University Of Minnesota Project Paved Way For Golden Valley Human Rights Commission’s Just Deeds Project

Press release from the City of Golden Valley:

August 14, 2020

The Golden Valley Human Rights Commission’s (HRC) Just Deeds Project has been up and running for a few weeks, but the work on mapping out properties with racially restrictive covenants began years ago with a University of Minnesota project called “Mapping Prejudice.”

Mapping Prejudice works with volunteers to find restrictive covenants in property records and map them on a public website. The purpose of the project is to draw attention to the way racism shaped development in Minnesota and provide data to inform community conversations and policy decisions.

Covenants helped make Golden Valley the predominantly white suburb it is today. This residential segregation created disparities in homeownership, employment, education, health care, income, and other areas. According to the Met Council, the white homeownership rate in the metro area is 75.4 percent, while the persons of color homeownership rate is 37.8 percent. MetroStats Report (Sept., 2016).

To find out if you have a restrictive covenant on your property and to get support removing it, complete the registration form and submit it to tromano@goldenvalleymn.gov.

For more information about racially restrictive covenants, the Just Deeds Project, and Mapping Prejudice’s work, visit the Just Deeds page on the City website and the Mapping Prejudice website.

This press release was produced by the City of Golden Valley. The views expressed here are the author’s own.