few and far between.”

successful and lasting coalitions require an engaged leadership. Leaders should encourage action on a regional, and possibly statewide, level to develop initiatives to strengthen the African American community in Ohio as a whole. Ohio will undoubtedly continue to play a significant role in the political landscape of the country, and the state’s African American community has the ability to bring about substantive change.

Recommendations • Bring diverse leaders together to build a strategic plan to advance the health and well being of black communities in Ohio. • Teach budding leaders to build bridges from their constituents to other groups. • Demonstrate connections between Black Ohio’s challenges and the state’s overall economic, social, and cultural health. • Educate voters, motivate volunteers, and leverage the existing sense of pride within African American communities. • Call on community organizations and universities and colleges to help strengthen communities of color. • Engage coalitions and grassroots groups to promote transformative change.

EDUCATION

Education Reform Must Be Holistic Education is one of the primary public policy arenas that must be considered if the quality of life for African Americans is to be improved. The value of a child’s education has lifelong implications and is the beginning of a productive, rewarding, and fulfilling life. Education is more than just school. The interactions a child has with social institutions is also an important influence. That is why education reform, one of the African American community’s primary concerns, must be a holistic endeavor that is pursued relentlessly.

Call for Complete Overhaul Despite some gains in recent years, the need for improved educational outcomes topped the list of concerns for many in the community. Nothing short of a fundamental overhaul is required.

“At the educational level we need better performing schools for African American students. We need to continue to deal with issues of residential segregation, if not flat out redlining—at least the tendency of African American folks to be living in a narrow range of neighborhoods that correlate with poorer schools…”

Educational reform is a daunting but critical task. No magic formula will provide African American children with the education they need, but whatever solutions are considered, they must be comprehensive, not small tinkering adjustments. Creating an equitable system of education is a moral imperative. The mere presence of an achievement gap has long-term psychological and social impacts. The stability of our state in this ever-growing global economy depends on the education and productivity of all its citizens.

• A child’s health • Early childhood education • K-12 school issues, including graduation rates, discipline, and academic performance

Recommendations: • Identify the measures that work as model programs for all schools. • Strongly consider regional issues when developing new initiatives.

Targets for Reform

• Allow reforms to mature and monitor them for any needed modifications.

Focus on specific “environmental” areas within and beyond school that affect students including:

• Do not overemphasize statewide academic standards.

• Family influences that affect academic performance • Neighborhood conditions

• Initiate comprehensive reform that strengthens school systems and improves housing and health care needs.

Health Disparities Must Be Eliminated When it comes to health, Ohio’s African Americans face a grim prognosis. They face troubling increases in health risks, which have strong educational implications. Early Years • In 2004, African American women in Ohio were twice as likely (14%) to have a low birth weight baby than white women. • Nationally, African American women are twice as likely as white women to receive late or no prenatal care. • Infant mortality rates for African Americans are higher than for whites. Children with a low birth weight who live in lower income neighborhoods are exposed to a wide variety of additional environmental factors that can lead to poorer health, including pollutants, restricted access to health care, lack of exercise, increased stress from living in unsafe neighborhoods, and poor nutrition. These factors lead to a cycle of poor academic performance directly related to physical and mental health. Health disparities account for as much as 25% of the black/white educational achievement gap.

Health is not limited to physical illness alone—it also encompasses mental, spiritual, and physical wellness. Black Ohioans experience health disparities and differences in treatment due to social indicators such as race, education, and income. Even more troublesome, many of their health problems are preventable. Meanwhile, the current health care system is failing many low-income and uninsured Ohioans.

For Healthier Communities • Adopt a comprehensive approach that includes education, neighborhood, housing, and employment policies. • Increase African Americans’ access to physicians, improve cultural understanding, and increase the pool of doctors of color. • Involve the community in recommendations to improve health care. • Adopt universal health care. • Increase the number of people of color in clinical trials.

“There are many youth entering the job market without assets or resources since they come from the prison system. We need strong re-entry programs to reassemble families, neighborhoods, and communities.”

Unequal Justice Equal justice is the foundation of our legal system, but that justice is far from uniform in its treatment of African Americans. Throughout the country, including Ohio, racial disparities persist within the judicial system. Minorities, especially African American men, receive harsher treatment for similar offenses committed by their white male counterparts. African Americans account for less than 12% of Ohio’s population, but make up more than 25% of all arrests in the state.

