Sharon Drummond / Flickr
The District’s poverty rate — 19.9 percent — is the third highest in the nation. But the way that rate breaks down by race shows that not all groups are affected equally by poverty.
These figures come courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau, which recently released its American Community Survey 2010 estimates for poverty and race. (Keep in mind the figures have various margins of error.):
|
Poverty Rate |
Median Income |
| White |
8.5% |
$99,220 |
| Hispanic |
14.7% |
$60,798 |
| Asian |
20.1% |
$77,098 |
| Black |
27.1% |
$37,430 |
*American Community Survey 2010 Estimates
Kathryn Baer of Poverty and Policy also points out that the percentage of D.C.’s children living in poverty has risen to 30.4 percent, the second-highest childhood poverty rate in the country. Baer writes:
In short, these are mostly grim figures — and a far cry from the “one city” Mayor Gray envisions.
To my mind, the child poverty rate rings the loudest alarm bells because we’ve got volumes of research showing that children who live in poverty have much higher risks of poor health, developmental delays, academic difficulties and other problems;
These, the research shows, pave the way for lifelong poverty — and thus another generation of children who are born with two strikes against them.
Activists claim that immigration officials are ignoring a Department of Homeland Security directive to prioritize the deportations of undocumented immigrants deemed as dangerous.
… ICE prosecutors have been given discretion on which immigrants to deport as long as they aren’t criminals. However sources familiar with federal prosecutions say because prosecutors advance based on the number of convictions and deportations, there is little incentive for them to drop cases.
— wamu.org
William Atkins / Courtesy of The George Washington University
George Washington University's School of Business dean Doug Guthrie talks (using a wireless mic) about how international investment can boost job creation in Ward 8.
There’s a serious unemployment divide in the District. Some areas have jobless rates as low as 3 percent, and others — like mostly black Ward 8 — have rates as low as 20 percent.
So what’s needed to boost employment in Ward 8? A jobs czar? Bridges and more development? How about having international experts and local activists talk about innovative, new ideas to spur job creation? You know, kind of like TEDTalks, but with a Ward 8 twist.
That’s kind of the idea behind the Major Projects Lab: Ward 8‘s job summit, the result of a partnership between The George Washington University’s School of Business and the Washington, DC Economic Partnership. The summit, held Tuesday at the university’s Foggy Bottom campus, focused on job creation in Ward 8.
Speakers didn’t delve deeply into the “complex social pathologies” that exacerbate and create unemployment disparities — literacy, adult male incarceration, teen pregnancy — because, as WDCEP’s president Steve Moore said, “all it does is solidify the thinking that we [already] have about how to go forward and how we think about economic development change. It seems like it justifies programs that have existed already and haven’t been all that damn successful.”
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September 23, 2011 | 8:15 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! How are you on this fine, gray Friday?
On Black People and Homophobia “The Black community was blamed for Proposition 8‘s failure in California, anti-gay leaders exist and are well publicized, and there is an ongoing discussion of homophobia in hip-hop. Often, it looks like straight Black folks are more homophobic than any other group, especially white people. But, that has rarely been my experience. Inquisitive? Yes. Inappropriate questions at times? Of course…But I don’t think that constitutes a more homophobic community, which is what I take issue with.” (Racialicious)
Texas Executes White Supremacist Convicted Of Racially Motivated Murder “[The victim's] son, Ross, says he doesn’t want Brewer to die for his crime. He tells Reuters an execution won’t solve anything, and that Texas should show Brewer the mercy that his father never received.” (npr.org)
Obama’s favorability numbers start to drop among African Americans “the decline is tied to the disproportionately high jobless rate faced by African Americans correlates with the drop in their view of Obama’s handling of the economy. In July, only 54 percent of blacks said they thought Obama’s policies were making the economy better compared with 77 percent the previous year.” (The Washington Post)
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Can you get into your top pick college, even if you can’t afford it? College admissions officers are increasingly targeting their recruiting efforts at students who don’t need financial aid to pay tuition.
“As institutional pressures mount, between the decreased state funding, the pressure to raise a college’s profile, and the pressure to admit certain students, we’re seeing a fundamental change in the admissions process,” said David A. Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling. “Where many of the older admissions professionals came in through the institution and saw it as an ethically centered counseling role, there’s now a different dynamic that places a lot more emphasis on marketing.”
— www.nytimes.com
Yesterday we asked you to weigh in on whether it was fair to raise the income tax for D.C.’s wealthier residents. In an admittedly unscientific poll, 47 percent of readers voted that it made sense to increase the income tax rate by 0.45 percent for people making more than $350,000 year. Check out the results below, and cast your vote if you haven’t already.
Art All Night
Art All Night begins at 7 p.m., Saturday.
Our event picks this week run the gamut, so we decided to break them down by category. See something we missed? Add your pick in the comments section.
Books: The National Book Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday on the National Mall. The free event will include author talks, readings and story telling events for children, teens and adults. Check the full schedule for information.
Art: This is the weekend for art in D.C. The (e)merge art fair, running Friday through Sunday, will bring together local and international artists at the Capitol Skyline Hotel. Tickets are $15, so if you’re looking for a free and more community-oriented alternative, check out Nuit Blanche: Art All Night. It begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday. D.C.’s painters, street performers, DJs and other artists will be showcasing their talents in various Shaw and Chinatown venues.
History: Interested in learning more about your neighborhood? Check out Anacostia Community Museum‘s Researching Community History workshop at 7 p.m., Thursday. Historian Matthew Gilmore will instruct participants on using public data to uncover information about D.C.’s neighborhoods.
Music: If you missed Chuck Brown during the National Symphony Orchestra’s Labor Day Concert, here’s your chance to catch the “Godfather of Go-Go” for free. Brown will perform at 5 p.m., Friday at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza.
More on At-large Councilman Vincent Orange’s proposal to hire a jobs czar. Such a person would be responsible for addressing unemployment through committees, developing a workforce strategy and enforcing the District’s first source agreements.
The problem is…all of that’s already happening. The Department of Employment Services has been pushing its database of the jobless to employers, and putting up vastly improved numbers for local hiring on District-assisted construction projects. Mayor Vince Gray has in essence already appointed himself the city’s Jobs Czar, talking about the issue incessantly, trying new programs, and bringing incentives together in an easy-to-understand bundle. He’s even re-energized something very like the Committee Orange seeks to create: A Workforce Investment Council composed of representatives from labor, industry, and government that went defunct during the Fenty administration.
— www.washingtoncitypaper.com
September 22, 2011 | 7:35 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers. Here are the news stories we’re consuming, right now:
Revealing Sex Crimes Against Black Women Wayne State University professor Danielle L. McGuire: “Between 1940 and 1975, sexual violence and interracial rape became one crucial battleground upon which African Americans sought to destroy white supremacy and gain personal and political autonomy.” (nieman.harvard.edu)
Unemployment fraud probe leads to city employee’s firing “Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and aides confirmed Wednesday that the termination was related to the investigation being conducted by the Office of the Inspector General. ‘This was done with speed, let me put it that way,’ Gray said. ‘There was enough there to have someone removed from the job.’ Gray said the allegations surrounded ‘people getting on unemployment that shouldn’t have been there.’” (The Washington Post)
Some Metrobus riders lose fare discount starting Sunday “Since 1991, the District has subsidized bus riders in Anacostia by 50 cents per ride, according to Metro. The discount was created when the Anacostia Metro station opened because bus routes started to turn back at the station, rather than continuing into downtown. That meant riders used to paying a single bus fare had to pay a rail fare, too. The discount went to all Anacostia bus riders.” (Washington Examiner )
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