King County Exec Dow Constantine is all up in my inbox trumpeting about the first annual King County Equity and Social Justice report, which breaks down inequities of place, race and income across the county. The 30-page report (.pdf) is full of interesting unsurprises. For instance:
· South King County and south Seattle have the greatest concentration of households below the median household income. In 2010, African American and Native American households earned just over half of the median income of white households.
· Since 2006, the largest decline in home values has occurred in South King County, in low-income areas, and in more racially diverse communities.
· The incarceration rate for African Americans in King County is roughly 8 times the rate of incarceration for whites.
· The number of households reporting food hardship—running out of food on a regular basis—has increased by 50 percent 2007 in King County and varies significantly by race. Nearly two in five Latino adults and more than one in five African American adults report food hardship.
And then there’s this pretty graph:
- King County Equity and Social Justice report
Constantine’s office notes that the county is responding to these inequities by requiring county agencies to weigh social justice/equity as a factor in all 2012 budgets and business plans, by updating Metro Transit to include social equity as one of the three criteria in determining how transit services are allocated throughout the county, and by expanding voter registration and outreach in within ethnic communities and underserved areas. Among other things.
