Created equal

Work at a newspaper long enough, and you'll collect quite a pile of studies.

Groups, commissions and organizations do a lot of them. They're released to the media with varying degrees of fanfare. Stories get written. More studies go on the pile or the shelf. Recalling old ones takes a good memory, and maybe some office archaeology.

But we're determined to make sure The State of Equity in Cedar Rapids report isn't simply tossed on the pile. The issues it raises and the call to action it demands from us are too important to the future of this community to let it gather dust.

The report, released early this year and highlighted in an April 'Building an Inclusive Community” summit that drew hundreds of people, does the important work of pulling together separate strands of data into a broad view of diversity and equity in this city.

Cedar Rapids is becoming more diverse, and its black and Latino population, according to census figures, skews younger than its white population. Cedar Rapids schools have lost white students while gaining students of color, including an increase in English-language learners.

So diversity is the city's future. And that's why we should be so profoundly troubled about the present.

The study shows wide gaps in income, housing and academic achievement between white Cedar Rapidians and people of color. Children caught in poverty face problems at home and at school, where black students, for example, are suspended more often than white students.

Iowa also incarcerates blacks at a rate far higher than whites. These kids also live in a city where they see precious few faces like theirs in the leadership of important public institutions.

The equity study's great value is that it clearly shows these problems are interconnected - poverty, housing, educational achievement, discipline, criminal justice. It's going to take a community effort to alter the flaws and disparities in our institutions and systems.

Chad Simmons, executive director of Diversity Focus in Cedar Rapids, compares it to solving a Rubik's cube. The impulse is to solve one side at a time. But to solve the puzzle, Simmons said, you find out it takes working on all the sides at once.

'So you have to work like a Rubik's cube. You have to work around the arts and culture, the economic development, education, employment, health and well-being, you have to work around these given areas. You have to work them all together,” Simmons said.

'It's easier to do the research than come up with solutions. And when we come up with the solutions, we focus on programmatic answers. When really, it's more systems.

'It has not been difficult to get people to focus on the problem. It has been difficult to get people to use a systematic approach to solving the challenges that exist, because it is more complicated than one thing at a time. We've been taught to go after low-hanging fruit,” Simmons said.

This isn't about scolding or blaming. It's about deciding whether this is going to be a strong and vibrant city in the future.

A community that welcomes and values a diversity of backgrounds, talents, perspectives and ideas is stronger, better-performing and more adept at solving its problems. Local companies doing all they can to attract talent from around the globe need an inclusive community where those employees want to live and work. Future job creation and economic vitality depend on how Cedar Rapids is able to address its stubborn equity issues.

There's also a matter of fundamental fairness. All of our citizens should have an equal opportunity to succeed. Their children should have an opportunity to learn, grow and find a brighter future.

If we do nothing, or let the status quo stand, the gaps and disparities that affect some will continue to weaken this entire community. The economic, social, educational and justice issues spawned by those disparities will continue to tear at the fabric of the community and command a greater share of its scarce resources. Energies that could be spent on improvement and innovation will be spent patching malfunctioning systems. So the cost of shelving and ignoring, over time, are steep.

'It won't go to the shelf,” Simmons said of the equity study.

'The positive part about the Creative Corridor is we can solve this puzzle. It is doable. And it's more doable here than any other place I've lived in,” Simmons said.

We agree, so long as the community's leaders remain committed. We intend to do all we can to make sure they do.

' Comments: (319) 398-8262 or editorial@thegazette.com