Giving Compass
  • Sign In
  • About Us
    About Giving Compass How We Choose Content and Organizations Annual Reflections Our Newsletter
  • Getting Started
  • Learn About Issues
    Topic Guides
    Animal Welfare COVID-19 Criminal Justice Democracy Disaster Relief Education Environment Health Homelessness Immigrants and Refugees Racial Equity Women and Girls
    Curated Articles
    Partner Collections Giving Compass Selections See All Articles
  • Give to Causes
    Issue Funds & Intermediaries Projects Nonprofits
  • Get Involved
    Philanthropy Resource Directory Events Volunteer Opportunities
  • Partner With Us
    Nonprofits Authors Use Our Content Services Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Sign Up
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Sign In

New Study Shows That Race, Not Just Poverty Shapes Your Future in America

Chalkbeat Mar 26, 2018
This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
Click here for more.
New Study Shows That Race, Not Just Poverty Shapes Your Future in America-giving compass
  •  Share
  •  Save
Share

Giving Compass’ Take:

• A new study says that both race and socioeconomic status are crucial when understanding the outcomes for men and women in America.

• What can you do in your community to combat problems you see around race and education policy?

• Other studies and additional research shows that that young people  (usually men) of color are more likely to end up in jail and/or unemployed.


The study landed with a gut punch. Black men earn significantly less than white men, even when they were raised in families making the same amount. Poor black boys tend to stay poor as adults, and wealthy black boys are more likely to be poor as adults than to stay wealthy.

The study, released through the Equality of Opportunity Project, is noteworthy in scope, using data on millions of people born between 1978 and 1983 in the U.S. And while it focuses on their economic outcomes, the research also looks at education, where the impact of racism on black boys is also apparent. Here’s what the study tells us about schools and education policy.

The differences were substantial. Whereas poor white men graduated high school about 78 percent of the time, black men whose families had the same income graduated only 70 percent of the time. Disparities for women exist too, but were much smaller.

Here’s another example: On federal math and reading exams, white eighth graders who qualified for subsidized lunch (indicating low family income) slightly outscored black eighth graders who did not qualify. This has real-world consequences. A number of states that do not have school funding gaps between low- and high-income students still have gaps between white students and students of color, one recent analysis found.

This study relies on average test scores to define school quality, though that doesn’t actually say much about how effective schools are.

Read the full article about race and poverty shaping futures by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.

  •  Share
  •  Save
Share

Interested in learning more about Race and Ethnicity? Other readers at Giving Compass found the following articles helpful for impact giving related to Race and Ethnicity.

  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Advancing Racial Equity in the Investment Industry

