John Jay is a Minority- and Hispanic-Serving institution, with approximately 50% of its 11,000 person student body identifying as Hispanic, nearly 20% identifying as Black, and 12% identifying as Asian. A significant number of students also have Middle Eastern/North African and Eastern European backgrounds. The participants in LDP reflect this diversity.
Racial diversity
Like John Jay as a whole, participants in the focus groups are mostly people of color.
Percentage of respondents
Geographic diversity
LDP participants live in every borough of New York City, with about two-thirds living in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.
More than 300 of 414 participants named one or more country in response to the question of whether they or their family moved to the US from another country.
There were 62 different countries named by LDP participants as their country of origin (see Places).
87%
Age 18-24
“Is health really wealth? Because being a minority, we do have to worry about what’s more severe: being in debt or being sick? So, we have that constant battle of is it better to be poor or is it better to be unhealthy. When you’re a minority living in impoverished neighborhoods, we don’t get a choice... we can’t be both, so we have to be one or the other.”
Income diversity
The median family income of John Jay students overall was about $41,000 in 2017, with about 23% coming from the bottom fifth income bracket.
Employment
About 70% of respondents work full- or part-time while pursuing their education.
Male 21%
Prefer not to say 4%
Non-binary 1%
Other demographics
Female 74%
Student Research Assistants
“We’re a team, we lead together, we cry together, and we succeed together.”
Student RAs run all the focus groups so that they can steer the discussion in ways that matter to themselves and their peers. Faculty work with RAs on effective interview practices, semester-specific topical issues, and other methodological issues.
RAs at a glance:
81% Non-white and/or Latinx/Hispanic
80% Residents of the five boroughs (1% each Long Island and upstate NY)
52% Stayed on the project for more than one semester