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Segregation is Killing Us...
Contrary to popular belief, COVID-19 is no great equalizer. In our analysis, we found segregation itself is a public health crisis NYC.
Segregation is Killing Us
Phase I: April 3, 2020 - June 8, 2020
If New Yorkers infected with COVID-19 were 30 people
In New York City, the destructive path of COVID-19 mirrors the destruction left by generations of segregated communities and schools. However, segregation is about more than the separation of people from each other. It is about separating historically marginalized people from resources, power, opportunity, and self-determination. It is about the proliferation of racial and economic stratification. It is about strategic over-policing, mass incarceration, and the murder of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people with unchallenged impunity.
Segregation facilitates and upholds the concentration of privilege and vulnerability in our schools and communities.
As Rucker Johnson points out in his book, Children of the Dream, segregation negatively impacts Black and Latinx communities’ access to healthcare, education, and their interactions with the carceral state. So we say again... Segregation is killing us.
Play to see the passage of COVID-19 though NYC. Animation depicts confirmed Percent Positive tests. This is the metric used to determine hotspot locations and reopening decisions. Data from NYC Department of Health and Human Services.
Hardest Hit: Communities of Color
A Disparate Impact
As we map the Phase-1 COVID-19 data and consider the racial diversity and median income of the reporting areas, we can see that communities of color and lower income communities have been hit the hardest by this pandemic.
When compared to White New Yorkers, Black and Lantix New Yorkers are 1.5X more likely to be infected by COVID-19 and 2X more likely to die from the virus.
Infection, Hospitalization, and Death Rate by Race
Phase 1 Casualties by Neighborhood
To better understand, the alarming discrepancies affecting New Yorkers of Color we conducted an analysis of all Phase 1 COVID -19 confirmed cases and deaths. The following maps visualize the casualties by each zip code's (NYC Health reported COVID-19 data regions) predominant race and income.
As you can see, wealthier less diverse neighborhoods of our city were less impacted by the pandemic.
Low income communities of color were devastated by the disease. At one point neighborhoods such as Corona, Queens were global hotspots. In this one neighborhood, 395 people died, and 4,534 were infected just during Phase 1.
We attribute the discrepancies by income to the ability to quarantine and preserve social distance. Privilege and wealth plays an important part in the ability to isolate and therefore be less exposed to infection.
The chart below animates the famous epidemiological curve of COVID-19 cases by predominant income:
This animated timeline of Positive Cases by income group show the disparity of infections rate. Lower income communities simply cannot afford to quarantine.
The positive case curve we're familiar with, (colloquially referred to in "flattening the curve") can be observed for low and middle income New Yorkers. High income New Yorkers do not observe the epidemiological trend. Comparatively they were largely unscathed.
This is a time lapse tracing where New Yorkers who make above $75k annually during Phase 1 of quarantine.
Most Exposed: Essential Workers
As we have seen, working class New Yorkers were more likely to be infected by the COVID-19 virus. However, to better understand the racial discrepancies in the casualties it is important to look at the racial demographics of our city's essential workers.
Black and Latinx workers make up 62% of the city's essential workforce.
Essential Workers Race Demographics
It is also worth highlighting the often glossed over contributions of immigrant New Yorkers. Immigrants are less likely to be eligible for unemployment, health, and other important benefits, yet have been instrumental in keeping our city running while bravely providing essential services.
77% of our essential work force are people of color, 53% are foreign born, and 19% are not citizens.
Foreign Born Essential Workers
Racism is a Pre-Existing Condition
Historical and Systematic Oppression
Racial inequities have been ingrained in New York City's planning practices for decades. This history has imposed and reinforced neighborhood and racial hierarchies today. One of the most harmful and still relevant practices that occurred is known as "redlining":
"Eighty years ago, a federal agency, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), created 'Residential Security' maps of major American cities. These maps document how loan officers, appraisers and real estate professionals evaluated mortgage lending risk during the era immediately before the surge of suburbanization in the 1950’s. Neighborhoods considered high risk or “Hazardous” were often “redlined” by lending institutions, denying them access to capital investment which could improve the housing and economic opportunity of residents." - National Community Reinvestment Coalition
Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History | NPR. To learn more about readlining we recommend visiting What is Redlining? from Vox. ,
Today, 70% of previously designated Class D "Hazardous" areas are occupied by communities of color.
