On a recent elementary school visit, Metro Transit Police Lt. Anthony Hines made sure to bring an officer’s cap and a mirror.
Hines, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Black Police Association, wanted all the students to imagine themselves in uniform.
“It does more than just saying: ‘This is a great job,’ ” Hines explained. “You can see yourself wearing the hat.”
Few Minnesotans of color see themselves that way.
One in five state residents is a person of color, but in most cases, fewer than one in 10 public jobs like Hines’ is held by a minority worker.
That means when a child of color interacts with a public servant — cop, teacher or lawmaker — the chances that person will look like them are pretty slim.
Community leaders say those limited experiences can lead to poor communication and mistrust between people of color and the public workers providing them services. It also makes it less likely that children of color will consider the police station, classroom or state Capitol for possible careers.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do when it comes to equality,” said W.C. Jordan Jr., president of the NAACP Minnesota and Dakotas chapter. “If people don’t see someone who looks like them in a public role, then they’ll never see themselves in that role.”
Recent deadly interactions between people of color and police coupled with long-standing economic gaps have brought Minnesota’s racial disparities to the forefront. As leaders work to address the state’s gaps in achievement and opportunities, improving the diversity of the public sector is part of the equation.
Data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show Minnesota trails the national average in employing public workers who reflect the state’s demographics. However, the nation’s police and teachers remain predominately white, data shows.
A Pioneer Press analysis found clear racial disparities in every sector between taxpayers and the people who earn taxpayer-funded salaries. Educators, law enforcement officers, state and county workers and legislators remain overwhelmingly white even as the state’s population has become increasingly diverse.
Here are some key details:
- Nearly 20 percent of Minnesotans are people of color, but just 5 percent of teachers, 7 percent of police officers and 10 percent of state workers are racial or ethnic minorities. Another 4 percent of state employees choose not to disclose their race.
- There are just eight people of color among the 201 members of the Minnesota Legislature.
- St. Paul is the state’s most diverse city, with 40 percent of the population people of color, yet only 20 percent of city workers are a racial or ethnic minority.
- Ramsey County falls along lines similar to St. Paul. People of color make up 37 percent of the county population, but only 27 percent of the county workforce; for teachers and law enforcement, the gap is twice as large.
- In the suburbs, where there is less diversity, the disparity persists. Washington and Anoka counties struggle to have public workforces that represent the demographics of their residents, while Dakota County fares marginally better.
Minnesota’s government leaders have long worked to diversify their work forces, but those efforts have recently increased sharply.
In April, Gov. Mark Dayton appointed James Burroughs, a former educator and business leader, to lead the state’s push to include more people of color in government jobs and contracts. As Minnesota’s first chief inclusion officer, Burroughs says his goal is for the state’s workforce and contractors to accurately reflect its residents.
“It is the top priority,” Burroughs said, noting the state’s changing population. “You have to focus on equity and inclusion to make sure people who now live here are having the same experiences as people who were born and raised here.”
WHY IT MATTERS
Rafael Ortega was the first Latino elected to a county board in Minnesota and has spent more than two decades working to remake Ramsey County’s workforce so it better reflects the diversity of residents. At the heart of that effort has been one goal: providing better service.
“This is all about service,” Ortega said. “If you have a diverse community, you need a diverse workforce. When that happens, you have more mechanisms for learning about and serving each other. It’s easier for people to have trust when they see everyone is working at this.”
Lt. Hines said the same is true for police. He believes bringing more people of color into law enforcement will ease some of the tensions between police and minority residents. In the long term, Hines says, a more diverse police force will result in better connections between law enforcement and the communities they patrol.
“You have to build a rapport,” Hines said. “You have to build trust. If all you do is drive by in a squad car all day, they see you as a stranger driving through their neighborhood.”
Minnesota’s lack of diversity in its public workforce may affect the state’s children the most.
Amber Jones, a Chicago native who focuses on education issues for Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, says she was shocked to learn how few educators of color worked in the state.
