Minnesota's Diverse Communities: Feelings and experiences of inclusion
A member of Cypher Side Dance School break dances during a series of performances at a Black and Asian solidarity rally at George Floyd Square on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Evan Frost | MPR News
DOCUMENTATION
BLOG: The what, why and how of the Minnesota’s Diverse Communities survey
REPORT: Detailed results related to feelings and experiences of inclusion
METHODS: Transparency disclosures and methodology
RELATED STORIES
MINNESOTA’S DIVERSE COMMUNITIES: All articles and reports
MPR NEWS: Outdoor sports remain very white. Duluth groups are working to close the 'adventure gap'
APM SURVEY: How often do Americans spend free time in nature?
by ALYSON CLARY | Sept. 16, 2021
The Twin Cities and, more generally, Minnesota are often cited among the best places in the nation to live. But is this the case for everyone? In response to the killing of George Floyd, many Minnesotans began to ask themselves this question and finally began to listen to the experiences of BIPOC Minnesotans. (BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color.)
The APM Research Lab also wanted to listen to these experiences and find out who feels included in the larger community of Minnesotans and who feels left out. And what does inclusivity look like?
On behalf of the APM Research Lab, SSRS of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania conducted the Minnesota’s Diverse Communities survey from April 26 to June 14, 2021. Among other topics, the survey asked Minnesotans about feelings and experiences of inclusion.
After analyzing the survey results by race and ethnicity, political affiliation, immigrant status and more, the APM Research Lab has compiled the key findings and detailed them below. They are grouped according to the following four topics:
How diverse and integrated are Minnesota’s neighborhoods?
Fifty-six percent of BIPOC Minnesotans say that most of the people in their neighborhood are of a different race than them while only 4% of White Minnesotans respond similarly. Latinx Minnesotans (66%) and particularly Latinx women (68%) are especially likely to respond this way compared to Black (49%), Indigenous (47%) and Hmong (47%) Minnesotans.
Such a wide disparity between BIPOC and White Minnesotans likely reflects some combination of the state’s majority non-Hispanic White population (76% according to the 2020 census) and personal choice in where to live. Supporting this, 36% of White Minnesotans responded that “hardly any” of their neighbors are of a different race than them and 16% said “none” of their neighbors are of a different race, compared to 3% and 2% of BIPOC Minnesotans, respectively.
Indigenous Minnesotans also report living in neighborhoods without much diversity, although still at a lower rate than White Minnesotans. Eighteen percent of Indigenous Minnesotans responded that “hardly any” of their neighbors are of a different race than them and 10% responded that “none” of their neighbors are of a different race. These results may be due to the number of Indigenous Minnesotans living on tribal lands. Just over half (56%) of Indigenous Minnesotans live in Greater Minnesota.
About four in 10 Minnesotans, including both White and BIPOC adults, report living in neighborhoods where “some” of their neighbors have a different racial or ethnic background than themselves. And over half of Hmong Minnesotans (52%) said that they live in neighborhoods where some of their neighbors are of a different race, which was significantly higher than Indigenous (24%), Latinx (30%) and Asian, excluding Hmong, Minnesotans (36%).
Nearly half of immigrant Minnesotans (48%) report that they live in a neighborhood where most of their neighbors are of a different race than them. By comparison, only 7% of Minnesotans who are neither an immigrant nor child of immigrants reported similarly. Roughly two-fifths each of immigrants and non-immigrants report that some of the people who live in their neighborhood are of a different race from them. But, if we combine these two responses into a broader category, nearly four-fifths of immigrant Minnesotans live in a neighborhood where either most or some of their neighbors are of a different race than them compared to half of non-immigrant Minnesotans.
Besides race and ethnicity—and place of birth, a few other noteworthy patterns emerge when looking at the data as broken down by political party or leaning, age and location of residence:
Roughly equal proportions of Democrats and Republicans say “some” of their neighbors are of a different race than them (44% and 40%, respectively) and “hardly any” of them are (30% and 33%, respectively).
However, 16% of Democrats live in neighborhoods where most of the people are of a different race than them compared to only 7% of Republicans. Around one-fifth of Republicans live in a neighborhood where no one is of a different race than them compared to 10% of Democrats.
Seventy percent of those who live in the Twin Cities reside in a neighborhood where most or some of the people are of a different race than them compared to 37% of those in Greater Minnesota.
Four-fifths of younger adults ages 18-29 live in a neighborhood where most or some of the people who live there are of a different race than them, a much higher proportion than for any other age group
Can Minnesotans easily access food that reflects their culture?
White Minnesotans (84%) are somewhat more likely than BIPOC Minnesotans (73%) to say that it is either “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to get food locally that reflects their heritage.
Nearly all Hmong Minnesotans (93%) answered that it is either “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to find food locally that reflects their heritage. This is the highest percentage of any racial or ethnic group surveyed and is especially notable given that Hmong Minnesotans are the group with the highest proportion of immigrants in this story.
More specifically, about three in five White and Hmong Minnesotans claim it is “very easy” to access culturally appropriate food. This drops to about two in five Black and Latinx Minnesotans and only one in five Indigenous adults. Indigenous Minnesotans (42%) had the highest percentage of those who answered that it is either “somewhat difficult” or “very difficult” to access food reflective of their heritage. Of that group, 16% reported that it is “very difficult” to find food that reflects their heritage. A similarly high proportion of non-Hmong Asian Minnesotans (15%) also noted that it is “very difficult” to find food reflecting their heritage.
