National NAACP Convention

Economic Opportunity in Your Community

Roger A. Clay, Jr.

President

Insight Center for Community Economic Development

July 9, 2012

About the Insight Center

Our Mission:

To help people and communities become, and

remain, economically secure

Guiding Concepts:

Economic equity and Inclusion

Income and Assets

Principal areas of Our Work

Income:

Allows people to become economically secure

Assets:

Allows people to remain economically secure

andPass on the benefits to the next generation

Key to Economic Security

Building Wealth

Wealth determines where you live,

where you go to school, and what kind of

jobs you get

Racial Wealth Gap

White Americans have 22 times more wealth than blacks —a gap that nearly doubled during the recession

Communities of color

lost 60% of their

wealth between 2005

and 2010

$95,000

$20,000

The Racial Wealth Gap was Widening Before the Recession

High-Income Whites

Middle-Income Whites

Middle-Income Blacks

High-Income Blacks

Income is only part of the picture

Education matters, but alone cannot close the gap

• In 1994, Black mothers with a Bachelor’s degree or higher had 64 cents for every similar white mother’s dollar.

• By 2007, they had 13 cents.

• The wealth gap among the most educated mothers grew fivefold between 1994 and 2007 to $128,000.

Significant job loss:

Declining income:

Loss of homeownership:

The Recession hit blacks hard

From 2007 to 2009, incomes fell 7.1% for

blacks, faster than any group

From 2009 to 2011, black minimum wage

workers grew by nearly 17%, higher than any

group

Nearly half of blacks who lost their jobs have

been out of work for longer than 6 months

By the end of 2011, 45.1% owned their homes,

down from 47.7% at the beginning of the

recessionThe State of Communities of Color in the U.S. Economy Still Feeling the Pain Three Years Into the Recovery. Center for American Progress,2012.

Before the recession, from 2005 to 2007, black households with zero wealth or debt grew from 35% to 39%

For one-half of all black families with children under age 18, debt has become a the new norm, even for those with the highest levels of education

Child support debt makes it impossible for low-income, noncustodial fathers to build wealth

Debt has become the modern day shackle

The Importance of Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

The racial wealth gap hurts the nation as a whole. Reducing inequality is the best way of improving the social

environment and quality of life for all Americans.

The task of responding to a demographic shift in which the majority of Americans will no longer be white becomes especially urgent. Majority of young children are already people of color

Our nation cannot afford to squander its most precious resource in an increasingly competitive global economy: its people. Without wealth, individual, family, and community capacity cannot

be unleashed.

Economic inequality undermines an effective democracy Wealth inequality leads to power inequality

Opportunities

Occupy Movement

Employment Challenges

Changing Demographics

Insight Center for Community Economic Development

www.insightcced.org