In Losing Ground, I-News journalists sought to ascertain the relative well-being of Colorado’s three major population groups: whites, Latinos and blacks. What we found is that Latino and black residents have lost ground compared to white residents.

The research is based largely on six decades of U.S. Census Bureau data, 1960-2010. The three groups were more equitable in the first decades analyzed, and less so in more recent decades. The census categories examined included family income, poverty, high school and college graduation and home ownership. Health data and justice records examined also showed disparities.

U.S. Department of Commerce – Bureau of the Census

Among key findings:

• In 1970, black families in Colorado earned 73 percent of white family incomes and Latino families
  earned 72 percent. By 2010, those numbers had fallen to about 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively.
• Almost 60 percent of Latino households were owner-occupied in 1970; now it’s just beneath 50 percent.
• The gaps among adults with college degrees have steadily widened since 1960, with the percentage of whites with college degrees three times higher than the Latino rate and double the black rate, the worst such disparities among the states.
• Blacks and Latino residents experience significantly higher rates of infant mortality and deaths from numerous diseases.
• Minorities experience hugely disproportionate incarceration rates. In 2010, about one in every 20 black men were incarcerated in Colorado state prisons, compared to one out of every 50 Latino men and one of every 150 white men, according to an I-News analysis of government figures.

Losing Ground offers more than 40 unique interviews in which academic experts, community leaders and politicians, and residents offer their views about why these gaps exist and what might be done about them.

I-News at Rocky Mountain PBS is hosting community conversations across Colorado regarding the findings presented in Losing Ground. Please join us for one or more of these discussions.

THURS., JAN. 31, 5-8 p.m. – Thornton
Regis University Dual Language Campus
500 E. 84th Ave., Suite B-12, Community Room For more information contact Angelica Flores at 303-964-6295 or aflores002@regis.edu

TUES., FEB. 19, 5-7 p.m. – Boulder
University of Colorado
University Memorial Center, 1669 Euclid Ave. (corner of Broadway and Euclid)
for more information and to RSVP email cmastu@colorado.edu or 303-492-5667 Co-Sponsored by CU Center for Multicultural Affairs

MON., FEB. 25, 7-9 p.m. – Fort Collins
Colorado State University
Lory Student Center, East Ballroom
For more information contact Lee Nagle at 970-491-6614 Co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President
for Diversity

THURS., FEB. 28, 5:30-7 p.m. – Colorado Springs
Tim Gill Center for Public Media
315 E. Costilla St.
For more information contact Keanna Smith 719-418-5851

MON., MARCH 4, 5-8 p.m. – Denver
Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library
2401 Welton St., Community Room
For more information contact Hadiya Evans 720-865-2411

THURS., MARCH 21, 5:30-7 p.m. – Pueblo
Colorado State University, Pueblo Campus
Occhiato University Center, 2200 Bonforte Blvd.,
Aspen Leaf Room
(parking next to the Center in lots N-2 and N-3)
For more information call Trisha Pocius at 719-543-8800

MON., APRIL 1, 12:30-1:45 p.m. – Denver
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Auraria Campus, Tivoli Student Union, Room 320
(paid parking in 7th Street Garage)
For more information, contact
Dr. Grady-Willis, 303-556-3119
Co-sponsored by African/African American Studies, MSU Denver Student Activities, Chicana/o Studies, Political Science and Institute for Women’s Studies and Services

TUES., MAY 28, 6 p.m. – Denver
History Colorado Center
1200 Broadway (12th Avenue at Broadway)
$5 general public admission
RSVP Encouraged, 303-866-4686

The final program in History Colorado’s five-part “FWD: 1963-2013” series, Laura Frank (I-News RMPBS) joins Dr. Vincent Harding and other notable speakers to discuss what’s ahead for civil rights in the program “The Lasting Legacy of 1963. What Now?”

Tips for an effective community discussion:

1. Set some guidelines.
   For example, everyone has a chance to talk with a 3-minute time limit. No inappropriate language.
2. Have a sign-in sheet.
   Collect email addresses and other contact information for follow-up conversations, note-sharing and action steps.
3. Assign an official note-taker or recorder.
   This person captures the key thoughts, ideas and potential actions.
4. Assign an official time manager.
   This person gives prompts to a speaker when the alloted time is about to expire.
5. End the meeting with an action plan.
   Agree on at least one goal (and no more than three).
   Establish a timeline for each goal.
   Share notes with attendees.

Share what you do with I-News.

If you send I-News your contact information, we will keep you informed of developments related to Losing Ground. Contact Laura Frank at LFrank@iNewsNetwork.org
Suggested questions for leading a discussion about Losing Ground:

1. What are the potential impacts for our community and/or state from the gaps between minority and white Coloradans when it comes to health, income, poverty, education and home ownership?
2. Minorities are the fastest growing population in Colorado. What are the potential impacts on the entire state if these disparities remain or grow?
3. Which disparities have the greatest impact? Why?
4. Experts point to complex and interwoven societal forces at work behind the growing disparity, including changes in the economy, family structure, incarceration rates and education. Which do you think have the greatest impact on disparity?
5. Are there public policies that might address some of the causes of disparity? 6. Are there other means besides public policy that could reduce the disparities?

