Minnesota Dream Fund Advance September 20, 2007 Collaborative Presentation: Brown Power Base Project Partner Organizations: African American Family Services Centro Campesino Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research Housing Preservation Project Institute on Race & Poverty Minneapolis Urban League

Brown Power Base Project Preliminary Analysis of focus groups Research Partners HACER IRP HPP Rodolfo Gutierrez September

Overview HACER is committed to conduct 10 focus groups by the end of this year Participants are to be African American and Latino parents and students The primary goal of the focus groups is to identify and understand parents and students experiences and perceptions with regards of segregation patterns in the school system

Demographic Summary of Focus Group Participants Actually, HACER has completed 6 focus groups by August 40 participants were recruited in total: 17(42.5%) males and 23 (57.5%) females. 25 (62.5%)participants were Latinos and 15 (37.5%) African Americans Students age range from 13 to 17 years old

Demographic Summary of Focus Group Participants. cont Highlights: Eighty two percent of the participants receive free or reduced lunch Thirteen percent do not receive free or reduced lunch Five percent did not know if they receive free or reduced lunch

When you hear the word segregation what comes to mind? Parents said: “For me it means separate. They don’t want our kind around them, and then they give us teachers that really don’t fit to teach” (African American parent) [segregation] “ it was stricter on the older generation like mine. They [students] still see a version of it but it is not strict on them. They know they are categorizing them and leaving them out (African American parent)

When you hear the word segregation what comes to mind? Students said: “ When people hear segregation they hear only black and white but it’s probably more than that” (African American student) “Martin Luther king and black people” (Latino student) “ Separating groups by the same color or language” (Latino student)

Stories of student (s) that have been segregated “ For being Latinos or Somalis they leave them at the end to see if is possible to change our classes, but whites have their classes changed first, and we wait until the end” (Latino student) “ When there is group of white kids it is a group and when it is black kids it is a gang” (African American student) “ He made me take off my hat, and then he was talking to a white kid with a hat on, and I though why do you made me take it off?” (Latino student) “All the people that starts the game are whites, all the colored people plays only the last quarter, even if they are good” (Latino students)

How segregation affects students life's? “ He [my son] would go to a different class for reading, and one day he got some kind of award and he was so excited. She [the teacher] told him to put it up, but he wasn’t quick enough for her and she took it [the award] from his hands and ripped it up” (African American parent) “ Segregation can cause the shooting, if someone feels segregated or left out, they can get angry” (African American student) “ It make students hate another group of students by the situation they go through” (Latino student) “ Kind of limits students opportunities in life” (Latino student)

Brown Power Base Project School Segregation in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Myron Orfield Institute on Race & Poverty

In 1992, there were only 9 non-white segregated schools – around 2% of all schools in the metro area. By 2002, the number of non- white segregated schools jumped to 109 – nearly 20% of all schools The share of students of color attending non- white segregated schools increased more than fivefold from 9% in 1992 to 46% in The number of students of color attending non- white segregated schools in the Twin Cities area skyrocketed from 2,832 in 1992 to 29,788 in 2002.

The share of black students in non-white segregated schools more than tripled from 14% in 1992 to 50% in This meant that 14,560 black elementary students attended segregated schools in 2002, up from 1,981 in The share of Latino/a and Asian students attending non-white segregated schools increased even more dramatically from 1992 to 2002-increasing from 3 to 39% for Latinos and from 1% to 45% for Asians. During this period, the number of Latino elementary school students in segregated schools went from 81 to 5,122 while the number for Asian elementary students increased from 141 to 8,859.

From 1992 to 2002, the school poverty rate faced by a typical non-white elementary student increased from 40 to 44%, while the rate faced by a typical white student declined from 14 to 13%. The share of non-white students attending non- white segregated schools in the central cities jumped from 12 to 75% from 1992 to 2002.

Minneapolis Schools Race and Ethnicity

Minneapolis Free Lunch Eligibility

Northwest Suburbs Race and Ethnicity

Northwest Suburbs Free Lunch Eligibility

Southwest Suburbs Race and Ethnicity

Southwest Suburbs Free Lunch Eligibility

Low Income Housing Tax Credits Twin Cities Breakdown

Key Note: data are from representational survey for 53% of all LIHTC units in Twin Cities

MCA Testing (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments)

BST (Basic Skills Test)

Dropout Rates

Completion Rates

Twin Cities Asthma Rate

Residence of Felons and School Crime

Twin Cities Charter School Demographics

Brown Power Base Next Steps Continuing school district attendance boundary research and action - clarify strategic goals - initiate public education for boundary reform - initiate administrative action Amendment to the Minnesota State School Desegregation Rule to encourage racial and social integration and stability - Legislative testimony and hearings Reform the use of state integration fund revenue

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