Racial Equity

Lens Assessment

As the overarching theme in the report, racial equity is at the heart of many of our calls to action. The calls in this section address intentional investments and practices aimed to build infrastructure and connective tissue for racial equity for work in the St. Louis region.

Signature Calls to Action Indicators
Create a 25-year fund to support racial equality;

Broadly Apply a Racial Equality Framework;

Engage the Faith Community in the Racial Equity Mission

  • Economists estimate that the 2012 gross domestic product (GDP) for the St. Louis region would have been 10 percent higher– $151.3 billion instead of $136.67 billion–if there had not been a racial income gap (Public Policy Research Center, 2015).
  • The St. Louis region ranks 42 out of 50 large metropolitan areas for economic mobility, defined as a person, family or group’s ability to improve their economic status by moving up in income (Chetty, 2014).
  • Researchers found that less racial segregation is one of the five predictors of upward economic mobility (Chetty, 2014). St. Louis currently is the sixth most segregated metropolitan area in the country (East-West Gateway Council of Governments 2014).
  • The National Urban League Policy Institute found that racial disparities in health cost the U.S. $60 billion in excess medical costs and $22 billion in lost productivity in 2009 (National Urban League Policy Institute, 2012). They projected that if these health disparities remain, the burden will to rise to $126 billion by 2020 and $363 billion by 2050 (National Urban League Policy Institute, 2012). An additional economic loss due to premature deaths was valued at $250 billion in 2009 (National Urban League Policy Institute, 2012).
  • The National Urban League Policy Institute found that racial disparities in health cost the U.S. $60 billion in excess medical costs and $22 billion in lost productivity in 2009 (National Urban League Policy Institute, 2012). They projected that if these health disparities remain, the burden will to rise to $126 billion by 2020 and $363 billion by 2050 (National Urban League Policy Institute, 2012). An additional economic loss due to premature deaths was valued at $250 billion in 2009 (National Urban League Policy Institute, 2012).

Calls to Action

Broadly Apply a Racial Equity Framework

Intentionally apply a racial equity framework to existing and new regional policies, initiatives, programs and projects in order to address and eliminate existing disparities for racial and ethnic populations. The following focus questions to be included at a minimum: Whom does this benefit? Does this differentially impact racial and ethnic groups? What is missing that…


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Create a 25-year Managed Fund

Create a 25-year managed fund to solely support regional racial equity infrastructure for all sectors. Funding for racial equity capacity, needs and training assessment, analysis, implementation, impact, sustained strategies and accountability.


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Engage the Faith Community in the Racial Equity Mission

Faith communities and authorized faith leaders are called to directly engage in networks and tables of policy discussion across the region to shape how we work together and inform the conversation directly. Develop new and provide existing assets to the region with a multi-faith set of resources for racial equity and reconciliation informed by various…


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Citations

  1. Chetty, R. (2014) Improving opportunities for economic mobility in the United States. Retrieved from: https://www.budget.senate.gov/ democratic/public/_cache/files/08bd12ef-104d-44c0-a589-20dcb426b833/chetty-mobility-testimony.pdf
  2. East-West Gateway Council of Governments (2014). Racial segregation and disparity. . Retrieved from https://www.ewgateway.org/ pdffiles/newsletters/WWS/WWS6EdNo9.pdf
  3. National Urban League Policy Institute (2012). State of urban health: Eliminating health disparities to save lives and cut costs. Retrieved from https://iamempowered.com/sites/default/files/nul_state_of_urban_health_2012_report_.pdf
  4. Public Policy Research Center. (2015). An equity assessment of the St. Louis region. University of Missouri-St. Louis Retrieved from https://pprc.umsl.edu/pprc.umsl.edu/data/stl_equity_assessment_may2015.pdf
  5. Purnell, J., Drake, B.F., Goodman, M., Hudson, D.K., Tate, W.F., Camberos, G., Fields, R., Elder, K., Gilbert, K.L. (2014). For the sake of all: A multidisciplinary study on the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis. Institute for Public Health. Retrieved from https://publichealth.wustl.edu/projects/sake/