All articles tagged with #racial wealth gap
Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced initiatives to close the racial wealth gap, including designating over 400 communities as 'Just Communities' for targeted support, and pardoning over 6,900 individuals for cannabis possession, while vetoing a bill to establish a reparations commission, prompting ongoing debate and plans for legislative override.
Governor Hochul is expected to sign a bill creating a commission to study reparations in New York, following the passage of the legislation by state lawmakers six months ago. The nine-member commission will examine the impact of slavery in the state and provide non-binding recommendations on reparations. Slavery was legal in New York for two centuries, and racial wealth gaps persist. While a majority of Americans oppose reparations, the plan for a commission received broad support in the Legislature.
A Reuters investigation reveals that a fifth of U.S. congressmen, living presidents, Supreme Court justices, and governors have direct ancestors who enslaved Black people, highlighting the lasting impact of slavery on American society. The article follows the journeys of two families, one enslaved by the other, and explores how the legacy of slavery continues to shape America, contributing to a wide racial wealth gap and disparities in educational opportunities. The story emphasizes the fundamentally different paths available to Black and white Americans, despite the accomplishments and contributions made by both families.
Investment manager Jim Casselberry, co-founder of Known, is using his four decades of investing experience to help bridge the racial wealth gap for people of color and the Indigenous population. Casselberry believes that the real solution to the problem lies in the capital markets, where the real money is found and managed, but where more than 98% of funds under management are controlled by old majority white firms. Known is a finance and asset management firm that works with founders, family offices, and large asset owners who value competitive returns as well as powerful long-term racial, social, and climate impact.
San Francisco has proposed a reparations plan that includes $5 million cash payments and housing aid to compensate Black residents for policies that drove them away and hindered their economic opportunities. The city's Black population has shrunk from 13% in 1970 to about 5% today, driven first by cycles of redevelopment and then by the gentrifying forces of tech employers. The task force has declared a moonshot: a one-time, $5 million payment to anyone eligible. To close the racial wealth gap, the task force has issued 111 recommendations in a preliminary report to city leaders.
A Black family in Ohio removed all items from their home that might signal they were Black, including artwork and family photos, and replaced them with photos and memorabilia borrowed from a White neighbor to get a higher appraisal. The result was a home appraisal of nearly $92,000 more than the first. Recent data shows that homes owned by Black people are significantly undervalued compared to White-owned homes, contributing to the racial wealth gap. Advocates for Black homeowners say this bias is a systemic issue that industry leaders blame on a lack of diversity and a methodology that gives appraisers too much discretion in deciding the value of a home.
California's Dream for All program, which aimed to help first-time homebuyers by paying some or all of the upfront costs for buying a home, has run out of its initial $300 million funding after just 11 days. The program was meant to address California's ethnic and racial wealth gap, but initial data shows that a disproportionate number of beneficiaries were white, non-Latino, and living in the Sacramento area. The program will be paused until more funding can be allocated.
San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has unanimously accepted a draft plan by a panel proposing reparations, including a one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident. The final report, due in June, will include board feedback, and the issue will be discussed again in September. The reparations advisory committee has no authority to implement its recommendations, but it has laid out qualifying criteria for the payments it proposes, including age, residency, and an ancestor's enslavement, displacement, or exposure to lending discrimination during certain periods.