“Outside your family, it really is your teachers who are your next level of understanding,” Jones said. “If we are conditioning our children only to see white educators as people they can trust and learn from and respect, that limits our society across all communities.”
Jones, who taught at a Minneapolis charter school before becoming an organizer, agrees with a growing number of educators who believe a more diverse teaching force is one key to closing Minnesota’s notorious academic achievement gap. Teachers of color bring new perspectives and cultural understandings to the classroom that benefit all students, she said.
“There are some things programs cannot teach our teachers,” Jones said. “Those are soft skills, ambiguous moments of culture and engagement with young people.”
WHY IT’S DIFFICULT
Minnesota’s achievement gap plays an important role in the state’s struggle to diversify its workforce. Many government leaders say they struggle to find qualified applicants of color to fill job openings.
Minnesota’s students of color are less likely than their white classmates to score proficient on academic measures. That translates into lower high school graduation rates and fewer students who go on to college and earn degrees.
New immigrants and students who are learning English often fare even worse.
A recent state report found 60 percent of white and Asian residents have certificates or degrees from colleges and universities compared with 35 percent of blacks, 24 percent of Hispanics and 21 percent of Native Americans.
With more jobs requiring education beyond high school, state leaders want 70 percent of working-age residents to have a postsecondary education by 2025.
Unemployment for college-educated Minnesotans is significantly lower than for those without postsecondary degrees. That leads to a competitive job market for skilled workers, and government sometimes finds it hard to compete.
“It’s going to get tougher, not easier, as our demographics change,” Commissioner Ortega said of recruiting more people of color to government jobs. “We need to be able to compete. We need to be able to hire good employees and keep them.”
Several leaders involved in diversity efforts push back against the idea that qualified candidates of color are in short supply. They say too often, recruiters are looking in the wrong place.
“We haven’t done a good job exposing opportunities to communities of color,” Burroughs said. “Let’s improve our networks.”
Government leaders also are looking at removing unnecessary obstacles to public jobs. For instance, Minnesota’s method of credentialing educators has long been seen as overly complex and putting people of color and people trained out-of-state or in alternative ways at a disadvantage.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Minnesota is more focused than ever on providing equitable opportunities to all residents, regardless of race or ethnicity.
Here are a few key initiatives:
- Lawmakers recently approved $35 million in new spending to address racial disparities. Much of this money will be used for training, education and helping small businesses.
- State and local leaders have new and ongoing plans to improve recruitment, hiring and retention of minority workers. A recent state initiative to increase people of color in executive-level positions resulted in a 19 percentage-point increase in minority hiring, state officials said.
- Schools and local governments are increasing “grow-your-own” programs that use internships and classroom experiences to encourage young people of color to enter public jobs. Other systems provide pathways for existing workers to receive more training and advance into more viable careers in the public sector.
- State education leaders are working to streamline the teacher licensing process. More grants and loan forgiveness are available to make training more affordable.
- Gov. Dayton and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman recently backed equity audits that will probe how state and local governments hire workers and contractors.
NAACP leader Jordan says the statewide audit will be one of the first of its kind. “Too many times, we try to fix a problem without even knowing the scope of it,” he said.
Leaders of these efforts emphasize that diversity can’t be a goal of just one public office or department. It has to be integrated into everything local and state governments do.
Ortega said a key move Ramsey County made to improve hiring of people of color was to make the county’s affirmative-action efforts the responsibility of the county manager’s office.
“This goes beyond numbers,” Ortega said. “It’s about changing the organizational culture. We have to build a culture where we get past all these descriptions and look at how do we get the best people and retain them.”
Hines adds that changes have to be systemic and include top leadership. He said many people of color miss out on promotions or law enforcement careers altogether because of subjective decisions by leadership.
“You have to put the right people in the right decisions to reach your goal,” Hines said. “More minority candidates are excluded from the process because of subjective ratings.”
Burroughs, the state’s new chief inclusion officer, says his goal is to have the state’s diversity efforts become second nature.
“My ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for my office,” he said. “I want this work to be integrated into all the work we do.”