Ohio’s African Americans are also more likely to be victims of crime than any other group. This risk leads to psychological distress and inhibits educational and socioeconomic attainment, prime ingredients for predicting someone will be involved in a future crime. For the past two decades, more black men have been sentenced to prison than have enrolled in college. And the rate of imprisoned African American women is growing at an even faster pace. Black women were 4.5 times more likely than white women to be jailed. Blacks in Ohio and around the nation are involved in crime at higher rates as both offenders and as victims, so Ohio’s black communities are plagued by both the negative consequences of being victims and the hardships of being associated with having a criminal record. African Americans are more likely than whites to hold negative attitudes toward police and to see the criminal justice system as unfair.

Recommendations • Invest in neighborhoods to create legitimate economic opportunities for African Americans who live in an environment that contributes to higher crime rates. • Increase the use of community-based corrections, like halfway houses, probation, and electronic monitoring programs that are cost efficient and reduce recidivism. • Expand choices for black families to live in safer, less poverty-stricken, and more racially diverse neighborhoods across the region. • Ease the potential for crime “hot spots” with street lighting and mixed use of neighborhood structures, such as restaurants and retail stores. • Lawmakers should conduct in-depth research before and after policies are enacted to consider the role that race might play, based on the disparities in the criminal justice system.

The racial disparities in the criminal justice system need immediate attention.

Nationally, black youth are imprisoned at drastically higher rates than white youth for drug offenses. Only 20% of whites who are arrested face felony drug charges compared to 38% for black youth, despite the fact that both use drugs at similar rates. By 2002, nearly 12% of black men in their 20s were in jail or prison. Contrary to popular belief, most offenders are in prison or jails for nonviolent crimes.

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END GAME

Challenges Are Systemic and Interrelated In the midst of global economic transformation, race and class segregation are continuing to drive wedges that produce uneven outcomes in Ohio and across the United States—the wealthy and the poor, those rich in opportunity and those left behind, the hopeful and the hopeless. Limited available dollars, cash-strapped government agencies and school districts, scarce volunteers, and failure to tap into other available resources complicate the potential for finding solutions for Ohio’s African American communities. But resolutions must be found. The challenges confronting Black Ohio are interrelated and ingrained within the system and they will continue to generate mounting barriers to opportunity, pushing communities of color even further behind.

“What I hope with this project is that it lets us turn the corner from identifying what the challenges are to move towards a set of solutions. Can we galvanize the leadership and community to take action? We need to mobilize.”

Black Ohioans can reach out to recession-damaged communities and other community organizations, including women’s groups, smart growth advocates, Somali immigrants, Latinos, and the labor movement. To meet and overcome these hurdles it will take renewed vigor by people in the community for civic involvement, creative policy designs, responsible administration, and an effective communications strategy. Black Ohio is resilient. If leaders and policymakers direct the state’s diverse set of educational, business, political, faith-based, medical, and cultural assets toward these issues, challenges can be overcome, positioning Ohio for a formidable role in the 21st century. Extraordinary times call for an extraordinary agenda. A strategic plan for Black Ohio can push the state through the crossroads and onto a path that leads to a fair, sustainable, and just future.

• Open the way to neighborhoods of high opportunity for all Ohioans. • Provide high-quality public services to all, beginning with fundamentals like education and health care. • Make all citizens and Ohio businesses competitive in the 21st-century economy. Transformative solutions can dismantle the webs of isolation and exclusion that entangle impoverished African American communities. Solutions must: • Be goal oriented. Programs must be evaluated for their effectiveness and changed if they are not achieving the goal. • Identify critical intervention points on both small (“low-hanging fruit”) and larger scales. • Consider multi-dimensional strategies, i.e. addressing child health and education together. • Develop solutions and evaluation processes that are holistic.

Recommendations Initiatives must be strategic and coordinated and support four basic principles: • Define a common agenda and strategic plan for strengthening Black Ohio, including a communication strategy on how these goals serve all Ohioans.

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All of Ohio’s citizens have a stake in maximizing Black Ohio’s success. In today’s interconnected world, all Ohio residents and communities share a common future. To maximize Ohio’s creativity and competitiveness, solutions must be crafted that open the doors of opportunity for all in education, affordable housing, health care, fair credit, and civic engagement. About the Kirwan Institute The Kirwan Institute partners with people, communities, and institutions worldwide to think about, talk about, and act on race in ways that create and expand opportunity for all.

Acknowledgements: Ohio State Senator Ray Miller Sam Gresham, The Ohio Commission on African American Males We extend a sincere thank you to respondents who contributed their time and insight to our team of interviewers.