Charlotte, North Carolina is a city of opportunity, but that opportunity is not shared equitably. In 2014, Charlotte was ranked 50th out of 50 cities in her Rising Cities ranking. Now, the city is striving to become a community on the horizon where everyone can rise. Social networks, which provide support, information, power, and access to resources, are important but often neglected elements of opportunity structures. Social capital is important for mobility.
We leveraged rich data from 177 representative Charlotte residents to analyze over 30,000 interpersonal network configurations across the city. These networks were evaluated as follows: size (i.e. number of people), width (i.e. different connection types, such as family and professionals) strength (i.e., the value of connection as a source of support). We compared social networks by demographic groups, specifically race, income, and gender. Specifically, she evaluated networks in terms of the value of access to opportunities and resources in her three areas: work, education, and housing.
Below are the main empirical results regarding Charlotte’s social network. Click here for the full methodology and technical details.
Analysis of Charlotte’s social network
Social networks are very homogeneous across demographic categories, especially by race. Black respondents have predominantly Black networks.What’s most impressive is that most white people are building networks just other white people.
Therefore, information and resources related to social networks mainly circulate. At the inner rather than racial groups; while racial group. This partly reflects the high level of residential and educational segregation in the city.
The nature of social networks varies by race and gender. White people see the greatest advantage. White men benefit from the richest social capital, with large, extensive, and strong connections, including multiple professional networks, family, and personal connections. Although white women’s networks are less valuable than white men’s, they report having better access to financial support.
Black women, and especially black men, have less social capital overall than whites. Although black women have larger networks than black men and can rely on several people for support, information, advice, and guidance, these connections are not as strong as for white men. For both black women and men, access to financial support through social networks is much lower than for whites. Black men in Charlotte have particularly weak networks. in fact, Black men usually depend on just one person They need concrete support in seeking employment, education, and housing opportunities.
Latino networks are also small, relatively narrow, and particularly dependent on family. Of all the groups we analyzed, Latinas (Hispanic women) are the least networked in Charlotte overall.
Whites report higher levels of parental support, especially financial support regarding housing opportunities. Blacks receive only modest financial support from their mothers and none at all from their fathers. Similarly, Latinos generally did not report support from their parents.
Overall, fathers play an important support role for whites, but a much smaller role for Latinos, and are unable to provide real support for either black men or black women. I understand.
Assessing social networks by income shows that middle-income residents have the widest networks compared to wealthier and poorer residents. However, there are important differences in terms of network strength. Although high-income respondents have fewer people in their networks, their contacts are highly reliable for providing information, advice, networking, and references. The social networks at the top of the economy are small but powerful.
We note that these income differences overlap strongly with the racial disparities noted above, as the median white income in Charlotte is twice the income of Black and Latino households.
Most of my social connections were formed at educational institutions (schools and universities) or at work. This highlights the relationship between the institutional environment, access, and the accumulation of social capital. Exclusion from an educational institution means exclusion from opportunities to make valuable connections.
history of inequality
Sharp disparities in social capital contribute to Charlotte’s poor performance in terms of social mobility. The role of intergenerational networks provides a particularly clear picture of broader inequalities. White wealth and support consistently cascades across generations. Blacks and Latinos do not.
But these social capital gaps don’t appear out of thin air. These are largely the result of specific policy choices. Provides concise and critical assessments of trends in housing policy, education policy, and criminal justice and policing.
Charlotte’s neighborhoods are highly racially segregated (it’s the 37th most racially segregated city in the nation) and, notably, unlike most cities, the city has seen declining levels of racial segregation in recent years. not.
Following a series of policy changes, Charlotte’s public schools are also becoming racially segregated. In fact, segregation between black and white elementary school students has become even more severe in recent decades. Black boys are much more likely to be excluded from school than white boys. In 2012, there were 20,090 short-term suspensions for black boys compared to 2,643 for white boys.
Black men are also incarcerated at much higher rates. In Charlotte, black men are nearly 10 times more likely to be incarcerated than white men. The unemployment rate for black men is also twice that of white men.
These trends result from specific policy choices made or avoided. Charlotte residents’ social networks significantly reflect and reinforce inequalities in housing, education, employment, and criminal justice. We specifically focused on the multiple injustices faced by Black men, and found that in Charlotte, Black men are not only underinvested in, but are also being specifically and actively disinvested. I conclude.
What will be done? Although we do not offer a blueprint for building social capital, we do suggest some possible paths for cities going forward. Most importantly, Charlotte’s civic, business and political leaders must fulfill his three promises:
- Get openly involved in the racial dynamics of your city.
- Collaborate across races to identify who is accountable for equity goals.
- Identify and implement policy areas where the greatest gains in racial equity can be achieved over the next three to five years.
Acting in good faith on these commitments could result in a set of policy objectives and approaches. For example, cities can:
- Set a goal of lowering school suspension and incarceration rates for blacks compared to whites.
- Create a racial equity plan for Charlotte that articulates measurable and highly impactful equity goals.
- The juvenile justice system and the transition from out-of-school suspension.
- We measure success with maternal mortality rates and support young Black and Latinx mothers.
- We will invest significantly in college savings accounts for all Kindergarten students at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) and provide additional payments over time for low-income students.
Most importantly, these equity goals should be driven by the most disadvantaged. Charlotte’s divisions, especially when it comes to social networks, reflect choices made in the past, and what Charlotte’s leaders and residents today can do differently to build a true Horizon community. It also reflects a choice that should be made.
This report is part of the Brookings Institution Report. The How We Rise project joins a larger body of research that helps inform policy solutions that intentionally focus on the dynamics of social connections and the social network determinants of economic mobility and equity. It’s an analysis.
The “How We Rise” project is part of the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative, a cross-program effort at Brookings to improve equity, racial justice, and economic outcomes for low-income communities and communities of color. Focuses on liquidity issues.