a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
While much of Oklahoma was recovering from 2008’s recession, its poorest remained trapped in a cycle of intergenerational poverty. In the historically poor Kendall Whittier neighborhood, local organizations like Oklahoma Policy Institute, True Blue Neighbors and Kendall Whittier Inc. are working to combat these trends. Apprentice Editor Sara Douglas and Staff Writer Caitlin Woods report.
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n 2012, a Census Bureau survey ranked Oklahoma’s poverty rate of 16.8 percent among the highest in the United States. According to data released by the Oklahoma Policy Institute (OK Policy) in September, “just over 625,000 Oklahomans lived in poverty in 2013.” High poverty rates have been linked to racial inequality, a lack of upward mobility amongst minorities and a long-standing culture of segregation. These problems are especially prevalent in Tulsa. Poverty rates in Tulsa are 12.6 percent for households and 16.1 percent for individuals; the individuals’ statewide rate is slightly higher at 16.8 percent. Carly Put-
nam, a TU alumnus and analyst for OK Policy, stated that “one eighth of Tulsans are impoverished.” When compared to the one sixth of Oklahomans on food stamps, which includes “100,000 children and 24,000 veterans” according to Putnam, it is clear that Tulsa’s poverty rate is nearly equivalent to that of statewide poverty. One of Tulsa’s neighborhoods most affected by poverty is Kendall Whittier. It is among the city’s oldest suburbs and located just west of TU’s campus. Though the neighborhood began as a bustling suburban area in the early 20th century, Kara Joy McKee of Kendall Whittier, Inc. (KWI) said that as Tulsa rapidly shifted towards
today’s downtown, “places like Kendall Whittier were left to urban decay.” Kendall Whittier has been deeply ingrained in a cycle of poverty. Intergenerational wealth transfer, or the passing on of assets from parents to their children, is historically relatively low. According to Putnam, “home ownership (is) the single largest vehicle to transfer wealth from one generation to the next. The racial disparities there are tremendous.” “Intergenerational wealth transfers are a big issue,” said Putnam. “If you’re poor, you can’t afford to feed your kids well, and if they’re going to a bad school, they can’t use education to get a good job, and then they can’t afford to feed their kids well, and it becomes a cycle of poverty.” The effects of poverty and low incomes are particularly tough on minorities. While 40 percent of black families living in poor neighborhoods have lived there for two or more generations, only sev-
october 13, 2014 issue 6 ~ volume 100
en percent of white families living in poor neighborhoods have lived there for two or more generations. “Statewide, it looks pretty good overall based on unemployment rates, but if you break it down by race it becomes a lot more discouraging,” Putnam stated. The income gap between whites and minorities has remained the same since 1983, with whites making $1.80 to every $1.00 made by blacks and Hispanics. Mike Mills is the associate dean of community relations for True Blue neighbors, a TU-based organization which focuses on volunteer action in the Kendall Whittier neighborhood. He said that Kendall Whittier has “a very culturally diverse population.” McKee said that “the diverse community (of Kendall Whittier) includes people of numerous races and ethnicities, including a large number of Hispanic people.” These residents have a difficult time making it out of the cycle of poverty. “Many of the parents in
the homes don’t speak English,” Mills said, “so there’s a language barrier for the students in the schools.” According to the Urban Institute, a DC-based think tank, “from 1983 to 2010, average family wealth for whites has been about six times that of blacks and Hispanics.” The 2007 recession exacerbated this disparity. Though the recession was felt everywhere, for the one percent loss in wealth whites experienced, blacks lost 23 percent and Hispanics lost 25 percent. Putnam said that average “incomes are still over $1,000 below what they were in 2007. Pretty much everyone’s income went up in 2012, except black Oklahomans’ dropped. People in the middle and bottom see much less improvement than those on top.” In addition to suffering low incomes, poor Oklahomans are lacking in health care coverage.
See Poverty, p. 4