On May 18 (prior to that day’s City Council meeting), the Community Advancement Network released its annual “Dashboard” report at City Hall. CAN is a coalition of 25 local organizations that work on social progress and equity issues; it issued its first Dashboard report, based on 17 statistical indicators, in 2010. This year’s report is a mixed bag: while the statistics show general progress, especially since the Great Reces­sion, the continuing inequities between majority white residents and people of color remain troubling. Some highlights:

• A remarkable 25% decline in the overall Travis County crime rate (both violent and property crimes), from 2011 to 2015.

• A decline in the poverty rate (people who live below the federal poverty level) from 19% to 13% (2011-2015) – largely because of the end of the recession.

• Unemployment rate declined from 5.5% to 3.1% (2012-2016).

• Uninsured rate (people under 65) declined from 21% to 16% (2011-2015).

Continuing challenges:

• Affordability: 36% of all Travis County households are “cost-burdened” for housing, paying more than 30% of income for housing (slight decline since 2011’s 39%).

• Poverty rates: 25% of black and Hispanic families live below the poverty line (10% for whites and Asians); 35% of black and Hispanic children live in poverty.

Another striking statistic: Black residents of Travis County account for 8% of the total adult population – but 21% of all people booked into the Travis County jail are black; black motorists are four times more likely to be arrested in traffic stops. During the press conference releasing the CAN report, County Judge Sarah Eckhardt called the racial disproportionality “absolutely unacceptable.”

The Community Advancement Network Dashboard Report is available at www.canatx.org.

CAN Dashboard Report: Good News and Bad

A version of this article appeared in print on May 26, 2017 with the headline: CAN Dashboard Report: Good News and Bad

This article appears in May 26 • 2017.

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Contributing writer and former news editor Michael King has reported on city and state politics for the Chronicle since 2000. He was educated at Indiana University and Yale, and from 1977 to 1985 taught at UT-Austin. He has been the editor of the Houston Press and The Texas Observer, and has reported and written widely on education, politics, and cultural subjects.