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Equal Opportunity for All: Kay Hagan's Plan to Empower Minorities

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Our country has made valiant strides over the past 50 years in combating discrimination, strengthening civil rights, and lifting historical minority groups out of poverty. Nevertheless, gaps in opportunity and discrimination remain prevalent in our society. Members of minority groups still lag behind in income, graduation rates, and other indicators of economic prosperity. Moreover, discrimination in schools and the workplace persist despite monumental progress in recent years.

Kay Hagan believes that all Americans deserve an equal opportunity to attend a good school, earn a solid living, and be treated with dignity and respect. Her plan to lift minorities is consistent with these core ideals of the American Dream. As a U.S. senator, Kay will work hard to ensure that North Carolina’s diverse citizenry has equal opportunities by:

• Reforming Our Education System to Ensure Access to First Class Education for All Americans
• Providing Access to Affordable, Quality, and Non-Discriminatory Health Care
• Protecting Civil Rights
• Restoring Access to Affordable Housing By Preventing Predatory Lending and Allocating Adequate Resources to Public Housing Developments
• Improving the Economy and Providing Avenues for Minority Entrepreneurship
• Ensuring the Fair Administration of Justice and the Reduction of Crime

REFORM OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

Approximately one-third of children from minority groups live in poverty. Many of these children are plagued by difficulties at home, as well as lower expectations and less challenging curricula in the classroom. Test scores for reading and math underscore these disadvantages: African-American fourth-graders in North Carolina score 27 points lower on reading tests and 25 points lower on math tests, while white fourth-graders outpace Hispanic students in reading and math by 23 and 16 points, respectively. Kay believes that we need to reform our education system to encourage more and better teachers in disadvantaged communities, more rigorous curricula, and more attention to endemic disparities between students of different racial and ethnic groups. The reforms must benefit students from early childhood to college to ensure a complete and comprehensive education.

Encourage Teachers to Work in Disadvantaged Communities. Poor urban and rural communities in North Carolina and other states commonly lack the resources to attract and retain the highest quality teachers. In addition, within districts, seniority rules often result in the poorest schools getting the least experienced teachers. The disparity is especially problematic in schools with a high concentration of minorities. In North Carolina, one-fifth of secondary educations classes are taught by teachers lacking a college major or minor in the field they are teaching. Kay believes every child deserves access to the highest quality education and therefore believes that these disadvantaged communities and schools must have excellent teachers. As a U.S. senator, Kay will promote legislation that provides incentives to experienced and nationally certified teachers to work in disadvantaged communities and schools. She will also encourage expanded resources for the Teach For America program, which attracts highly talented young adults to teach in poor schools throughout the country for two years. Increased funding for Teach For America will allow it to expand efforts to recruit college graduates to teach and will encourage more young people to consider teaching as a career.

Promote Early Childhood Education Through Expansion and Improvement of Head Start. Access to quality early childhood education is vital to a young child’s preparedness for elementary and secondary education. Studies conclude that pre-school age children in the highest socioeconomic group outpace their peers in the lowest socioeconomic group by nearly 60 percent on cognitive ability, and that impoverished 4-year-old children lag 18 months behind in educational achievement. Kay believes we must:

• Fully fund Head Start. For too long, Washington has underfunded Head Start and Early Head Start, a reality that has made the programs inaccessible to a majority of the children it is intended to serve. Kay will work hard to support full funding for Head Start and Early Head Start so more children will receive the educational, emotional and social development they need to be prepared for elementary school and beyond.

• Integrate Smart Start principles into federal early childhood education. There is growing support for federal involvement in early childhood education programs beyond Head Start. North Carolina, legislators, including Kay, have heeded their call by funding Smart Start, a public-private partnership which, like Head Start, integrates education, health care, nutrition, child care, and other social services to provide children a healthy environment under which they can begin their education. The Smart Start model has been successful in North Carolina and the primary principle underlying the program – that a public-private partnership can produce excellent results – should be applied to Head Start. As a United States senator, Kay will encourage reform of Head Start to incorporate the lessons learned from North Carolina’s award-winning early childhood education program.

Increase Federal Funding for North Carolina’s Low-Income Schools. Under current federal law, the flawed funding formula for primary education provides much more money per student to wealthier states than to moderate-income states like North Carolina. North Carolina receives less per-student Title I funding than all but five states and less than half as much as Massachusetts, despite often still receiving less federal help for their disadvantaged schools than higher-income states with smaller proportional investments in education. Kay would fight in the Senate to make sure that North Carolina’s students and schools get their fair share of federal educational funds.

