Julianne Hing

Assessing Racial Equity Impacts in the House Stimulus Bill

Conducting a racial equity impact assessment of the stimulus package can start with a chart like this one, which examines per capita spending on jobs training from the bill that passed the House last week. States to the right of the vertical red line have a higher percentage of people of color (POC) than the national average (34%), while states to the left contain more white, non-Latino residents than the national average. The horizontal green line represents the national per capita spending on jobs training in the
House bill ($10.03), which means states above this line will receive more stimulus funds than the national average, while states below this line will receive less. Therefore POC states such as Mississippi, South Carolina, California, and the District of Columbia in the top right corner of the chart are receiving a comparatively larger share of jobs training funds, while POC states such as Hawaii, New Mexico, Texas, and Maryland may deserve additional funds. POC communities in Michigan and Alaska should be particularly vigilant in ensuring they receive an equitable portion of the high per capita spending that is likely to occur in those states.

Posted at 12:48 PM, Feb 03, 2009 in Permalink | View Comments