Editorial: Seeking answers for troubling disparities

A new Minneapolis Foundation report about racial and ethnic disparities in Minneapolis confirms something we already knew: Deep racial gaps persist in education, employment and income.

What's different about this examination is its comprehensive analysis of 24 different indexes. The study analyzes the data in ways that can help the community identify effective action plans to close these critical gaps.

The OneMinneapolis report encourages citizens to think about what the city would look like if the majority of residents earned a living wage; if the majority of students did well in school; if kids had caring adults in their lives inside and outside of their families and felt safe at school and in their communities; and if people had housing they could afford.

The foundation hired the St. Paul-based Wilder Foundation to do the study on trends in education, housing, poverty, employment, crime, and representation of women and non-whites in elected office.

Among the many troubling statistics:

•One in four African America students are suspended from school each year.

•The reading gap between white and non-white students was 50 percentage points in 2010.

•Only about 20 percent of families in poverty are paying for housing they can afford, making them extremely vulnerable to homelessness.

•People of color make up about 40 percent of the population in Minneapolis, yet they hold only 17 percent of the jobs.

As the study points out, the indicators put Minneapolis at risk of becoming a fully "two-tiered society," which would cost the state millions in lost human capital.

However, the report also pointed to a few encouraging signs. About 63 percent of all key elected positions are held by women or people of color, and 49 percent are held by women. And kindergarteners whose families who spoke Somali at home arrived at school almost as likely to meet kindergarten reading standards as students who speak English.

Though it focused on the city of Minneapolis, the study has implications for the metro area and region. Organizations and individuals outside the city limits have a stake in the success of Minneapolis, too.