Perhaps not surprisingly, access to culturally relevant food also varies by immigrant status: 36% of immigrants in Minnesota indicate that it is “very easy” to find food that reflects their heritage, while 16% of immigrants indicate that it is “very difficult.”
How Minnesotans feel about local parks and other outdoor recreation areas
Eighty-three percent of Minnesotans rate the state’s park and outdoor recreation areas as either “excellent” or “good,” including 85% of White Minnesotans and 67% of BIPOC Minnesotans. Among BIPOC adults, Asians (excluding Hmong) and Latinx Minnesotans, are more inclined to rate nearby parks and outdoor recreation areas as either excellent or good compared to Black, Indigenous, and especially Hmong Minnesotans.
White Minnesotans (36%) are much more likely to rate nearby parks and recreation areas as “excellent” compared to other racial and ethnic groups, especially Black (15%) and Hmong Minnesotans (10%), who are least likely to rate parks as excellent. Sixteen percent of immigrant Minnesotans also rate local parks and outdoor recreation areas as “excellent.”
BIPOC Minnesotans (30%) are twice as likely as White Minnesotans (14%) to rate nearby parks and outdoor recreation areas as either “fair” or “poor.” Hmong Minnesotans (44%) are most likely to offer a negative assessment of parks and outdoor recreation areas, followed by Indigenous Minnesotans (36%). Interestingly, Black women in Minnesota (46%) are far more likely than Black men (24%) to rate parks and recreation areas negatively. The same is true of Indigenous women (44%) when compared to Indigenous men (27%).
In addition to asking respondents to rate nearby parks and outdoor recreation areas, we also asked them to indicate how often they spend their free time in those areas in the spring and summer. BIPOC Minnesotans answered at similar rates to White Minnesotans. Sixty percent of both BIPOC and White Minnesotans answered that they spend their free time enjoying parks and outdoor recreation areas at least once a week (combination of those who answered, “more than once a week” and “about once a week”). Likewise, 63% of immigrant Minnesotans spend their free time enjoying parks and outdoor recreations once a week or more.
There are, however, some slight differences in response rates. Non-Hmong Asian, White and Latinx Minnesotans are at least 10 percentage points more likely than the other racial and ethnic groups to spend time in parks more than once a week.
Indigenous Minnesotans appear to be somewhat less likely to spend their free time in parks and outdoor recreation areas than other groups, with 29% recreating outdoors “less often” than once or twice a month or “never.”
How Minnesotans view the state’s cultural amenities
Nearly three-fourths of Minnesota adults rate the states cultural amenities—including museums, theaters, arts, and music—as either “excellent” or “good.” Overall, both White and BIPOC Minnesotans give the state’s cultural amenities high marks, but White Minnesotans (74%) are more likely than Black (64%) and Indigenous (58%) Minnesotans to rate the state’s cultural amenities as either “excellent” or “good.”
Notably, Indigenous Minnesotans (39%) are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group surveyed to rate Minnesota’s cultural amenities as either “fair” or “poor.” Immigrants (28%) and Black Minnesotans (27%) are also more inclined to rate the state’s cultural amenities negatively, with a notably high proportion of immigrant Minnesotans (16%) rating the state’s cultural amenities as “poor.”
Nearly one-third of Minnesotan younger adults, ages 18-29, rate the state’s cultural amenities negatively, which is the highest proportion out of all groups.
We also asked Minnesotans how often they spend their free time taking advantage of Minnesota’s cultural amenities. The most common answer, representing one-third of all Minnesota adults, was “a few times per year.”
Although they are small percentages, Indigenous (6%), Black (5%) and non-Hmong Asian (5%) Minnesotans are more likely than Latinx (1%), Hmong (1%) and White (1%) Minnesotans, to take advantage of the state’s cultural amenities “more than once a week.”
One-fifth of immigrant Minnesotans, however, report that they “never” take advantage of local cultural amenities, which is the highest proportion out of all groups. Also, BIPOC Minnesotans (11%) are more likely than White Minnesotans (6%) to “never” take advantage of Minnesota’s cultural amenities.
In addition to frequency of attendance, we also asked Minnesotans how well they think Minnesota’s cultural amenities reflect their heritage and culture. Three-quarters of White Minnesotans (77%) think that the state’s cultural amenities reflect their heritage and culture either “very well” or “somewhat well.” More than half of BIPOC Minnesotans (53%), however, think that Minnesota’s cultural amenities either reflect their culture and heritage “not very well” or “not well at all,” as do a similar proportion of immigrant Minnesotans (52%).
Intriguingly, a strong majority of Hmong Minnesotans (71%) join White Minnesotans in believing that Minnesota’s cultural amenities reflect their heritage and culture either “very well” or “somewhat well.” While a majority of Black (58%), non-Hmong Asian (56%), Indigenous (52%) and Latinx (51%) Minnesotans provide a negative answer. And over one-quarter of non-Hmong Asian Minnesotans (28%), in particular, claim the state’s cultural amenities represent their heritage “not well at all.”
Additionally, over one half of immigrant Minnesotans indicate that their heritage is not well represented by the state’s cultural amenities, including 26% who responded “not well at all.”