Low Income Communities, People Of Color Most Affected In Recession
NEW YORK - The Center for Social Inclusion released a report today entitled, “2011 Recession Impact Index: How States Continue to be Burdened by the Recession.” The report analyzes the affect of the Great Recession on various communities by using multiple variables as indicators of people’s interests and basic needs including: healthcare, jobs, affordability and poverty, among other variables. Using data to capture how states faired at the end of the Recession, CSI found a trend that those communities most affected by the Recession are low income communities and communities with large minority populations.
“The recession is a depression for most communities of color and cannot be called "over" for most ordinary Americans," stated Maya Wiley,Executive Director of the Center for Social Inclusion. “The so-called ‘end of the Recession’ has dominated the media, providing false justification for the latest round of cuts in the 2011 federal budget even as statistics prove people continue to suffer.”
Data from the report found the following notable results:
Unemployment for Blacks is 15.5%, more than double of Whites at 7.9%
15 states have a higher percentage of people of color than the national average of 36.9%; of those15 states, 12 have been hit the hardest by the Recession
Nevada, the most-impacted state in the country with 42.6% people of color, witnessed a disastrous spike in people uninsured, foreclosures and unemployment
CSI has several recommendations to ensure stability for low income families in the future:
United States Congress must create a budget that invests in our communities’ health and well-being
Congress must continue to fully fund anti-poverty programs in the midst of final budget decisions
Congress must invest in community-scale infrastructure that will provide economic and health opportunities to communities in need
The Center for Social Inclusion is a 501c3 nonprofit that identifies causes of racial inequity growing out of public policy. Racial injustice is not only about individual attitudes. Collective decisions shape where we invest our resources, develop relationships and build opportunities. Too often these decisions open a racial divide that undermines opportunity in communities of color. In the end, this injustice becomes a drag on the nation’s prosperity, and a critical barrier to our long-term health as a society. CSI develops ideas, supports grass roots leaders and moves public will to promote structural transformation through public policy, sowing seeds of racial, gender and class equity for all.
