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Is success in America tied to your ZIP code? An economist says 'yes'
Matter of Fact
Is success in America tied to your ZIP code? An economist says 'yes'
IS. THOSE WHO STUDY THE DECLINE OF THE DREAM, SAY WE CAN REVERSE OUR COURSE IF WE DO A FEW THINGS -- DECREASE RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION. INCREASE SOCIAL CAPITAL. AND INVEST IN HIGHER QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS. IF THAT’S THE FORMULA, THEN WHERE IN AMERICA ARE A CHILD’S CHANCES OF MOVING UP BETTER? SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT JOIE CHEN LOOKS AT THE MAPPING OF AMERICA AND MOVING UP. JOIE: WE ALL KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRACKS, EVEN WHEN IT IS JUST THE VERY EDGE OF PRIVILEGE. THAT’S MY STORY. AND MY HOUSE. THE HOUSE I GREW UP IN, THE LAST HOUSE BEFORE THE TRACKS. IN THE LATE 1960’S WE WERE THE ONLY ASIAN FAMILY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. I THOUGHT, THE OUTLIERS. BUT THE WHITE KIDS? BLACK KIDS? IN THIS INTEGRATED, PROGRESSIVE ENCLAVE, SURELY THEIR OPPORTUNITIES WERE EQUAL? I THINK WE THOUGHT WE WERE WOKE. DINO: YEAH. NOT THE CASE. JOIE: AT THE SHOREFRONT LEGACY CENTER DINO ROBINSON DOCUMENTS THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS ON CHICAGO’S NORTH SHORE, PARTICULARLY IN OUR DIVERSE SUBURB. DINO: EVANSTON’S GREAT ON PAPER, IN THAT IT LOOKS DIVERSE. LOOKS GREAT. BUT WHEN YOU DRIVE THROUGH EVANSTON, YOU CAN SEE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN NEIGHBORHOODS, AND HOW THEY HAVE BEEN DIVIDED ALL THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY. JOIE: THOSE DIVISIONS ARE PART OF EVANSTON’S ORIGIN STORY, AN EARLY VERSION OF THE GREAT MIGRATION AT THE START OF THE 20TH CENTURY. DINO: OUR TIMEFRAME IN THIS WAY IT’S ABOUT 1910 AND 1930, WHERE YOU HAD A HUGE INFLUX OF BLACK FAMILIES COMING DIRECTLY FROM, SPECIFICALLY, ABBEVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND THAT WAS DUE TO A TRAGEDY WHERE A GENTLEMAN WAS LYNCHED. SO, THERE WAS A MASS EXODUS OF BLACK FAMILIES LEAVING THAT AREA OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO COME NORTH TO EVANSTON. JOIE: AS THE BLACK POPULATION GREW, SO DID THE EFFORTS TO CONTAIN IT. AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES WERE PUSHED TOWARD THE WEST SIDE OF TOWN, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS, THE PINK AREA MARKED AS D-2 ON THIS MAP, WHERE REDLINING SYSTEMATICALLY DEPRESSED REAL ESTATE VALUES, STEERED AWAY INVESTMENT, AND STACKED THE FINANCIAL DECK AGAINST GENERATIONS OF BLACK EVANSTONIANS. THE BLACK KIDS I GREW UP WITH, PARTICULARLY THE BLACK BOYS, DID THEY HAVE THE SAME OPPORTUNITY THAT I DID? DINO: I WOULD SAY NO. THE BLACK BOYS ESPECIALLY. RAJ: WHEN WE LOOKED, BLOCK AFTER BLOCK, ACROSS THE U.S., AND WE ASKED, IS THERE ANY PLACE WHERE WE CAN SEE BLACK KIDS HAVING AS GOOD OUTCOMES AS WHITE KIDS, THE VERY DISCOURAGING FINDING IS, THERE’S ESSENTIALLY NO SUCH PLACE IN AMERICA. IN 99% OF BLOCKS IN AMERICA, WHITE KIDS AND WHITE MEN IN PARTICULAR HAVE BETTER OUTCOMES THAN BLACK MEN. JOIE: RAJ CHETTY HAS THE DATA TO PROVE IT. HIS OPPORTUNITY ATLAS BREAKS DOWN AMERICA BLOCK BY BLOCK. AND MY HOMETOWN EXACTLY CAPTURES THE STORY OF INEQUALITY IN AMERICA. RAJ: THAT’S WHAT I THINK IS STRIKING ABOUT IT, IS THAT YOU REALLY SEE TWO VERY DIFFERENT PICTURES ON TWO SIDES OF THE RAILROAD TRACK. JOIE: OFTEN SEEN AS A MODEL OF SOCIAL ENGINEERING THROUGH EDUCATION, THE CITY HAS JUST ONE GIANT PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL, EVANSTON TOWNSHIP, OR ETHS. WHERE ENROLLMENT REACHED NEARL 6000 IN THE EARLY WITH THE SAME 1970’S, ACADEMICS AND ACTIVITIES PROMISED TO ALL. THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE. RAJ: THAT’S EXACTLY RIGHT. THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE. WE MAY PERCEIVE PEOPLE ARE HAVING SIMILAR EXPERIENCES, WE MAY PERCEIVE THEY ARE INTEGRATED BUT WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING AT HOW , KIDS ARE DOING 10, YEARS 20 YEARS AFTER GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL, THEIR LIFE TRAJECTORIES LOOK VERY DIFFERENT BY RACE AND ETHNICITY. THAT’S JUST A FACT. JOIE: THAT’S NOT THE WHOLE STORY. CHETTY SAYS FRIENDS, MENTORS, SOCIAL NETWORKS ALL PLAY A ROLE. AS DOES THAT AGE-OLD QUESTION, WHERE ARE YOU FROM? RAJ: WHAT WE’VE LEARNED IS WHERE YOU GROW UP REALLY MATTERS FOR YOUR CHANCES OF ACHIEVING THE AMERICAN DREAM SO BASICALLY WHERE YOU LIVE FROM BIRTH, TO SAY YOUR EARLY 20’S, SEEMS TO MATTER A GREAT DEAL, AND EVERY YEAR THAT YOU GREW UP IN A BETTER NEIGHBORHOOD, A NEIGHBORHOOD WITH BETTER SCHOOLS, BETTER ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES, THE BETTER YOU END UP DOING IN THE LONG RUN. JOIE: DEPENDING ON YOUR CHILDHOOD ADDRESS, THE JOURNEY TO THAT AMERICAN DREAM MAY BE SHORTER AND EASIER TO TRAVEL. DINO: MY FIRST THOUGHT WOULD NOT BE, WHERE ARE YOU FROM? AS FAR AS I KNOW, YOU GREW UP HERE, YOU’RE AN EVANSTONIAN. JOIE: EVEN WHEN IT’S A LITTLE HOUSE JUST ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRACKS. FOR MATTER OF FACT, I’M JOIE
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Is success in America tied to your ZIP code? An economist says 'yes'
Matter of Fact
Is success in America tied to your ZIP code?An economist says "yes."Take the community of Evanston, Illinois, for example. On paper, Evanston is a diverse population, but when you drive through, you can see a distinction in neighborhoods and how they have been divided throughout history. Between 1910 and 1930, a huge influx of Black families moved to Evanston from a community in South Carolina where a Black man had been lynched.According to historians, those Black families were pushed, literally, to the other side of the tracks by systemic real estate practices. But do all kids who live in communities, even diverse ones, have the same chances? The answer, according to Harvard economist Raj Chetty, is no. "When we looked block after block across the U.S., and we asked, 'Is there any place where we can see Black kids having as good outcomes as white kids' and the very discouraging finding was, there is essentially no such place in America," Chetty said. Chetty said in 99% of blocks in America, white kids, and in particular white men, have better outcomes than Black men. Chetty created the Opportunity Atlas, a website that allows you to examine the United States block-by-block. But race and ethnicity aren't the only factors. Friends, mentors and social networks all play a role in how a person grows up, as does the age-old question: Where did you grow up?"So what we've learned is where you grew up really matters for your chance of achieving the American dreams," Chetty said. "Where you lived from birth to, say, your early 20s seems to matter a great deal."Every extra year that you grew up in a better neighborhood, a neighborhood with better schools, with better access to opportunities, the better you end up doing in the long run."The above story was part of the Matter of Fact Listening Tour: ‘To Be An American.’ Throughout the 90-minute program, a diverse lineup of guests from academia, literature and entertainment shared personal stories, essays and insights to bring greater understanding to the complex topic of race, identity and belonging.Watch the full presentation in the video below

