My friend's poll is certainly unscientific - it simply represents the experience of one MPS teacher this year. But she's seeing evidence of in-migration among her students. It also suggests that our teachers are dealing with kids who started in weaker educational systems - this certainly would have an impact on test scores and dropout rates.
Why did these folks come here? As I recall, our unemployment rate was just above 2% a couple of years ago. In general, even at times of recession, we have a better unemployment rate than other parts of the country. I don't believe our welfare benefits are higher than those in Illinois but we have intangible welfare benefits (as in the welfare of society promoted by government and other entities) that are, perhaps, better than those where these fellow citizens came from.
These welfare benefits include our parks, lakes and other open spaces. We still have a wonderful youth rec system at our Minneapolis Park Centers. My grandson visited from Washington D.C. this past week - he didn't even ask for movies or Camp Snoopy when he discovered the skating rink at Powderhorn! Skates provided with no rental fee. He joined kids on the block (and sometimes, grandma went along) heading to the park once or twice a day. Our youth rec programs are a treasure most other cities don't provide.
It may be awhile before we absorb our most recent new neighbors from the steel belt and further south, but after a few years, it's likely to turn out just fine as it has for countless groups before. In the meantime, if we have had a recent influx of citizens from other states who have special needs, I hope this will be recognized so we can meet their needs and help them ease into life in Minneapolis.
Shawne FitzGerald
Powderhorn
ken bradley wrote:
Hello Minneapolis Folks:MA wrote: I think it was mostly due to emigration of poor Blacks from
other parts of the country during that period. I remember periodic scares
of the last 10-20 years ago where people claimed that poor Blacks were
coming from Chicago and Detroit to take advantage of Minnesota's high-paying
welfare system.Ken Bradley wrote:
I believe the disparity between white median incomes and black median income is still often based on good old fashion racism. I would be curious to see the data related to African Americans in the work place, colleges and universities, and executives and CEO's in Minneapolis. How much progress have we made with our police department and other city agencies over the past 20 years? How many children of color live in poverty or low income situations? What is the percentage of children of color attending private elementary, middle schools, and high schools, attend specialized academic summer camps? It is difficult to pull yourself out of a hole when others are not willing to give you a hand.
Anderson & Turpin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Michael Atherton wrote:
> "A new study of 2000 Census data by
> American City Business Journals found
> white median household incomes in the
> Twin Cities were nearly double blacks'
> earnings, with blacks making $519 for
> every $1,000 whites make."
>
> My guess for a part of this disparity,
> in Minneapolis, is the high school
> dropout rate for African-Americans.
> Maybe our new school board members
> can set goals and can tell us what
> they're going to do about it.
