Report: State Budget Hampers Minority Opportunity – Maryland Matters
Maryland’s state budget inherently presents barriers to prosperity for people of color and has done so for years, according to a report issued Tuesday by a liberal think tank.
On a range of basic government services – health care, education and transportation – the state budget shortchanges minority communities and makes it more difficult for African-American and Latino families to succeed, the study found.
The report from the Baltimore-based Maryland Center on Economic Policy, called “Budgeting for Opportunity,” urges state policymakers to reorder their priorities by advancing programs that “deliver broadly shared prosperity.”
“Maryland’s budget provides the clearest reflection of our priorities as a state,” the report, written by MDCEP Research Analyst Christopher Meyer, begins. “Choices about where we invest our shared resources can help or hinder children’s education, economic security for families and communities, and public health and safety. Put another way, our budget is a moral document — one that can guide us toward shared prosperity and opportunity for all or toward ever-increasing concentrations of wealth and power in a few hands.”
