“This report was prepared by the City of St. Louis in partnership with Forward Through Ferguson and United Way of Greater St. Louis, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and 100 Resilient Cities and guidance from the City University of New York’s Institute for State and Local Governance.” (Equity Indicators). In November 2014, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon assigned the Ferguson Commission to conduct a “thorough, wide-ranging, and unflinching study of the social and economic conditions that impede progress, equality, and safety in the St. Louis region.” (Nixon).
This study was conducted after the death of Michael Brown, which was correlated with racial tension and ongoing racial history in the U.S. specifically. The commission’s tasks include “examine the underlying causes of these conditions, including poverty, education, governance, and law enforcement; engage with local citizens, area organisations, national thought leaders, institutions, and experts to develop a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the concerns related to these conditions; and issue an unflinching report containing specific, practical policy recommendations for making the region a stronger, fairer place for everyone to live.” (Equity Indicators). In 2015, the commission released a data report that showed a consistent problem within systems, mostly regarding black people. It showed issues within law enforcement, the justice system, housing, health care, education, and income. In this study, there were 189 calls to action to address the issues within St. Louis regarding racial inequalities. The Commission then developed an organisation called Forward. This was created to give the Calls of Action some true ground to stand on so they can be pushed to turn those calls into action.
Let’s take a look at the structure of the study. The study is built around the three themes identified by the Ferguson Commission: youth at the centre, opportunity to thrive, and justice for all. Within each theme are three topics, and within each topic are eight indicators, for a total of 72 indicators. These are the indicators that can be monitored each year to track St. Louis’ progress towards achieving racial equity across the topics and themes. “The 2018 Equity Indicators score for the City of St. Louis is 45.57 out of 100. Of the three themes, Justice for All has the highest score (51.54), followed by Opportunity to Thrive (42.58), and Youth at the Centre (42.29). The topics within the themes show more variance, with scores ranging from 61.13 in the Civic Engagement topic to 25.75 in the Child Well-Being topic. At the indicator level, scores range from 1 (representing the greatest inequity) for the indicator of child asthma to a high of 100 (representing the greatest equity) for high school graduation rates and driving status violation conviction rates.” (Equity Indicators)
The creators of the data set had a drive to make a change and to address racial issues within the St. Louis area. The data sets are meant to show evidence that these problems exist and should not be looked over. I would use this data set in my research with the Botanical Gardens, future St. Louis research, and to support the cause to make a change within St. Louis. This data can also be great for future plans CODES has for MOBOT, like the class we are thinking of incorporating; this could be information to teach in the course.
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