Is success in America tied to your ZIP code?

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An economist says "yes."

Take the community of Evanston, Illinois, for example. On paper, Evanston is a diverse population, but when you drive through, you can see a distinction in neighborhoods and how they have been divided throughout history.

Between 1910 and 1930, a huge influx of Black families moved to Evanston from a community in South Carolina where a Black man had been lynched.

According to historians, those Black families were pushed, literally, to the other side of the tracks by systemic real estate practices.

But do all kids who live in communities, even diverse ones, have the same chances? The answer, according to Harvard economist Raj Chetty, is no.

"When we looked block after block across the U.S., and we asked, 'Is there any place where we can see Black kids having as good outcomes as white kids' and the very discouraging finding was, there is essentially no such place in America," Chetty said.

Chetty said in 99% of blocks in America, white kids, and in particular white men, have better outcomes than Black men.

Chetty created the , a website that allows you to examine the United States block-by-block.

But race and ethnicity aren't the only factors. Friends, mentors and social networks all play a role in how a person grows up, as does the age-old question: Where did you grow up?

"So what we've learned is where you grew up really matters for your chance of achieving the American dreams," Chetty said. "Where you lived from birth to, say, your early 20s seems to matter a great deal.

"Every extra year that you grew up in a better neighborhood, a neighborhood with better schools, with better access to opportunities, the better you end up doing in the long run."

The above story was part of the Matter of Fact Listening Tour: ‘To Be An American.’ Throughout the 90-minute program, a diverse lineup of guests from academia, literature and entertainment shared personal stories, essays and insights to bring greater understanding to the complex topic of race, identity and belonging.

Watch the full presentation in the video below