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OLBC Addresses the State of Black Ohio

Wednesday, January 25, 2006
 

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus Addresses the
State of Black Ohio 
 
Disparities in Education, Healthcare and Other Areas Still Challenge the
African-American Community, but There is Hope for Future Progress
 
Columbus – Members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) are calling attention to the vast range of disparities that continue to challenge the African-American community and the positive trends that present opportunities for future progress.  
 
Issues of concern to African-American families are like those of other families across the state.  "We want safe places to live, quality schools for our children, access to affordable healthcare, and opportunities to participate fully in civic and business affairs," said Representative Barbara Sykes (D-Akron) and OLBC President.  "As leaders we must share an inspiring vision for hope and push forward solutions designed to create real social change in the African-American community.  Surely this will have a ripple effect in creating greater social equality and progress for all people - this is the core of America's moral fabric and values."
 
In addressing the status of African Americans across Ohio, OLBC members have highlighted challenges and positive trends in the areas of healthcare, education, jobs and economic development, the minimum wage, voting rights, and prisons and community re-entry.
 
The following summary provides highlights of specific issues and topics of concern: 
 
Healthcare
"Health disparities between African Americans and Caucasians continue to persist at alarmingly high rates in the state of Ohio. Public policy measures, such as the Diabetes Cost Reduction Act and Mental Health Parity legislation, languish in committee because the majority party in the legislature places profits above people." - Senator Ray Miller (D-Columbus)
 
“More attention must be paid to remedying the persistent and egregious health disparities that often result in chronic disease and premature death among African-Americans, and undoubtedly the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus will be instrumental in leading this charge.”
- Representative Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland)
 
Challenges and Opportunities:  Although there have been positive trends in the decrease of infant mortality rates and in the increase of early prenatal care, primary threats and challenges include lower representation of racial minority groups in the medical profession; disparities in
medical insurance coverage; continued racial disparities in health outcomes; and a disparate investment in health care in African-American neighborhoods.
 
Mortality rates for African Americans are 27% higher than White mortality rates.  17% of African Americans have asthma, compared to 10% of Whites.  African Americans now make up 42% of Ohio’s HIV cases. In 2003-2004, it is estimated that 18% of Ohio’s non-elderly African American population had no health insurance coverage.  For Ohio’s White population this figure is 11%.  Only 49% of Ohio’s non-elderly African American population has employer sponsored health insurance compared to 74% of Ohio’s non-elderly White population.  Research at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity has tracked the geographic distribution of hospital investment decisions in Ohio by analyzing Certificate of Need decisions from the late 1990’s.
Preliminary research indicates that hospital investments are not as prevalent in Ohio’s urban African-American neighborhoods in the major metropolitan areas.
 
Education
“There needs to be a much greater effort on the part of school administrators, teachers and parents to support, encourage and reach out to African-American students.  African American students have held their hand out but the resources they need have not always been available to them.  What more people need to know is that if we reach a hand out to pull a student along instead of lift that student up, our educational system will continue to fail African Americans and other non-white students.”
- Representative Claudette Woodard (D-Shaker Heights)
 
Challenges and Opportunities: - The current graduation rate of African-American students in Ohio is 66% versus 89% for white students - a 23 point difference.  Ohio has significant racial disparities in test scores for African-American students.  Recent Ohio Graduation Test scores reflect that only 66% of African-American students passed the reading proficiency exam compared to 87% of White students who passed the reading exam.  Only 57% of African-American students passed the math proficiency exam compared to 86% of White students who passed the math exam.
 
The Ohio Close the Achievement Gap Campaign has developed a “Strategy for Shared Responsibilities" in order for education stakeholders to close the achievement gap:
 
Jobs and Economic Development
"All Ohioans have suffered as a result of the economic difficulties of our state's current economic climate.  However, people of color have been disproportionately affected. By focusing our legislative attention on jobs and the economy, we can bring the state closer than ever to the promise of liberty and equality for all."  - Representative Mike Mitchell
 
Challenges and Opportunities:  Manufacturing job loss in Ohio has been enormous.  Since January 2001, the state has lost more than 170,000 manufacturing jobs, or almost 18% of its industrial base.  Manufacturing job loss hits black workers disproportionately hard, since in the industrial Midwest, manufacturing jobs were the ticket to middle class lifestyles for workers without college education.
 
