Lemke Journalism Students Investigate Mortgage Lending Disparities in Northwest Arkansas

Photo by Rob Wells

Journalism students Quincy Ward (left), Taylor Pray and Isabel Dobrin discuss their investigation of mortgage lending data on KUAF radio with host Kyle Kellams on Feb. 1. These students were in a data journalism course that examined mortgage lending and rejection disparities in Northwestern Arkansas. Their class project was published by Arkansas Public Media, a statewide news service that is a coalitoon of public radio stations in the state.

Students in a new data journalism course at the Walter J. Lemke Department of Journalism produced an investigation of mortgage lending disparities in Northwestern Arkansas, a project that was published Feb. 2 by a statewide coalition of public radio stations.

Arkansas Public Media, based at KUAR-FM in Little Rock, published the package of stories and information graphics, along with an article and a radio broadcast focusing on assistant professor Rob Wells and his students. 

The students used Excel and the data visualization software Tableau Public to examine some 25,000 mortgage lending records in the region. They found about 32 percent of Native Americans who applied for home mortgage loans in Northwest Arkansas were rejected in 2015, the highest denial rate of any race or ethnicity in the region. It is well above the 17 percent rejection rate for white borrowers, according to 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act loan records.

Rejected mortgage applications appear to align with low household wealth, according to the data analysis. Native Americans (32 percent rejection rate) and Marshallese (27 percent) have household incomes well below the 2015 median income of $49,147 for the metropolitan area as delineated by the U.S. Census Bureau, home to some 515,000 people living in Benton, Washington, and Madison counties in Northwest Arkansas and McDonald County in southern Missouri. Native Americans have among the lowest median family income in this region at $32,770, while Pacific Islanders including the Marshallese have the lowest at $31,178, according to census data.

The students' work is here:

• Housing Loans Difficult for Most Northwest Arkansas Minorities
• Avoid Rejection: Ways Consumers Can Score a Mortgage Loan

Bobby Ampezzan, managing editor of Arkansas Public Media, wrote he was impressed by the depth of the students' work. "Such a huge and impressive package of reporting," Ampezzan wrote.

Arkansas Public Media also interviewed Wells and his students about the role of data journalism in the ever-changing world of journalism.

In addition, KUAF's Ozarks at Large program interviewed three of the main student journalists on this project, Quincy Ward, Taylor Pray, and Isabel Dobrin.

"I am proud of my students and delighted their hard work has gained such a wide audience," Wells said. "Arkansas Public Media was a terrific partner in this project and I hope my students will produce additional stories for future publication."

Arkansas Public Media is a statewide journalism collaboration among public media organizations. Arkansas Public Media reporting is funded in part through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, with the support of partner stations KUAR, KUAF, KASU and KTXK and from members of the public.