Tagged: Economic Development

Americans Falling Out of the Middle-Class

October 28, 2011 | Leon Dixson | Tags: Data, Economic Development

The PEW Charitable Trusts recently reported that one-third of Americans raised in the middle-class will fall out of the middle class as adults. The report defines the middle-class as people between the 30^th and 70^th percentiles of the income distribution. This is between $32,900 and $64,000 in 2010 dollars for a family of two adults and two children.

An article in The Washington Post discussing the study’s findings notes that people were deemed downwardly mobile if they fell below the 30^th percentile in income, had an income ranked 20 or more percentiles below their parents’ rank, or if they earned at least 20 percent less than their parents. The article also notes that the study does not cover the time of economic woes Americans have faced since 2007.

The study found that significant factors contributing toward downward mobility are marital status, lack of education, drug use, and low Armed Forces Qualification Test scores (measuring “reading comprehension, math knowledge, arithmetic reasoning and word knowledge”).

According to the study, being married makes people better off economically. This is especially true for women, who are more likely than men to decline in economic status if they are divorced, widowed, or separated.

When looking at race, Hispanics are slightly more likely to fall out of the middle-class than non-Hispanic Caucasians. However, African-Americans fall down the “economic ladder” at nearly double the rate of non-Hispanic Caucasians. According to the report, this vast disparity primarily comes from comparing men in African-American and non-Hispanic Caucasian racial groups. Interestingly, only among whites are women more downwardly mobile than men.

Crime and Recession – A Conservative Perspective

February 17, 2010 | kwilliams | Tags: Benefits, Civil Rights, Criminal Law, Data, Economic Development, Education

In a recent Wall Street Journal article Heather Mac Donald, of the conservative think-tank “The Manhattan Institute”, claims that poverty, racism, and social injustice are not root-causes of crime. Mac Donald argues that under conventional left-wing wisdom, crime should be increasing due to the current economic recession. Mac Donald cites 2009 FBI crime statistics that reportedly show national decreases in crime. She writes, “The recession of 2008-09 has undercut one of the most destructive social theories that came out of the 1960s: the idea that the root cause of crime lies in income inequality and social injustice.”

Mac Donald criticizes government social service programs, including “after-school programs, social workers, and summer jobs”, suggesting that they are not effective in decreasing crime.

Is Mac Donald’s analysis too simplistic? Does a decrease in some crimes really demonstrate that crime is not linked to poverty, race, or social injustice? Even if one were to accept Mac Donald’s arguments, is it really better for individuals and society for the government to eliminate needed social service programs?

New Orleans multi-family housing moratorium struck down as racially discriminatory

April 8, 2009 | Mona Tawatao | Tags: Civil Rights, Economic Development, Housing, Land Use

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As many in the civil rights and housing advocacy world are happily aware, on March 25, U.S. District Court Judge Helen Berrigan, struck down an ordinance passed by the St. Bernard Parish Council which placed a 12-month moratorium on housing developments of more than five units in St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans. Plaintiffs, including Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, brought action again the Council on the grounds that the moratorium violated an existing consent decree under which the Council had agreed not to engage in further violations of the federal Fair Housing Act following the Council’s adoption of a series of racially discriminatory housing ordinances. The Court found that enactment of the subject ordinance indeed violated the Fair Housing Act under both a discriminatory effect standard and discriminatory intent standard and thus violated the decree. The opinion provides a good primer on applying the Arlington Heights factors to support a finding of intentional discrimination, an unfortunately exceedingly rare occurrence. For example, the opinion noted that a proposal for mixed-income multi-family developments slated for St. Bernard Parish precipitated enactment of the moratorium. The opinion also cites to decisions that found that the terms “crime” and “blight” and concerns about personal safety due to “new” people, references made in a newspaper editorial opposing prior to imposition of the ordinance, are camoflaged racial expressions. The court relied heavily on the testimony of Dr. Calvin Bradford, housing discrimination expert, regarding the disproportionate negative impact the moratorium had on African-Americans because African-Americans in the relevant geographic area are disproportionately lower-income and disproportionately renters, and Kalima Rose, Gulf Coast region affordable housing policy expert with PolicyLink regarding, among other things, the irregularity of enacting a such a moratorium following a development application consistent with the zoning of the subject area. Relman & Dane served as lead counsel for plaintiffs and the full opinion is available on its website.

Tribes most in need may be least likely to ‘win’ stimulus funds

February 27, 2009 | emelyfisher | Tags: Economic Development, Employment

The American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the ‘stimulus package’) includes $3 billion targeted for Native tribes. Tribes with the highest poverty and unemployment rates may be the least able to access the funds, however, because of the competitive grant processes that will be used to distribute the money.

As reported on Reznet, the stimulus funds will be directed first to federal agencies and other institutions serving tribal governments. These agencies will then distribute the funds to tribes mostly through existing federal grant programs. In a number of these programs, tribes will have to compete against one another, as well as state and local governments.

Unfortunately, the playing field is far from even. In his February 26 post “An Open Letter to Barack Obama,” Kevin Abourezk highlights the problems posed by a competitive grant process for many tribes that historically have been shut out of competitive grants due to lack of grantwriting resources. Wealthier tribes build capital through economic development and gaming, putting them in better positions to compete for grants, which over time helps forge good connections with state and federal agencies, giving them a further edge on the competition. Many tribes lacking gaming facilities or other resources for economic development are shut out, and without some reform of the competitive funding process this pattern appears unlikely to change.

Mr. Abourezk, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, points out that his tribe suffers from a 34% unemployment and an 80% poverty rate; indicators, he suggests, of the tribe’s historical difficulty winning competitive grant funding. The nationwide American Indian / Alaskan Native poverty rate is slightly over 25% [U.S. Census report, 2005].

To help ensure that more of the stimulus funding to tribes can reach the places that need it most, Abourezk proposes that the Obama administration offer “technical and financial support in applying for stimulus money to those tribes most in need and require federal agencies to prioritize the needs of those same tribes.”