In Ohio, African Americans have the lowest labor force participation rate.  In 2004, 13.2% of African Americans were unemployed compared to 5.2% of white Ohioans.
 
The creation of wealth in the African-American community is directly linked to the development of African-American owned businesses.  Ohio's minority business enterprise sector, particularly African-American owned businesses, are strong in comparison to other areas of the nation.  However, Ohio's current economic challenges may threaten this important sector.  According to the US Census, sales have increased nationally for African American and Hispanic owned businesses, but they are currently down in Ohio.
 
Minimum Wage
“The Federal minimum wage rate has not changed since 1997. Nine years without minimum wage increases is too long.  It’s time Ohioans take action and create a fair wage for a fair days work.”  - Representative Michael DeBose (D-Cleveland)
 
Challenges and Opportunities:  There have been modest gains in income and overall decline in poverty and employment rates.  In 1990, the per capita income for African Americans was $11,892.  In 2000 it increased to $14,499.  However, between 1979 and 2004, the black-white earnings gap nearly doubled; in 2004, median hourly wages for the average white worker were 19% more than for the average black worker. 
 
The federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour and Ohio's is $4.25 an hour.  (A full-time minimum wage worker brings in only $10,712 a year.)  Ohio is one of only two states to set its minimum wage below the federal level.  Nearly 92,000 Ohio workers — about 1.9 percent of the state's employees — earn less than the federal minimum wage.  A viable campaign is underway to get a proposal on the November 7, 2006 ballot to raise Ohio's minimum wage to $6.85 an hour.
 
Voting Rights
“When we ask the question of the state of black Ohioans’ voting rights today, ‘Do they have the right to vote?’  The answer is ‘Yes.’  But, do they have an adequate opportunity to vote?  The answer is ‘No.’; closely mirroring that of other Ohioans.  That is why I introduced legislation in 2003 and 2005 to bring ‘No-excuse’ absentee voting to Ohio.”
Representative Edna Brown of Toledo (D-Toledo)
 
Challenges and Opportunities:  African-American voter registration and voter participation were high in the 2004 election.  70.3% of Ohio's African American population was registered to vote and 65.5% of this population voted in the 2004 election.  Unfortunately, some evidence suggests that African American precincts were more likely to have votes not counted.
 
Organized efforts are underway to restrict voting rights.  House Bill 3 sponsored by Representative Kevin DeWine (R-Fairborn) would require all voters to present a current and valid government issued photo ID or another form of acceptable identification such as a utility bill to cast a vote.  Allegations of widespread voter fraud as justification for this change are simply untrue.  However, there is documented evidence and statistics that prove that this type of requirement is likely to disenfranchise and overburden voters, especially racial minorities, college students, seniors and the poor.
 
Prisons and Community Reentry
 "As we often discuss issues regarding human services, we talk of a broad range of social policy areas that commonly extend from child care to early education to welfare reform. What we do not discuss are the problems that exist for the felons that are re-entering the community and the services that are needed to prevent recidivism.  All too often prison reentry is considered a criminal justice issue and we must learn to view re-entry in the context of a human service issue if we are to better serve our communities."
- Catherine Barrett (D-Cincinnati)
 
Challenges and Opportunities:  In 2004, African Americans made up 48.13% (11,838) of the total prison population (44,974) and 47% of total commitments to Ohio's juvenile facilities.  97 (49%) out of 196 death row inmates in Ohio are Black.  The Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C. think tank on criminal justice, recently reported that on any given day one of every 21 Black adult men is incarcerated; for those in their late twenties, the figure is one in eight.
 
In 2004, over 24,000 ex-offenders were released from prison and returned to communities, primarily to urban areas, across Ohio.  To combat high recidivism rates, corrections, law enforcement, community human service agencies and families must work together to monitor ex-offenders while assisting them in the development and implementation of individual reentry plans.  
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