Strengthen Congressional Commitment to HBCUs. Kay has long recognized the strength of North Carolina’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In fact, during her tenure in the state Senate, Kay supported more than $2.6 billion in appropriations to the state’s public HBCUs and voted for funding to create new degree programs at several HBCUs and a special biotechnology initiative at UNC-Pembroke, a recognized Tribal College and University (TCU). As a U.S. senator, Kay will work hard to ensure that funding continues to increase for HBCUs and TCUs when the Higher Education Act is reauthorized and when appropriations under the Act are apportioned.

Decrease Dropout Rate Disparities. As a state senator, Kay demonstrated her commitment to reduce dropout rates by voting in favor of funding for the “Citizens Schools Program”—a dropout prevention program that targets schools with high percentages of minority students and poor students. In the U.S. Senate, she will support similar innovative measures to reduce high dropout rates among racial minorities. In particular, Kay will advocate for incentives to create smaller high schools and target particular funding for schools in high-poverty urban and rural areas.

PROVIDE ACCESS TO QUALITY AND AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE

Affordable and accessible health care is crucial to our economic competitiveness and to North Carolina families’ well-being. But our challenges extend beyond access. Racial minorities consistently experience worse health outcomes and lower quality care, disparities that are intolerable. In the Senate, Kay will fight to extend health coverage to children and will pursue measures that improve health care for underserved communities.

Work to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. According the Institute of Medicine, broad racial and ethnic disparities exist in health care. Such disparities often reduce access to care for members of minority groups and deplete the quality of care for those who are fortunate enough to receive it. According to the Institute, such disparities are the result of bias, stereotyping, prejudice and clinical uncertainty by health care providers. Given this finding, Kay believes that Congress must authorize research into racial health care disparities and provide funding to increase public awareness about these disparities. Furthermore, it must provide greater resources to the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that health care providers and systems comply with civil rights laws.

Promote Community-Based Solutions to Tackle Health Care Disparities. In addition to increasing awareness about health care disparities and enforcing civil rights law in the health care arena, Kay recognizes that Congress should encourage the implementation of community-based solutions to reduce these disparities. Kay will support increased funding for grant programs that allocate resources to community health providers that seek to launch comprehensive treatment, prevention, and education programs to assist underserved populations.

Expand SCHIP and Work Toward Universal Health Care for Children. Research indicates that uninsured minority children often suffer disproportionately from increased exposure to environmental hazards, more frequent diagnoses of asthma, and more commonplace childhood obesity. To combat these afflictions, Congress, in 1997, enacted the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a bipartisan, efficient and effective program to provide high-quality, affordable health care to a large segment of America’s uninsured children. This program gives children who do not qualify for Medicaid, but who cannot afford private health insurance, access to affordable policies. Even with SCHIP, approximately 9.4 million children are still without health insurance, and that number will continue to rise if Congress does not act to strengthen SCHIP. Washington’s failure to improve SCHIP last year compelled Kay to step up and push for state funds to make sure children received coverage. She believes Congress should reauthorize SCHIP and improve it by increasing outreach to families who have not yet enrolled their qualifying children. Such measures would allow the nearly seven million children currently enrolled in SCHIP to maintain their coverage and could cover an additional three million currently uninsured children.

Reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Although Congress has continued to appropriate funds under the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA), it has not reauthorized the legislation since fiscal year 2001. Congress should work to reauthorize IHCIA to increase the role of tribes in decision-making, better organize social service programs and establish a construction-priority system for health facilities funded by the Indian Health Service (IHS). New IHCIA legislation should mandate that IHS screen all eligible American Indians for diabetes, examine the prevalence of the disease among American Indians, and work to reduce the disease among the American Indian population.

Launch a Full-Scale Effort to Combat Diabetes in Tribal Communities. Kay believes Congress was right to pass the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) reauthorization legislation, which authorizes $150 million in annual funding for the program through fiscal year 2011. SDPI is valuable because it has facilitated the creation of a comprehensive network of health and tribal organizations that provides training and shares best practices. The program also has promoted increased prevention of diabetes in tribal communities and has established the infrastructure for diabetes initiatives. Kay is especially proud that Congress overwhelmingly overrode President Bush’s veto of the legislation reauthorizing SDPI. As a U.S. senator, she will work to ensure that Congress actually appropriates the authorized funding levels in its annual budget.

PROTECT CIVIL RIGHTS

Over the past eight years, our country’s long-standing commitment to enforcing civil rights protections has been undermined by those who seek to roll back the clock on progressive reforms. In the Executive Branch, political appointees in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division have muzzled and overruled career attorneys and weakened enforcement of civil rights by refusing to aggressively pursue violations. In the federal judiciary, the appointment of activist judicial appointees has taken its toll, as members of the federal bench have limited avenues for individuals to pursue valid discrimination claims under a host of federal civil rights laws. In the U.S. Senate, Kay will be steadfast in her determination to enforce and recognize civil rights.

