Minority Issues

• Washington, DC exhibits the fourth-highest degree of segregation between blacks and whites among the nation's 100 largest cities".

Education

• "Over 80% of white adults in Washington, DC hold a bachelor's degree, compared to only 17 % of African American adults."
  Source: Living cities: The National Community Development Initiative: Washington, DC In Focus: A Profile from Census 2000", The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy
• 15,094 adults aged 18-24 are not high school graduates (20.6%).
  Source: Kids Count census data online: www.aecf.org/kidscount

Youth Specific

• "One in four Washington, DC children lives in a family with no working parents." That's 24,408 children.
• In 2000, the child poverty rate rose to 31.7%; poverty rate is 20.2%.
  
  Source: Living cities: The National Community Development Initiative: Washington, DC In Focus: A Profile from Census 2000", The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy
• "By 2010 there will be 50 million Americans between the age of 16 and 28, a historic high. Approximately 25% of them will be out of school, under-employed and with limited skills.
  
  Source: Benton Foundation 21st Century Skills Initiative: www.benton.org
• Estimate of people under age 5 in poverty in Washington, DC: 7,690; 24.8%.
  
  Source: Year 2000 data www.census.gov
• In 2000 the District of Columbia 31.7% of children were below the poverty line, the national average is only 16.6%;
• In 2000 the District of Columbia 44.7% lived in single-parent households, the national average is only 23.3%
• In 2000 the District of Columbia 10.1% are teens who are high school dropouts; the national average is 9.8%
• In 2000 the District of Columbia 54.4% are children living in high-poverty neighborhoods; the national average is 20.4%.
• 114,992 District residents are under the age of 18 (20.1%).
  
  Source: Kids Count Census Data Online: www.aecf.org/kidscount
• "Analysis of the 2000 Census shows that more than 31 percent of the children in the District are in poverty-an increase of 24 percent since 1990. One out of every three children in the District currently lives in poverty."
• The vast majority of poor children in the District are African American and their numbers increased during the 1990s. 89% of all children living in poverty in 2000 are African American.
• "The poverty rate for Latino children remained stable between 1990 and 2000 at 26 percent."
• "Recent studies have shown that unstructured hours spent with little or no supervision can put children at risk of physical injury, emotional and psychological harm, and poor physical, social, and intellectual development."
  
  Source: "Measuring Need for Youth Services in D.C.: Comparing Poverty and TANF Data". Jennifer T. Comey, Mark Rubin, and Peter A. Tatian. DC Data Warehouse, Urban Institute, September 2003.

Household Income

• "Typical incomes for white households in Washington, DC exceed those for racial/ethnic minority households by more than $30,000" Median Household Income for Blacks/African Americans: $30,478; White: $67,266
• "Over one-third of Washington, DC's families with children live below or near the poverty line"-that's 35.2% or 21,874 families.
• Homeownership Rate: 40.8% in 2000, one of the lowest among large U.S. cities. Nation is 66.2%.
  
  Source: Living cities: The National Community Development Initiative: Washington, DC In Focus: A Profile from Census 2000", The Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy
• Median household income (dollars) $40,127; Median family income $46,283
  
  Source: Year 2000 data www.census.gov

Employment and Occupational

• Job Growth for computer and mathematical occupations is expected to increase 66.7%, an increase of 2 million jobs nationwide from 2000-2010.
• "The demand for computer-related occupations will continue to increase as a result of the rapid advances in computer technology and the continuing demand for new computer applications."
• "Of the 30 fastest growing occupations, 17 are health-related and 10 are computer-related occupations."
• "Computer specialists, is projected to grow 68.6% and computer and information systems managers is projected to grow 47.9%."
• "Five computer-related occupations also are among the occupations with the largest projected numerical job growth."
• "Eight out of ten of the fastest growing occupations, 2000-2010 are computer-related-network and computer systems administrators are the 4th fastest growing occupation.
  
  Source: "Occupational employment projections to 2010." Daniel E. Hecker, Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• In 2002, Washington, DC ranked #44 of a list of 50 states and Puerto Rico for unemployment rates at 6.4%.
  
  Source: America's Career Infonet: www.acinet.org

Poverty

• Estimate of all people of all ages in poverty in Washington DC in 2000: 91,435; 16.3%
  
  Source: Year 2000 data www.census.gov

Digital Divide Issues

In 2002, 58% of Americans adults reported using the Internet.
"In 2002, 40% of whites said they do not use the Internet, as did 55% of African-Americans and 46% of English-speaking Hispanics."

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking Survey, March-May 2002
"In 2001, 143 Million Americans (about 54% of the population) were using the Internet."

Source: Digital Divide Network: www.digitaldividenetwork.org
75% of people who live in households where income is less than $15,000, and 66.6 % with incomes between $15,000-$35,000 do not use the Internet.
60.2% of Blacks do not use the Internet, 68.4% of Hispanics (85.9% of Spanish speaking households) do not use the Internet.
Only 40.8% of people who were not employed were computer users and 36.9% were Internet users.
• Since August 2000, males and females have had virtually identical rates of Internet use.
Among Blacks, 55.7% were computer users. Almost half of Hispanics 48.8% were computer users in 2001.

Source: National Telecommunications and Information Administration: A NATION ONLINE: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet. Washington, D.C. February 2002 www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/
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