Racesensitive Policies through Targeted Universalism

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Race-sensitive Policies through Targeted
Universalism

• john a. powell
• Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race
  and Ethnicity
• Williams Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties,
  Moritz College of Law

Americas Future Now! Conference June 3,
2009 Washington D.C.
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The Allure of Universal Policies

• The impulse to promote universal policies is
  seemingly sensible for democratically elected
  leaders.
• Targeted policies may appear to favor some groups
• Targeted policies often are perceived as
  zero-sum.
• Advocating for targeted policies can be construed
  as catering to special interests or advocating
  for preferences.
• To avoid these perceived pitfalls, elected
  leaders often favor universal policies that
  appear to benefit everyone.

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Different Kinds of Universalists

• Strategic Support universal policies as best
  strategy, not because they will work
• Showing that race sensitive policies wont cost
  them, its a matter framing
• Pragmatic Hope universal policies will yield
  positive outcomes
• Showing that these policies may not produce the
  practical, positive outcomes that they seek

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KeyRed job training Boxes isolated
neighborhood (not addressed by universal program)
If people in red receive job training through the
universal program, Group B would seem to benefit
more than Group A (more people in red)
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KeyRed job training Boxes isolated
neighborhood
Although the universal program affected everyone
in red, Group B is still constrained by living in
isolated neighborhoods (the boxes).
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GI Bill

• The GI Bill, officially the Selective Service
  Readjustment Act, sought to ease the path for
  soldiers returning to civilian life post-WWII.
• It reached eight out of ten men born in 1920s.
• Bill provisions included assistance with
• Buying a home
• Attending college
• Starting new business ventures
• Locating a job

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GI Bill Outcomes

• Homeownership
• Capped interest rates and waived down payments
  opened up the market drastically.
• From 1946 to 1947, VA mortgages comprised more
  than 40 of the total.
• Education
• GI Bill benefits included full tuition and a
  stipend.
• By 1955, approximately 2,250,000 veterans had
  participated in higher education.

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Barriers to Opportunity

• Despite the bills achievements, many barriers
  were placed in the path of black soldiers.
• Implementation was left to states and localities,
  including those that practiced Jim Crow racism.
• Blacks access to primarily white colleges and
  institutions was limited
• 95 of black veterans used their education
  vouchers at historically black colleges (HBCUs)
  in the South.
• These historically black institutions were
  limited in number and had limited space to admit
  the influx of black veterans

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Barriers to Opportunity (cont)

• Job placement centers staffed by whites channeled
  black veterans into black jobs even though the
  veterans had work experience/training
• Black veterans were often denied access to the
  loans promised by the GI Bill.
• Blacks were often deemed ineligible for small
  business loans
• Financial institutions often denied home loans,
  citing lack of established credit, insufficient
  capital, and other inadequacies.

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Summary of GI Bill Effects

• The education gap widened instead of closed.
• The vocational training black veterans received
  was not held to any standards, thus often proving
  inadequate.
• Job placements reinforced the existing division
  of labor by race.
• Blacks often failed to qualify for loans.
• despite the assistance that black soldiers
  received, there was no greater instrument for
  widening an already huge racial gap in postwar
  America than the GI Bill. (Katznelson 2005, p.
  121)

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Learning From Our Mistakes?

• If we fail to pay attention to the resources that
  communities possess, we are likely to repeat the
  mistakes of the New Deal.
• For example, Social Security benefits were
  initially denied to household and farm laborers
  effectively excluding 65 of the Black population
• How do we avoid the New Deal mistakes?
• We must be intentional.
• Policies should be targeted and programs should
  be structured so that they reach certain
  populations and communities.

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Ex Economic Stimulus Package

• The economic stimulus package fails to directly
  account for race.
• Yet, race is a key component of many major
  economic issues.
• People of color are more than three times as
  likely as whites to have subprime mortgages.
• Borrowers of color were more than 30 percent more
  likely to receive a higher-rate loan than whites,
  even after accounting for differences in risk.
• Besides considering race-sensitive
• design, we must be concerned
• about the impacts.

Rogers, Christy. Subprime Loans, Foreclosure,
and the Credit Crisis A Primer. Dec. 2008.
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Racially Sensitive Policies

• What do racially sensitive policies look like?
• Targeted They recognize the nature of our
  interconnected structures / larger inequitable,
  institutional framework.
• Pay attention to situatedness They account for
  the fact that people are situated differently in
  the economic and social landscape of society.
• Driven by outcomes It may seem great if
  unemployment is cut in half, but if all the jobs
  go to white males, serious problems remain.
• Include people of color in the process Their
  input is vital.

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Racially Sensitive Policies (cont)

• What do racially sensitive policies look like?
• Transparent - Transparency allows for gauging
  progress and making corrections if necessary.
• Multi-faceted Incentivize a systems approach.
  Reorient how we think about policy.
• Serve as a bridge to the next economy These
  policies should be the stepping stones for the
  future.

