As I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed one night, avoiding homework as usual, I came across a link that many of my friends had shared. The article, from Livability, named the city of Madison as the “number one place to live in the United States.” As a student who is used to the wonderful campus atmosphere, it’s hard not to agree with the raving review. However, although many of Madison’s residents are head-over-heels for the quality of life they experience, reality is that life for all residing here isn’t so ideal.

Madison ranked top mid-sized city nationwide to live in

As I was reading the article, the only thing I could concentrate on is the disparities within Madison. The site proudly proclaimed, “Madison provides residents with affordable housing, great schools, excellent health care and a wide range of recreational activities and entertainment options.” While I find all this to be true in regards to my own life, I was deeply unsettled. Through my service learning class, I recently read a report titled, “Race to Equity: A Baseline Report on the State of Racial Disparities in Dane County.” It contained information that might be common knowledge for some, yet shockingly disturbing for others unfamiliar with life off-campus.

For example, I have had personal experience witnessing the educational gap in Madison. While the Livability article claims that Madison has great schools (i.e. the University of Wisconsin), it certainly isn’t an all-encompassing description. At the middle school I visited weekly, many of the eighth grade students I worked with were reading at a first to third grade level. One of the girls I worked with was only able to sound-out words, but did not understand their meanings. Many students, especially non-white students, were reading at a level far beneath the target. Although the city we live in as university students provides a top-notch education for us, we need to be aware of the educational disparities in our backyards.

Additionally, in the report on racial disparities in Dane County, the authors included many statistics that suggest life in Madison is likely much better for whites than for African-Americans. The injustice depicted in the majority of the report’s graphs caused me to wonder if the struggles of many members of the community are simply disregarded. According to the report, the 2011 statistics are as follows:

The hard facts of outrageous disparities in our community cannot be ignored any longer. Although the statistics support the idea that Madison, or rather Dane County in general, is the number one place in America to live, that perception may vary within the community. In fact, many of these disparities were much more dramatic than the levels observed at the state and national levels. This suggests that Dane County is performing at a sub-par level compared to many other places in America, regarding the issue of not only equality, but quality in the general sense.

As a community and non-profit leadership major here at the incredible UW, I encourage everyone to look behind the face value of this Livability report. We live here, and we may very well agree with the ranking of Madison as the number one best city to reside, but we must also realize that there are also people in this city who need our help in several facets of their lives. So let us take the initiative and contribute to the community so everyone in the city of Madison can feel as though they live in the best city in America.

Payden White (pwhite4@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in community and nonprofit leadership and biology.