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Proposition 209 threatens to ban equal opportunity affirmative action programs which have protected African-Americans from discrimination in public employment, education and contracting.
Proposition 209 threatens the ability of minority-owned businesses to compete, closing the doors of equal opportunity for African-Americans.
Proposition 209 threatens the ability of African-Americans to gain equal access to educational opportunities by gutting equal opportunity scholarships and programs for people of color to attend public universities, K-12 educational programs, and other public education programs.
Equal Opportunity Programs Protect African-Americans from Being Shut out of Educational and Employment Opportunities. Proposition 209 Would Gut Those Programs Essential to Establishing a Level Playing Field.
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There are over 2 million African-Americans in California. Proposition 209 threatens to ban equal opportunity affirmative action programs which have protected African-Americans from discrimination in public employment, education and contracting. This proposition threatens the advances that people of color have made in these different areas and eliminates outreach, recruitment, mentoring, and tutoring programs in the state of California. Currently, African-Americans comprise 12% of the state workforce,(1) 4% of undergraduate enrollees in the University of California system,(2) and minority-owned companies received 14.6 percent of state contracting dollars.(3) These numbers, already low, will be drastically reduced with the passage of Proposition 209. Return
Proposition 209 threatens the ability of minority-owned businesses to compete, closing the doors of equal opportunity for African-Americans.
Proposition 209 will eliminate equal opportunity programs which require contractors to reach out to minority-owned companies for bids on large state contracting projects. State contractors will no longer have to undertake efforts to recruit qualified minority businesses, but will be able to go back to using the same old companies they have always used.
Currently, there is a 10.1 percent minority participation rate in state contracts. In 1990 that rate was 7.1 percent. (4) This growth will decline without the equal opportunity programs that face extinction under Proposition 209.
In 1994 state contracts, in combination with the city and county of Los Angeles, amounted to over $7 billion.(5) Minorities were awarded just under 15% of these contracting dollars even though they make up 44% of California's population.(6)
In fact, the Department of General Services, whose total contract dollars for FY93-94 was over $700 million, uses affirmative action programs to award 14.6% of state contracts to minorities.(7)
Ending state equal opportunity programs will threaten the continued growth in employment opportunities.
California had the highest number of African-American enterprises, with gross receipts in excess of $2.4 billion.(8)
African-American employment in state managerial jobs has grown 2% since 1978 and employment in professional jobs has grown 3%.(9)
African-Americans currently comprise only 2.8% of University of California Ladder Track Faculty.(10) Return
Proposition 209 threatens the ability of African-Americans to gain equal access to educational opportunities by gutting equal opportunity scholarships and programs for people of color to attend public universities, K-12 educational programs, and other public education programs.
CCRI eliminates tutoring, outreach, recruitment, and counseling programs in California public education. As a result many educational opportunities eliminated for African Americans.
Two of the most significant minority populations in the state, African-Americans and Latinos, are already under represented in the University of California system at 4.3% and 12.4%, respectively.(11) CCRI would reduce these figures even further.
CCRI threatens programs which help minorities succeed in school and advance to college and graduate schools, especially in math and sciences. These programs include: Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC); Girls Science Network; Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA); College Readiness Program (CRP); and Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP). Return
Proposition 209 threatens the programs which help minorities successfully enter and complete medical school. As a result the medical needs of these communities will continue to be underserved.(12) African-American physicians cared for nearly six times as many patients from their communities as did other physicians.
There are a number of state programs which provide an opportunity for individuals to get low cost loans to purchase homes in their community. These programs predominantly serve communities of color which small businesses, community organizations, and banks have sought to revive and assist through community development projects. These programs will be eliminated under Proposition 209.
Programs like the California Housing Finance Agency (CHFA), which makes housing loans through many traditional lenders and financial institutions, would be limited especially where loans are made in targeted areas which effect primarily one minority group.
· In Fiscal Year 1995-96, CHFA programs loaned California home buyers over $656 million. Targeted areas received over $74 million of those funds.(13)
Equal Opportunity Programs Protect African-Americans from Being Shut out of Educational and Employment Opportunities. Proposition 209 Would Gut Those Programs Essential to Establishing a Level Playing Field. Return
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(1)California Research Bureau, Overview on Affirmative Action, 1995. Return
(3)California Senate Office of Research, The Status of Affirmative Action in California, March 1995 at 43. Return
(4)General Services Reports, 1994 Data. Return
(5)Los Angeles Times, 12/23/95. Return
(6)California Senate Office of Research, The Status of Affirmative Action in California, March 1995 at 43-44. Return
(7)Annual Report: Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprises 1993-94. Return
(8)Kenneth Eskell ed., The African-American Almanac, 1994 at 674. Return
(9)California Research Bureau, Overview on Affirmative Action, 1995. Return
(12)New England Journal of Medicine, Black and Hispanic Physicians and Underserved Populations, Vol. 334, No. 20 at 1307. Return
(13)Statistical Report from CHFA, 1996. Return
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