    Systemic racial bias is apparent in the investment industry, where people of color receive significantly less investment capital and face bias in the underwriting and allocation process, despite performing as well as (or even better than) their white peers. In many cases, asset owners promote equitable access to opportunities through their missions and programmatic objectives, and yet the capital gap persists. And differences in capital allocation are merely the tip of the iceberg — a tangible indication of the organizational structures and entrenched systems that drive biased outcomes. In 2017, Global Endowment Management (GEM) — a full-service outsourced investment firm (or OCIO) stewarding nearly $10 billion on behalf of primarily mission-driven clients — began to reflect on how and why our efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive firm were not leading to the results we wanted. Today, after more than two years of focused and consistent effort, we have changed many of the processes and systems that impeded our progress, and we are beginning to see tangible results. Our work has only begun, and we are humbled by all that we are learning with each step forward. We hope that sharing our experiences, challenges, and lessons will help other investment firms — particularly historically white firms — take actions now that can lead to long-term change at their firms and across our industry. Establish Accountability Investment firms — like all successful businesses — have no shortage of experience assigning ownership for objectives, tracking progress, and rewarding results. Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion will not happen until we elevate this work to the same level as other strategic decision-making by establishing objectives and incorporating them into our existing accountability frameworks. In 2018, we launched GEM’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee, led by our Chief Investment Officer with representation across every team and at every level of the firm. The committee was charged with three objectives: developing a shared definition for diversity and inclusion; evaluating our existing diversity and inclusion practices; and developing a strategic plan to address the most pressing challenges and greatest opportunities. This work resulted in naming a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advocacy in 2019, who is responsible for the implementation of the D&I strategic plan and is supported by the D&I Committee. At the same time, GEM’s investment sourcing team took responsibility for building up the pipeline of diverse investment opportunities. We incorporated this objective within an existing “Area of Interest” framework, an internal process where we spend several months expanding our networks, engaging experts, and developing our knowledge and perspective on a particular area of the market. In this case, we spent a year mapping diverse-led investment firms working across asset classes and around the globe, with a specific focus on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people and women. In 2018, we increased our pipeline of diverse investment managers by 10 times; in 2019, approximately 25 percent of nearly a thousand investment opportunities we reviewed were diverse. In 2018 and 2019, more than 40 percent of the strategies added to our portfolio had material representation from men and women of color and white women at the ownership and investment decision-making level. Importantly, the same rigorous investment evaluation process was employed during that time. Invest In Learning Investment firms rarely have the training and expertise to address systemic bias. Before we take action, we need to better understand the issues we aim to address to increase the likelihood of effecting positive change and to avoid causing harm. At GEM, we began by auditing our practices, rolling out a series of learning opportunities and trainings, and seeking to understand our role in the context of our industry and our local community. We partnered with the Kaleidoscope Group to administer a firm-wide survey to assess diversity, equity, and inclusion practices at the firm. They worked with the D&I Committee to interpret the results of the survey and establish clear, actionable objectives, which were incorporated into our D&I strategic plan. Several members of our team participated in the Racial Equity Institute’s training on institutional racism, which provides a historical, cultural, and structural analysis of racism. Beginning in 2020, all employees will participate in this (or similar) training. This helps put institutional racism into context and allows for understanding, which is the necessary starting point for changing those systems. We also learned about our local community. In 2017, a team of researchers led by Stanford Professor Raj Chetty found that Charlotte, where GEM is based, ranked last out of America’s 50 largest cities for economic mobility, which disproportionately impacts Black and Latino families in Charlotte due to the history of segregation and Jim Crow laws that shaped the American South. Our employee-led GEM Foundation and our Community Engagement Committee partnered with local leaders and community representatives to learn about the underlying issues contributing to the lack of economic mobility and some of the leading initiatives addressing the issue. This developed into a set of strategic priorities for our corporate giving and employee engagement. Change Your Process Unfortunately, studies demonstrate that diversity training is often ineffective in changing behaviors; we cannot simply “learn” our way out of racial bias. We must review and address the processes that unintentionally reinforce bias. Two areas we focused on were our hiring practices and investment manager review process. We know that these are areas where bias is particularly persistent and can have significant consequences when overlooked. After mounting frustration with the lack of qualified diverse candidates from headhunters, we partnered with Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a leading source of diverse talent, and The Muse, a platform that supports companies to attract and hire diverse talent. Both organizations provide support that not only enhances our candidate pool, but informs how we interview, hire, promote, and retain diverse team members. As one example, we instituted “blind resume reviews” into our screening process, meaning that hiring managers cannot see the names or factors that could potentially convey race or ethnicity during the candidate screening process. We also expanded the schools where we recruit from 10 to 30, adding additional Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), such as Hampton, Howard, Morehouse, and Spelman, and universities with more diverse student bodies, increasing the likelihood of identifying diverse talent within those schools. Since 2018, 78% of new hires have been women and people of color. On the investment front, we added a “second look” process for all diverse fund managers. All diverse funds are reviewed by at least two principals prior to our decision not to move forward with the investment. In practice, this results in more robust discussions and review of diverse-led investment strategies in our pipeline, and has resulted in additional allocation to diverse fund managers. Establish Your Starting Point Benchmarking is the cornerstone of the investment industry, with most of us adhering to the view that we must “measure what matters.” In the same way, historically white firms must take stock of the present to benchmark their progress and maintain accountability. We began tracking the racial/ethnic and gender diversity of our portfolio in 2017, using team member knowledge of how investment managers identified. In some cases this was straightforward; in others, quite difficult. We are continuing to improve our system for identifying, measuring, and tracking diversity, but the lack of comparable internal data means that actionable judgments about our progress cannot yet be made. In 2020, we are refining our definitions of diversity, racial equity, and social equity as three distinct features of each investment opportunity — diversity referring to who owns or makes decisions, and social and racial equity referring to how the firm operates and executes with an equity lens. This evolution is important, and reflects what we have learned in practice; but the lack of data from our starting point is again a frustrating limitation to measuring progress. We recommend incorporating metrics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion into the due diligence process today to establish a baseline for future progress. For firms that are concerned about how fund managers will respond to questions, include an option for declining to answer. In our experience, very few firms select that option. We know that diverse teams make better decisions; and yet, in 2017, we recognized that our efforts to build a more diverse and inclusive firm were not leading to the results we wanted — and that we needed to change our approach. Perhaps the most important lesson we have learned so far is the value of moving forward in the face of difficult questions with unknown answers. When we launched our Diversity & Inclusion Committee, we did not have a roadmap for which actions to take, nor a vision for where they would take us. But today, we are a more diverse, more inclusive, and stronger firm for having started the process. Our industry is just beginning the slow and challenging work of uncovering, confronting and changing biased systems. This change will not happen overnight, but it will happen if we convert our good intentions into durable commitment.


Looking for a way to get involved?

If you are interested in Education, please see these relevant events, training, conferences or volunteering opportunities the Giving Compass team recommends.

Loading...
Learn More

Are you ready to give?

In addition to learning and connecting with others, taking action is a key step towards becoming an impact giver. If you are interested in giving with impact for Education take a look at these Giving Funds, Charitable Organizations or Projects.

Loading...
Learn More
Connect

Loading...

Loading...

Learn More
Take Action

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Learn More
More from
Giving Compass
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Study Shows That Growth Data Can Help Integrate Schools
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    Federal Study Finds Charter Middle Schools Didn’t Help Students Earn College Degrees
  • This article is deemed a must-read by one or more of our expert collaborators.
    Click here for more.
    New Reports Indicate Poor Students Lack Much-Needed Funding
Follow Us
Newsletter

Become a newsletter subscriber to stay up-to-date on the latest Giving Compass news.

About Us
  • About Giving Compass
  • In The News
  • Contact Us
  • Content at Giving Compass
  • Partner With Us
Trending Issues
  • Environment
  • Homelessness
  • STEM Education
  • Equal Pay Act
  • Gender Equality

Copyright © 2021, Giving Compass, LLC

•
  • Privacy Policy
  • User Agreement

Sign in

Your personal information is confidential at Giving Compass. For more information, please visit our privacy policy. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use.