Ramsey County Racial Equity Analysis

Historically, racial and ethnic communities have been impacted by the trauma of lived experiences, racism and mistrust of government, medicine and health care that has taken advantage of their despair, pain and suffering, and often blamed the disease and socioeconomic outcomes that results in the disparities we see today. A community can be strong and also be under tremendous economic, environmental, and health pressures due to institutional and structural racism that has marginalized racially and ethnically diverse communities.

Even when an emergency response is required, we must appreciate the resiliency of these communities AND understand their economic capacity to recover from the threat COVID 19 poses.

There are 3 primary factors that can identify communities whose health is especially vulnerable to an economic crisis during COVID 19 response. This tool can be used as a reference for understanding these factors as they present in the data. Where there is institutional and structural, these inequities are profound and persistent.

Many of the County’s most vibrant and productive neighborhoods are centers of Black, Brown, Native, and Immigrant communities. It is also true that institutional and structural racism contributes to the inequity. Economic insecurity, poverty, burden of chronic disease and barriers to health care are top indicators of vulnerability.

Acknowledging the communities that we know are vulnerable, but do not have the disaggregated data to demonstrate it, like refugee and immigrants, LGBTQ+, and those with disabilities is important, as is the intersectionality of multiple risks. The available data shows these groups tend to live in areas with high concentrations of Black, Latinx, American Indian, and Asian people and by pointing out those areas, we hope to include other communities as well.

A high risk factor of a community’s relative economic resilience is having its Black, American Indian/Alaska Native and Latinx residents together exceed 10% of that community.

Income, Net Worth, and Asset Poverty are key factors in determining how vulnerable a household is to an economic crisis and how difficult bouncing back may be. Income is the money regularly received for work or investments. A high-risk factor is more than 20% of an area’s households making within 200% of the federal poverty level.

Net Worth is the total dollar value of all a household’s assets subtracted by the total debts and liabilities. A high-risk factor is having more than 50% of an area’s households living in rental properties.

Asset Poverty is the inability to access the resources to cover 3 months of expenses. A high-risk factor is 7% or more of an area’s residents reporting not having health insurance.  

Another high-risk factor is residents who reside less than a ½ mile from a grocery store.

Throughout the County, the relationship between being 65 years or older and economic vulnerability is complex. Elders tend to have more resources accumulated than younger community members. However, the health risks of COVID 19 to elders are significant, and the confluence of age with the other risks also must be noted.

 A high-risk factor is having more than 14% of residents being 65 or older.

Progress must be swift and this is an imperfect tool. Nevertheless, it aims to identify communities that are extremely vulnerable to prolonged hardship with less resources to recover in an economic crisis. These are not the only considerations in reviewing sites, however these questions will highlight the inequities of risks in the County by race, economics, and age

Does this community’s Black residents together exceed 10%*? 20% of residents?

Does this community’s American Indian & Alaska Native, Asian and Latinx residents together exceed 10%*? 20% of residents?

Are more than 20% of this community’s household incomes within 200% of the federal poverty level**? 30% of households?

Do more than 50% of this community’s households live in rental properties?

Have more than 16% of residents in this community experienced food insecurity in the last year?

Are more than 7% of this community’s household uninsured?

Are more than 14% of residents of this community 65 years or older?

The Tool can be referenced to understand the racial inequities of communities that are highly vulnerable to an economic crisis during COVID-19. This tool can be helpful in order to equitable decisions. This tool was modified from the Racial Equity Impact Awareness Tool created by the Office and Equity & Social Justice in King County, WA in partnership with Headwater People Consulting. In general, scores over 5 are considered vulnerable and scores over 7 are very vulnerable.

We used the greater percentage of the people of color outlined plus greater percent of people above 200% of poverty as weighted heavier than the other criteria making an area higher risk and less likely recover economically in a crisis.

This interactive map displays the Racial Equity Impact scores and related data by census tract, a geographic area designated by the US Census Bureau of between 2,000 and 8,500 residents. Each census tract is identified by a number (e.g. 417.02). Additional data comes from the  2018 American Community Survey (ACS) .