Twitter

I-News at Rocky Mountain PBS is ready to help you with your social media efforts to get others engaged in the topics raised by Losing Ground. This special report examines growing disparities for African Americans and Latinos in Colorado, and what those mean for the entire state.

You can use the Tweets below to spark conversations on Twitter. Or post them to your Facebook page.

Add your own Tweets and Facebook posts inviting friends and followers to talk about what the growing disparity in Colorado means for the future and what can be done to turn the tide. And join the conversation with I-News: @iNews and Facebook.com/iNewsNetwork

Post to Twitter… #Colorado was among more equitable places for minorities. No longer. What happened? @iNews #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Post to Twitter… Think #Colorado is more equal 50 yrs after the #CivilRights movement? The surprising answer @iNews bit.ly/ iNewsLosingGround #LosingGround

More tweets….

Surprising disparity trends in #Colorado @iNews What does this mean for the future? #LosingGround bit.ly/ iNewsLosingGround

Which disparity gap is worse? Education, Health, Income? #LosingGround @iNews bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

NAACP official “shocked” by @iNews findings on racial and ethnic disparities in Colorado #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Colorado’s college degree gaps are the worst in the nation. @iNews #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Expert: The poverty rate could be slashed by 70 percent if the poor did four things @iNews #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Former Congressman Kogovsek looks at @iNews data: “Right now the system isn’t working.” #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Expert: “Anybody who says, ‘Well, these disparities don’t exist,’ is living in denial.” @iNews #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Colorado’s infant mortality rate worse for blacks and Latinos than national average. @iNews #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

“Social determinants of health far more important than healthcare determinants of health.” @iNews #LosingGround bit.ly/iNewsLosingGround

Download the @iNews project #LosingGround http://www.inewsnetwork.org/LosingGround_e-book.pdf

Q. What is the premise of Losing Ground?
A. Losing Ground is an analysis of six decades of data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That analysis provides a compelling portrait of the relative social progress of Colorado’s three major population groups: whites, Latinos and blacks.

Q. What comparisons were used?
A. The data analyzed included poverty rates for each group, family income, high school and college graduation rates and home ownership. Also, federal and state justice figures were examined, as was state health data. The analysis shows how each community fared over a long period of time.
Q. And?
A. The analysis shows racial and ethnic inequities in the state to a surprising degree. Latinos and blacks have not kept pace with whites in most measures. Colorado was a more equal state than the national average in the first decades of the study, but is less equal now. Most gaps have actually widened.

Q. Can you give an example of not keeping pace? What does that mean?
A. One example would be family income. In 1970, black families earned 73 percent of what white families earned and Latino families earned 72 percent. By 2010, those numbers had fallen to about 60 and 50 percent, respectively. Similar disparities existed in other categories. The gaps among adults with college degrees have steadily widened since 1960, and are now the worst of any state.

Q. Why have the gaps widened?
A. The experts, community leaders and others interviewed by I-News identified a number of reasons. They are complex and often interrelated. The intergenerational cycle of poverty and inequities in education are often cited. More specifically, the civil rights era policies such as affirmative action that boosted minorities have been diminished or dismantled. Many thousands of Colorado’s good paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared, hurting minority families disproportionately. The percentage of single- parent families and
the number of births to single mothers has soared among black households, exacerbating the gaps, and immigration and teen-age births in the Latino population have also led to widening disparities, experts said. Support for K-12 education has diminished. The cost of attending college has skyrocketed.

Q. What does this mean to me?
A. Racial and ethnic inequality holds meaning for all Coloradans. Most experts say such disparities don’t bode
well for a state in which minorities are the fastest growing population.

Now that you know about the growing disparity between whites and minorities in Colorado, what will you do with that information? Let us know at www.facebook.com/iNewsNetwork.

Here are just some of the possibilities you might consider:

• Lead a discussion at your home, place of worship, school, book club, service club or other organization. Host a community forum at your public library, community center or other public gathering space.
• Start a conversation on social media, such as Twitter or Facebook.
• Connect with an organization that addresses issues raised in Losing Ground.

Poverty
Your local community foundation: http://bit.ly/COCommunityFoundations

Religious organizations, such as Catholic Charities: http://www.ccdenver.org/ or Thrivent Financial for Lutherans:
https://www.thrivent.com/Education

Colorado Legacy Foundation: http://colegacy.org/

Latin American Educational Foundation: http://www.laef.org/

Minority Enterprise & Education Development: http://www.meedcolorado.org/

Health

Clinica Family Health Services: http://www.clinica.org/index.php

Center for African American Health: http://www.caahealth.org/page.cfm

Colorado Health Foundation: http://www.coloradohealth.org/

Incarceration

Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives: http://opendooryouth.org/

Criminal Justice Reform Coalition: http://www. ccjrc.org/index.shtml

Race relations

Barbershop Talk: http://joinbst.com/

Aurora NAACP: http://www.auroracoloradonaacp.org/index.html

Latino Community Foundation of Colorado: http://www.rcfdenver.org/latinocfc/

Family

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado: http://www.biglittlecolorado.org/

Florence Crittenton Services of Colorado: http://www.flocritco.org/

McDonnell Family Foundation: http://www.mcdonnellfoundation.org/

Economic development

Your local Chamber of Commerce: http://bit.ly/COChambers

Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce: http://coloradoblackchamber.org/

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver: http://hispanicchamberdenver.org/