HispanicBusiness

A new study is showing that states with high numbers of minority residents are getting short shrift on stimulus dollars, one year after President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law.

The report, released today by the national civil rights organization Advancement Project, concludes that, on balance, the higher the minority population in any given state, the lower the per capita expenditure of federal stimulus dollars.

For instance, the state receiving the lowest amount of per-capital stimulus spending, at about $490 per resident, is Florida, which also happens to be the 10th most diverse state in the United States, according to the study. The state with the second-highest amount of spending, at $1,400, is North Dakota, the fifth least diverse.

The analysis found a similar inverse relationship between stimulus spending and state unemployment rates.

"Why we are seeing such glaring differences in spending is unclear," Anita Sinha, a senior attorney at Advancement Project, said in a statement. "Too often we have experienced well-meaning federal programs and funding that never makes it to the communities for which they are intended."

The recession has taken a disproportionate toll on minorities. With the national unemployment rate at 9.7 percent in January, the figure for whites, 8.7 percent, was greatly exceeded by that for Hispanics, 12.6 percent, and blacks, 16.5 percent.

The analysis by Advancement Project uses the new "diversity index" provided by the federal government's own Web site at www.recovery.gov.

On the government-created index, states are ranked from 0 to 100. A rank of 100 means that if two random people were picked in a state, there would be a 100 percent chance that they would be of different races or ethnic groups. According to this index, California has the greatest diversity with a score of 83, and Vermont has the lowest diversity with a score of eight.

California received about $600 per capita in stimulus spending; Vermont, $1,000.

The analysis found that for every one-point increase on the diversity index, there was a $3 decrease in stimulus spending per state resident.

The results for unemployment statistics were similar.

For instance, South Dakota, the state with the third-lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 5 percent, received more than $1,200 in stimulus spending per resident. Michigan, the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate at more than 13 percent, received about $700 per capita.

All told, for every 1percent increase in the unemployment rate, there is a decrease in stimulus funds of $28.48 per state resident, according to the study.

"The ARRA is clearly not the quick fix we want it to be," said Badili Jones of the Miami Workers Center and the Build a Fair Florida campaign in a statement. "There is a need for clear targeting of funds to those communities most impacted by the recession and mortgage crisis: low-income Black and immigrant communities. We need stimulus spending, and even more of it, to create the equal economic opportunity that will get us out of this mess, but clearly it needs better targeting and tracking."

To address the issue, Advancement Project recommends four specific actions:

*Make targeted investments: Create mechanisms and incentives for future ARRA funds so they are applied where they can clearly accomplish the most for an economic turnaround.

*Collect specific data to ensure equity: Require data collection by race, ethnicity, and gender as a condition of funding to ensure that ARRA dollars are spent equitably.

*Conduct equity assessments: Perform systematic evaluations of the effect of ARRA spending in order to maximize equity and inclusion and minimize adverse and unintended impacts.

*Enforce civil rights laws: Investigate these disparities to ensure that states are not discriminating in the use of ARRA funds and, where necessary, pursue enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in the use of federal funds.