minnesota legislative report card on racial equity - Organizing ...

Elements of Governor’s Unallotments Will IncreaseDisparities by Race, Poverty and UnemploymentGovernor Pawlenty’s unalloted programs will hurt families of color and low-incomefamilies the most. Health care and state aids to local governments took the biggest hits.By looking at the impact of those cuts on Minnesota’s key quality-of-life measures likepoverty, unemployment, struggling geographic areas and diversifying populations, we canunearth whether unallotment decisions would increase Minnesota’s disparities or not.• The governor used his line-item veto and unallotment authority to dismantle theentire General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program, effective March 1,2010. 8 In effect, this possibly means that more than 70,000 Minnesotans who earnless than $7,800 a year will lose access to comprehensive, affordable health carecoverage. This impact will fall hardest on Minnesota’s Black and American Indianpopulations; together they represent 39 percent of GAMC enrollees but only 5percent of the state’s population. 9• Related, in 2009 people of color and American Indian patients represented 69percent of clinic visits covered by GAMC at Hennepin County Medical Center,compared to just 30 percent for white patients. 10 Without GAMC, scores oflow-income Minnesotans, particularly people of color will likely be turned awayfrom health care for being sick and poor. Dismantling GAMC will underminethe mission of a core public health institution that for 120 years has treated moredisadvantaged patients than any other hospital in Minnesota.• The governor proposed a 27 percent cut or $51 million reduction to the Renters’Credit. The Renters’ Credit offsets a portion of property taxes paid for by lowincomerenters. For lower income Minnesotans, this refund represents morethan just tax relief; it is a down payment on a house and school clothes for kids.Approximately 274,000 renters will face a reduction and 18,200 renters willactually lose their credit. 11 That includes elderly renters, low-income renters andrenters of color. In particular, although renters of color make up 20 percent of thestate’s renters, people of color make up only 13.9 percent of the state’s population. 12• $300 million in state aids to local governments was unalloted or cut. TheOrganizing Apprenticeship Project’s analysis shows that counties with higherpercentages of people of color, poverty and unemployment will shoulder a greaterburden of this unallotment. 13 Over one-third (38 percent) of counties with anabove-average percent of people of color received an above-average unallotmentper person; 14 two-thirds (64 percent) of counties with a poverty rate above thestate average received an above-average unallotment; 15 three-fifths (60 percent) ofcounties with unemployment rates above state average received an above-averageunallotment. 16• Similarly, some of Minnesota’s most racially diverse and poorest cities will alsobe disproportionately harmed by unallotment. 17 Cities where the proportion ofpeople of color is higher than the state’s population were more likely to receive anabove-average unallotment per person. 18 Only a few of these cities were in the TwinCities metropolitan area, most were in greater Minnesota. These areas are also hostto a disproportionate number of people without jobs and children facing persistentpoverty. 19“Not only havecommunities of color,American Indiancommunities and lowincomecommunitiesbeen traditionallymarginalized, theyhave also beendisproportionatelyaffected by this GreatRecession. Whenlawmakers makeinvestment decisions thatdon’t stimulate and payattention to Minnesota’sracial equity, they onlymake a difficult timeworse. This harms us all.”Organizing apprenticeship project | 3