Today, Phillips’ residents have the worst public health in the Twin Cities region, among the lowest performing schools (with only around 10 percent of children competent in math and reading), and the highest violent crime rate in the metropolitan area.
Phillips has rates of asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), congestive heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, risk of stroke, and self-reported fair or poor mental health twice as high as those of Minneapolis as a whole, and up to three times higher than more affluent neighborhoods in Minneapolis. The average person in Phillips lives six and one-half years less than those living in the economically stable Bde Maka Ska-Isles and Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods.
In the public and charter schools within and near Phillips, fewer than 10 percent of Black and Latino children pass basic competency tests in math and fewer than 15 percent pass in reading. Approximately 40 percent of Black or Latino adults in Phillips are high school dropouts.
Violent crime rates in Phillips are seven times the rate of the Twin Cities as a whole and 10 times the rate of nearby Southwest Minneapolis area neighborhoods, making Phillips arguably the most dangerous place to live in the Twin Cities.