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Race-Sensitive Policy Analysis of the Stimulus

• How do we make the stimulus fair, sustainable,
  accountable?
• Incentives for inclusion of people of color
• Grants and loans for small and minority-, women-,
  and community-disadvantaged businesses
• Collect data by race and gender to understand
  impacts of economic recovery policy
• Investment in public transit (prioritize
  projects that connect people to jobs)

Wiley, Maya. Economic Recovery for Everyone
Racial Equity and Prosperity, Center for Social
Inclusion
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We Need A New Paradigm

• Targeted policies alone are not desirable because
  they appear to show favoritism toward a certain
  group, thus stigmatizing them.
• Universal policies alone are not truly universal.
• They fail to account for the fact that people are
  situated differently in the economic and social
  landscape
• Universal policies are often based on a
  non-universal standard
• Ex Social Security able-bodied white males
  working outside the home full-time for pay
• Thus Targeted Universalism

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Targeted Universalism

• This approach supports needs of the particular
  while reminding us we are all part of the same
  social fabric.
• Universal, yet captures how people are
  differently situated
• Inclusive, yet targets those who are most
  marginalized
• Targeted Universalism recognizes racial
  disparities, while acknowledging their presence
  within a larger inequitable, institutional
  framework
• Targeted universalism is a common framework
  through which to pursue justice.
• A model which recognizes our linked fate
• A model where we all grow together
• A model where we embrace collective solutions

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Our Linked Fates

• Targeted universalism recognizes that problems
  faced by particular segments of American society
  are not isolated circumstances, but problems that
  could spill over into the lives of everyone.

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Targeting the Stimulus Investments

• Stimulus investments should strategically and
  deliberately transform cities and communities.
• Example transportation funds
• If these funds are widespread to different road
  proposals across states, they may produce jobs in
  the short-term, but they will not produce
  sustainable or equitable growth.
• Instead, we need to direct funds to
  investment-deprived communities

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Applying Targeted Universalism to the Stimulus

• The shovel ready stimulus package jobs can
  benefit unemployed people of color and women if
  specific incentives and enforcement tools are
  enacted to ensure fair access
• All stimulus projects should require local
  resident hiring goals and create a link to
  community-based groups as first line contact for
  construction jobs.
• Local hiring requirements are a proven approach
  to bring jobs to under-represented constituencies
  in construction trades. These requirements can be
  applied to permanent jobs as well.

Center for Social Inclusion. Economic Recovery
for Everyone Racial Equity and Prosperity.
Talking Points.
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Questions or Comments? For More Information,
Visit Us Onlinewww.KirwanInstitute.org
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Appendix A

• Additional Information

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• The Social Security Act of 1935

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Social Security Act

• The provisions of the act had enormous potential
  to help African Americans.
• African Americans worked longer into old age,
  were more likely to be laid off, and were often
  relegated to the lower rungs of the social and
  economic hierarchy.
• However, this so-called quintessential universal
  policy was universal only in terms of able-bodied
  white males working outside the home full-time
  for pay.

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Two Tiers of Social Security

• Social security separated aid into two tiers

Tier 1 Social Insurance Programs
Tier 2 Public Assistance Programs
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Uneven Impact

• Social Security benefits accounted for prior
  wages, which reflected African Americans
  disadvantaged position in society.
• Farm workers and domestics jobs which many
  African Americans held were excluded from
  receiving benefits.
• This exclusion from Tier 1 forced many blacks
  into Tier 2 public assistance programs.
• The definition of work excluded women.
• Unpaid household labor and child-rearing were not
  counted toward Social Security.

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Long-term Consequences

• Tier 1 social insurance programs excluded 65 of
  the working Black population.
• Because of continuing discrimination and unequal
  education opportunities, many people lack Tier 1
  economic security. 
• By separating out benefits for the employed (like
  retirement and unemployment insurance programs)
  from those for the unemployed, people in Tier 2
  public assistance programs are often stigmatized.

Dona Cooper Hamilton and Charles V. Hamilton, The
Dual Agenda  the African-American struggle for
civil and economic equality.  New York  Columbia
University Press, 1997. 
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Money Allocation
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Assessing the Stimulus Package

• Projections indicate that the stimulus package
  will not impact all groups to the same degree.
• People are not only spatially segregated, but
  segregation also occurs by sector.

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Stimulus Projected Distribution of Jobs by Race
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African Americans are underrepresented relative
to their presence in the U.S. population (13).
Hispanics/Latinos, also at 13 of the U.S.
population, are overrepresented.
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Concluding Thoughts

• The economic stimulus provides an opportunity to
  grow the economy for all.
• Foundations can play a vital role in reducing
  existing disparities.
• We need to embrace transformative change.
• Collaborate
• Invest in learning models
• Invest in communications models and capacities