Reduce Workplace Discrimination. Workers in America remain victims of pay discrimination as a result of their race, national origin, gender, or other characteristics. In recent years, the Supreme Court has attempted to preclude lawsuits by workers who have learned that their employers are discriminating against them based on compensation. Kay will support legislation that permits victims of discrimination to file a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission anytime within six months after the victim receives a paycheck that is the subject of discriminatory compensation. She also supports efforts to expand the scope of the Equal Pay Act, which currently applies only to gender-based discrimination, to cover discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or national origin.

Give the Lumbee Tribe the Federal Recognition It Deserves. Although North Carolina long ago recognized the Lumbee Tribe of Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland, and Scotland Counties, the tribe has not yet achieved full legal recognition from the federal government. The absence of full recognition deprives Lumbees of the benefits, privileges, and immunities of federal tribal status. Kay Hagan supports full federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe and as a United States senator, she will work to ensure that such recognition is accorded.

RESTORE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Nearly 70 percent of Americans own their homes. However, only one out of every two African Americans own homes, a troubling disparity that keeps many African-American families from the most important wealth-building asset most Americans have. Making matters worse, the percentage of African Americans owning their own homes has decreased in the past few years of the Bush-Republican economy, a sign that minority families are disproportionately suffering from the ongoing foreclosure crisis. All the while, low-income minorities living in public housing are being displaced from homes subject to demolition or redevelopment. Kay recognizes that the housing market must be reformed to ensure an equal playing field for all Americans. She also understands that safe, affordable, and energy-efficient housing must be available for those who can’t afford to buy their own homes.

Help Families Stay in their Homes and Prevent Loss of Home Value. Kay does not support bailing out individuals who knowingly made poor financial decisions, but the current economic crisis has caused excessive strain on some people who were otherwise able to afford their homes. Furthermore, each foreclosure causes the value of surrounding houses to drop, regardless of families’ ability to afford their homes. Kay will work to ensure that Congress invests in a solution that helps families stay in their homes, reduces foreclosures, and explores innovative new ways to stabilize neighborhoods. She will seek public-private partnerships to renovate neighborhoods and turn foreclosed properties into affordable rental or ownership units. Kay also supports financial counseling to help working families regain control of their finances.

Encourage First-Time Homeownership. As we deal with the mortgage crisis, Kay realizes that our country must continue to encourage individuals and families to own homes. Research reveals a correlation between homeownership and lower crime rates, greater political activism, and membership in social groups. Earlier this year, Congress enacted the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which created a temporary tax credit for working and middle-class Americans seeking to buy their first home. Given the economic climate of the country, Kay believes Congress should extend this first-time homeownership tax credit for another year and increase the maximum credit from $7,500 to $10,000. These modifications would allow Americans hit hard by the financial markets, including those who faced extended periods of unemployment before finding new jobs, to rebound and to buy their own homes.

Prohibit Predatory Lending. The current mortgage crisis was precipitated in large part by unscrupulous lenders who took advantage of individuals by pushing them into predatory mortgages with terms like adjustable rate mortgages and prepayment penalties. A study by the Center for Responsible Lending concludes that minority families are more likely to have higher-rate home purchase loans than Caucasian borrowers, regardless of creditworthiness. Thus, minority families have suffered disproportionately from the subprime market meltdown. North Carolina’s predatory lending law is widely hailed as the toughest in the nation: it bans prepayment penalties on homes valued at less than $150,000, prohibits excessive fees and interest rates, precludes balloon payments and loans with negative amortization, and requires lenders to consider a consumer’s ability to repay. In the U.S. Senate, Kay will support immediate and explicit recognition that federal housing law does not preempt the protections for borrowers found in North Carolina’s predatory lending statute. She will also seek to strengthen the federal Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act – which is less stringent than our state’s predatory lending law – to protect against pernicious prepayment penalties, restrict arbitration clauses, and curtail the use of hidden fees in mortgage loan agreements.

Revitalize Public Housing. The HOPE VI public housing program has restored and constructed a number of public housing developments over the past 30 years. In North Carolina, at least 12 grants totaling over $300 million have been awarded to revitalize public housing developments. Despite some successes, the HOPE VI program remains underfunded and in need of reform. The program has especially suffered under the Bush Administration, which has attempted to cut off all funding for the program since 2003. When Kay enters the Senate, she will seek to restore appropriate funding levels for the HOPE VI program while seeking reform of the program to ensure that all public housing units scheduled for demolition or redevelopment are replaced with new public housing developments on a one-for-one basis. At the same time, Kay will work to ensure that new public housing units authorized under the HOPE VI program are energy efficient and environmentally sound, which will ultimately save taxpayer money and minimize environmental degradation.

