racial wealth gap

As the country moves rapidly toward our 2024 presidential election, Black Americans are experiencing the most positive economic conditions in generations. Record-low unemployment rates, record-low poverty rates, record-high income levels and new heights of wealth paint a picture of prosperity. One could easily think that this data means Black people are experiencing broad prosperity.

Can churches help narrow the wealth gap? Three teams of community organizers and students explored that question during a daylong hackathon on the racial wealth gap.

In February, a Zillow study found, “The typical home value of Boston-area homes with Black owners is 18% less than homes with white owners.”

Arlo Washington sits in his car, a backdrop of greenery visible through the window behind him as he gazes ahead. “I’m on a mission, and it ain’t over,” he asserts. A momentary pause follows before a look of determination flashes across Washington’s face, and he continues, “It’s just begun.”

Hackathons usually involve computer programmers and sometimes engineers gathering together to brainstorm, trying to solve a technical challenge. But the 75 activists, faith leaders and students assembled for a hackathon at MIT last weekend were focused on an economic and social challenge: the racial wealth gap.

On Friday, as part of a campaign to revisit the research, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce brought together a group of panelists, including AJ Barkley, head of neighborhood and community lending for Bank of America; Chrystal Kornegay, executive director of MassHousing; and John Smith, executive director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. During the hour-long panel, the group discussed how to bridge the racial wealth gap and advised residents of color how to take advantage of available resources.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nation’s consumer price index  (CPI) at the end of May was the largest since December 1981, more than 40 years ago.

As the global pandemic continues to take lives and infect multiple generations, virtually every dimension of life is challenged. And people with the fewest financial resources before COVID-19 are being challenged more than ever. 

In one of her first events as the city’s chief of equity, Karilyn Crockett led a discussion Aug. 27 on the wealth gap with the Boston Women’s Workforce Council (BWWC) and the Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement, examining pay equity along race and gender lines.