From Redlining in the 50's to NYC's Air Quality Today
Click below to see the relationship between historical racists planning practices and their enduring legacy today.
This segregation has pushed and bound diverse communities into neighborhoods that have experienced systematic divestment and adequate resources. Additionally, these zones are more likely to have brownfield (toxic sites), manufacturing, and other pollutant activities resulting in higher air pollution and higher asthma hospitalization rates. This is particularly important to note during our current crisis as COVID-19 manifests as a respiratory illness.
Residents within these respiratory hot spots are 4x more likely to be Black, Latinx or Indigenous people.
Our history of racist planning has left our diverse communities siloed, economically burdened, linguistically isolated and environmentally disregarded. All proven factors to predispose New Yorkers to COVID - 19. Below we will see how these factors have impacted the fabric of our city.
These respiratory strains increase the health risk of COVID-19 and have contributed to the high death rate in these communities.
Redlining in the 1940's segregated our city. We still see its impact today.
Segregation in Schools
Understanding the Burdens NYC DOE Families Face
The push for equitable admissions policy has been an ongoing fight that has been further complicated by COVID-19. Many have recently been able to see how deep the disparities of the NYC public school system run and how those same disparities have only increased with the hardships and limitations of this global pandemic. To better understand how NYC public schools became some of the most segregated in the country, our partners at IntegrateNYC, a youth-led organization working to repair the harms of segregation and build real integration and equity, have created a short video illustrating the institutional systems at play.
Systemic Racism in NYC School Admissions
Unlike any other school district in the country, New York City is unique in its reliance on exclusionary admissions policies (screens), which use factors like behavior, attendance, state tests, on-site tests, grades, auditions, interviews, and portfolios to prevent some students from gaining access. Screened schools use criteria that discriminate, in effect, against groups already marginalized in society by race, socioeconomic status, language level, immigration status, and more. These screen criteria are set by schools without transparency and accountability, ultimately allowing the schools to select their students, while other public schools accept all students or intentionally select students from across the spectrum of academic performance. This undermines the concept of student and family choice, and gives “choice” to schools to choose and exclude students.
Redlining's Legacy in Our Schools Today
Redlining plays a central role in impacting past and present day school communities by perpetuating segregation, ensuring historically marginalized communities from important resources. Screens serve as a modern tool to reinforce these historic inequities.
The infographic below shows the direct relationship between redlining and average school demographics and funding today:
Average funding and capacity impact of present day schools by redlining category.
Just as segregation in schools is a reflection of historic injustice in our communities and present education policy, racist policing impacts marginalized communities in profound ways and targets Black, Latinx, and Indigenous youth in their schools. Disproportionate policing, suspensions, punishments, and arrests are the daily reality for Black and Latinx youth. This injustice intertwines with admissions by “behavior scores” being included in school screens to limit access to students impacted by racist policing and the increased criminalization in schools with predominantly Black and Latinx students.
With 88% of police interventions in schools targeting Black, Latinx or Indigenous children, we need to rethink disciplinary practices in our schools, and cease using admissions criteria that have a racist impact, like behavior scores.
New School Admissions
A Proposal to Repair Harm and Support the Historically Marginalized
IntegrateNYC’s 5Rs of Real Integration framework demands that schools address not only the segregating admissions practices but also resource inequity, curriculum injustice, teacher diversity, and the school-to-prison pipeline. This holistic approach that addresses segregation in all its forms is the only way to transform schools
Disadvantaged students, such as students of color, low-income students, students with disabilities, and emerging multilingual learners have always faced inequities. The system was never designed to protect these students. The Admissions Impact Score takes into consideration the community and individual impact of injustices exposed by COVID-19, and then places students most impacted into a priority group for the admissions process. While COVID-19 has highlighted this, these issues were present before and will continue. The Admissions Impact Score is a way to address the pandemic this year and the histories of injustice in the years to come.
In 2016, IntegrateNYC began redesigning the school admissions algorithm. With the help of an engineer through MIT, Data 4 Black Lives, and the Bleeker Network, youth leaders studied equity-centered algorithms, learned to code, and created a prototype the NY State Board of Regents called one of “the most sophisticated and intelligent” solutions they had seen to date. Segregation is Killing Us builds on these efforts and proposes an innovative approach that responds to the burdens the pandemic has placed on our school communities.