IMPROVE THE ECONOMY AND PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Stagnant wage growth, inflation and increased costs of living have put the squeeze on America’s middle class and working class families. In addition, our country’s unemployment rate has gradually risen over the past two years, particularly among African American males, who have an unemployment rate approaching 10 percent. Washington’s failed economic policies, which feature enormous budget deficits, inadequate spending on our national infrastructure, and unfair policies that favor big businesses over workers, must be reversed. As a U.S. senator, Kay will seek to implement policies that benefit America’s working and middle class families by improving quality of life and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Create a National Infrastructure Bank. As the levee failure in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and the 2007 I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis demonstrated, our country suffers from a disintegrating public infrastructure that includes crumbling roadways, decrepit public housing, and out-of-date water treatment systems. In fact, a 2005 study by the American Society of Civil Engineers indicated that the country needs to invest nearly $1.5 trillion dollars over five years to repair our major infrastructure systems and gave North Carolina a grade of C- for its infrastructure. Such problems can be particularly acute in urban areas, where school facilities have diminished, parks are dilapidated and playgrounds have decayed. Kay supports bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress that would create a National Infrastructure Bank, which would evaluate and finance major public infrastructure projects using bonds to rehabilitate mass transit, public housing, roadways, and water systems. In addition, Kay would support an expansion of the Bank’s activities to include financing of deteriorating schools and public recreation areas in urban areas. She would also seek enactment of a provision mandating that a certain percentage of the workforce carrying out the public works project is economically disadvantaged and that a percentage of contracts for these projects are allocated to minority-owned businesses. The creation of a National Infrastructure Bank will spur economic growth, revitalize dilapidated public infrastructure, and stimulate job growth among poor socioeconomic groups.

Encourage Worker-Friendly Economic Policies. In tough economic times like these, working families need our help, not hindrance, to make ends meet and get ahead. Kay’s record in the state Senate on behalf of working families is clear: she has voted to increase the minimum wage to help families in North Carolina. As a U.S. senator, she will support regular increases in the minimum wage. The implementation of such a measure will ensure that low-wage workers will not struggle disproportionately when the prices of everyday goods increase. Furthermore, Kay believes that Congress should simplify the Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides cash assistance to lower-income working parents. In particular, she believes that more outreach should be conducted to families eligible for the credit and that Congress should increase the benefits of the EITC for eligible individuals.

ENSURE FAIR ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

After years of decreasing crime rates in America, crime is once again on the rise in inner cities and throughout the country. To combat crime, we must ensure that the federal government provides much-needed resources to state and local law enforcement agencies to engage in community-oriented policing and drug interdiction activities. We must also provide authority to prevent hate crimes predicated on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and national origin. Just as important, Kay understands that we must stand up for the civil liberties of all Americans as we eradicate the scourge of crime. In particular, she will seek to ensure that law enforcement does not target individuals for criminal investigation solely based on their racial or ethnic classification.

Enact Federal Hate Crimes Legislation. The number of reported hate crimes in North Carolina and around the country has risen over the past 15 years. In North Carolina, victims reported at least 100 such incidents in 2006, the highest on record, according to the FBI. Kay believes that the federal government should complement the efforts of state and local law enforcement agencies in punishing hate crimes by providing investigative assistance and by undertaking prosecution where appropriate. Such action will bring perpetrators of hate crimes to justice and will raise awareness about the unfortunate prevalence of hate crimes in our society.

End Racial Profiling. Although law enforcement agencies stop members of minority groups at approximately the same rate as Caucasians, the Department of Justice reports that minorities are more likely to be arrested, ticketed, threatened with force, or searched. This racial profiling committed at the local, state, and federal levels must stop. As a United States senator, Kay will support legislation that prohibits law enforcement agencies from engaging in unconstitutional racial profiling. Specifically, such legislation should require all law enforcement agencies to implement procedures to combat racial profiling, mandate data collection by the Justice Department on incidents of racial profiling, and make grants to local and state law enforcement agencies contingent upon their implementation of policies that restrict profiling.

Renew Successful Law Enforcement Programs. Studies show that the hiring of more cops, deployed with sophistication to key crime neighborhoods, results in a reduction of crime. Law enforcement officers across the country are dealing with a rising crime rate, particularly in areas where members of racial and ethnic minorities live. Kay will fight to fully fund the Byrne Grant and the COPS programs, which give police departments the power to hire more officers to work with community leaders in crime-ridden communities. More officers allow law enforcement agencies to curtail crime and to form drug task forces that impede the drug trade. In the Senate, Kay will fight consistent Republican efforts to reduce funding under these vital programs, or to fold all law enforcement grant programs into one larger grant, which has the effect of depleting funding in a variety of law enforcement areas.

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