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September 26, 2010
Few Winona County residents are minorities, but even fewer work in public jobs, a Winona Daily News investigation found.
The numbers are starkly homogeneous: The Winona public school district employs just 11 minorities, more than half of them interpreters. The county has only two non-white workers. And the city of Winona employs so few minorities that it refused to provide demographics data about its employees for this story, saying that releasing the numbers risks identifying them.
Only 4.5 percent of Winona County's 50,000 residents are racial minorities, according to the U.S. Census' American Community Survey estimates. But that number falls to 1.3 percent for county and public school employees.
Public officials say the numbers are low because minority candidates aren't applying. Others say the government isn't doing enough to recruit non-whites.
Local public employers need to work harder at finding more diverse job candidates, said Fatima Said, executive director of Project FINE, a non-profit that receives some public funds to help immigrants acclimate into the community.
"Would I like to see more people (from diverse backgrounds) in public services? Absolutely," she said. "It will be nice if we invest some more into this subject, because it is important."
Winona County is not alone when it comes to employment disparities. Minnesota had the nation's second largest gap in 2009 between unemployment rates for whites and blacks and between whites and Latinos, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Wisconsin had the nation's largest gap between whites and blacks.
The County
Winona County employs 332 people, from top-level administrators to maintenance workers.
All but two - who identify themselves as either Hispanic or Asian - are white.
It's not by design, county leaders said.
The county's hiring process is color-blind and aims to give every candidate as fair a shake as possible, county Personnel Director Maureen Holte said.
The county uses a 100 point scoring system for initial applicants. Technical skills, licensing, relevant experience and other factors are all given point totals. The only element on the spreadsheet not directly related to job performance is veteran's status.
Applicants who don't meet minimum scores are eliminated. Staff then determines a score cut-off level to decide how many candidates to interview. Those who review the scores never know the identity or race of the applicants.
"Race or ethnicity does not play anything into the scoring system," Holte said.
County leaders say they'd like to have a more diverse staff. The problem, Winona County Administrator Duane Hebert said, is that minorities aren't applying.
Out of more than 3,700 county applicants between 2004 and 2010, only 139 identified themselves as either black, Hispanic, American Indian-Alaskan Native or Asian-Pacific Islander, according to county data.
That's a shame, says Carmaine Sturino, chairwoman of the Outreach and Diversity Committee for the Winona County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. More diversity among public employees means everyone feels "part of the system," she said.
A private attorney and public defender in Winona County, Sturino said her minority clients can feel uncomfortable coming to court when none of the staff, lawyers or judges look like them.
"I think (a diverse staff) would make a significant impact for even how my clients feel to come to court," she said.
Said from Project FINE said she often hears from local government leaders who say they'd like to hire more minorities but can't find qualified candidates.
When the county advertises for open positions, it focuses on local advertising, trade publications for jobs such as assistant county attorneys, and professional organizations specific to the open position.
"Nothing is specifically targeted to any one audience," Hebert said. "It's very broad and open to everyone, looking more from the standpoint to the skill sets we are looking at."
Hebert said many minorities in Winona County are immigrants and have language barriers that prevent them from even applying. He said the county helps fund Project FINE in part to integrate that population. He hopes those efforts increases the minority applicant pool.
"If we are not getting (minorities) as applicants, well, I think that's going to be reflected in the total percentage as a whole of employees," Hebert said.
The Schools
The impetus to develop a more diverse staff is probably higher for Winona's public schools than for both the city and county. The district's student body is significantly less white than the general population: Nearly 14 percent of the district's 3,394 students are minorities, according to the most recent available data. One elementary school, Jefferson Elementary, was only 67 percent white.
But the district employs just 11 minorities out of 642 employees. Two are black, three are Hispanic and six are Asian-Pacific Islander. Six of the 11 are interpreters.
A middle school principal in Winona for years, Superintendent Scott Hannon said he and teachers frequently wished the district's teachers looked more like its students.
"Some kids we felt could bond or connect with someone of their own race or cultural background," he said . "Whether it was a teacher or a counselor."
As recently as five years ago, district human resources director Pat Blaisdell was attending workshops geared toward attracting minority teacher candidates to rural school districts. The district has even tried to diversify its applicant pool through targeted advertisements in the past, she said.
But budget cuts may be leading to a more homogeneous applicant pool, since the district can no longer afford to recruit minority candidates.
The district received more than 150 applications for an open elementary school position this summer. During a time when the district is weighing even more cuts, officials said it's hard to justify spending money to target minority candidates and expand an already oversized applicant pool.
"Particularly in times of budget cuts, we are not going to spend money on recruiting if we don't need to do it," Blaisdell said. "Quite honestly, right now we just have not had much of a budget. We have not had any budget for recruitment.
"If we are able to spend additional resources in recruitment," Blaisdell said, "I think we would give more of an effort to try and recruit candidates from a more diverse background."
The Exception
One public employer in Winona exceeds diversity levels compared to census data.
Of the 988 people Winona State University employed during fiscal year 2010, 52 self-reported as a minority, or about 5.3 percent, according to the school's institution profile for the Minnesota State Universities and Colleges system.
There's no quota for minority hires at Winona State, officials said. The best candidate for the job wins, regardless of race.
But Winona State actively pursues minority candidates, something other public employers do not. The university even employs someone tasked with ensuring the hiring process is fair and non-discriminatory.
Lori Mikl, the Affirmative Action Officer for Winona State, said the university spent about $34,000 on employment advertising last school year, and about half was focused on developing a more diverse applicant pool.
The effort is working. During fiscal year 2010, 3,940 people applied to positions at Winona State. Of those, 580 self-reported as a minority, or about 14.7 percent, compared to the 3.7 percent of Winona County job candidates who self-reported being a minority in the past five years.
County and school district officials pointed out that Winona State can offer better benefit packages and higher salaries for most positions. People are more willing and able to relocate for an entry-level job professorship than an entry-level high school teaching position, Blaisdell said.
"I think for a person with a similar skills set, the opportunities at Winona State will probably represent a little better chance," Hebert said.
Perhaps, but Winona State officials also credit their pro-active approach to diversity. The university wants a diverse staff, and student body, Mikl said, because it expands the exchange of ideas, opinions and cultures at the campus.
"It contributes to the overall atmosphere of the campus," she said. "Having a diverse campus adds to the overall education environment."
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