Student Priority Score
The Student Priority Score reviews a student’s individual and community factors to determine which priority group the student should be in during the admissions process.
Our Admissions Policy Proposal
Imagine these four students:
Wakefield Student: I get some of the best grades in my school and I love to write. Poetry, fiction, and even essays - I love to put my thoughts into words. I help my friends with their writing when I can. My family has been staying with friends since we had to move out of our apartment. That got really hard once the pandemic started because there were so many of us in a small space. I’m not sure where we will live soon, because I don’t think we can stay here very much longer.
Bushwick Student: I have a learning disability and I usually get some extra help at school or extra time on tests. Sometimes even that doesn’t help me understand and I get frustrated. Kids make fun of me and the teachers don’t even stop it. Since the pandemic I haven’t really had even the help I used to get and I feel even more frustrated and lonely. I’ve been really scared too because my whole family has really bad asthma. If we go pick up meals from the school, we might bring the virus home, but if we don’t get food, it’s even harder to focus on schoolwork.
Harlem Student: I do ok in my classes but I have a tutor to help me prepare for any big standardized tests. Not too long ago, my family bought an apartment in a new neighborhood. I like that we have a lot more space now, especially in the pandemic. Not having to share a room with my sibling helps a lot when we are both doing virtual learning. Sometimes the WiFi has gotten a little slow with us both on our laptops, but I can make my phone a hotspot if I need to.
Jackson Heights Student: I recently came to the United States and love math and science. It’s hard for me to communicate in English. My parents are both essential workers so it has been my job to help my two younger siblings with online learning. We only have two working devices that the schools gave us between the three of us. When the pandemic began, people in my building and in my neighborhood got really sick. People really close to me have even died. It has been really sad and scary.
Bulls Head Student: I used to spend most of my time outside of school at band practice. I love music and am really dedicated to improving with my instrument and helping all my friends with theirs. I’ve been thinking a lot about how even when we get back to school, band probably won’t exist in the same way for a long time. But there will always be light in the dark. Being home with my four siblings has been a really wonderful chance to spend more time with the ones who mean the most to me.
Part I: Community Impact
Our proposal to address the uneven burden families have faced recently, has been informed by NYC DOE students and integration advocates. Together we have identified variables based on hardships exacerbated by the pandemic. They include:
We analyzed the combined impact of these variables to create an impact map depicting the areas most burdened by the pandemic. Each variable was assigned a weight that reflects its urgency and magnitude. The resulting map has a corresponding priority score.
The map will use the student’s home address to determine the admissions priority:
Part II: Individual Considerations
We then must consider individual student circumstances which may increase/decrease the need for priority consideration in the admissions process. We suggest using the following individual student criteria to complement the priority scores by region:
- FRL (Free and Reduced Lunch)
- STH (Students in Temporary Housing)
- ELL (English Language Learners)
- IEP (Individualized Education Program)
For every criteria the student meets their priority increases by 1 priority level. This is because we know these students will have been affected most negatively by the pandemic, the move to online learning, and long term inequality across the system.
If a student meets none of these criteria, they would not have any priority. Due to gentrification, we can often find diverse incomes within the same city tract or block. Looking at a high income family in a lower income neighborhood, we may deduce that a family should receive a community priority that does not meaningfully reflect student need. Therefore we must use individual student characteristics to make sure that the students receiving burden based priorities actually benefit from them.
Based on the map and the home addresses of our previously identified students:
Student Priority Example Chart
The Future of the Admissions Impact Score
In response to the deep impacts of COVID-19 on our community, the Admissions Impact Score heavily weighs COVID-19 data. Because the pandemic is exposing and exacerbating long existing inequities, we propose that over time the weight of the COVID-19 specific criteria lower as the other criteria increase, maintaining a system-wide priority for those who have been historically marginalized.
The Mayor and the NYC School’s Chancellor have already accepted the School Diversity Advisory Group recommended goal of ensuring all schools’ enroll students who reflect our city. The implementation of the Admissions Impact Score should be evaluated against and continuously improved to meet that goal.
Call to Action
To support equitable admissions, check out the following:
Contact Policy Makers
- Tweet the Mayor and Chancellor
- Send an Email to the Mayor and Chancellor
Sign Ons
Support the Work
To Learn More about the organizations behind this work, support the research and advocacy, please visit:
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