Often when people speak of Black wealth, they talk first of homeownership, and that's certainly one path to get there, explains Sheila Anderson, senior director of NeighborWorks America's Western Region. "But that's not the end all for building wealth." To truly increase wealth and assets in Black households and communities, we must think more broadly, she says.
NeighborWorks' symposium, "It Takes a Village: Achieving Black Wealth and Economic Prosperity," will explore some of that broader thinking. The symposium takes place Wednesday, May 3, in San Francisco, California, and features topics around generational wealth building for Black families, restoring economic investments in disenfranchised Black communities, and more. The focus will center on understanding some of the reasons for the racial wealth gap and framing ways to collaborate to help close it.
The idea for the symposium stemmed from NeighborWorks' Black Wealth and Asset Building Group, which formed more than a year ago at the urging of directors and relationship managers from all four NeighborWorks' regions in the Field Operations Division. Along with Anderson, founding members include:
- Leon Gray, senior relationship manager, Partnership and Growth in the Midwest Region;
- Ramona Johnson, senior relationship manager in the Southern Region;
- Michael Williams, senior relationship manager in the Northeast Region; and
- Donna Wright senior relationship manager in the Western Region.
The group comprises more than two dozen members, including 10 network organizations and staff from across NeighborWorks, who meet virtually each month and in person two to three times a year. One of the inspirations for the group is Dorothy Mae Richardson, whose tireless work with her neighbors to preserve their Pittsburgh neighborhood became a model for the NeighborWorks network, Anderson shares.
"We stand on the shoulders of Dorothy Richardson and many organizers, advocates and resident leaders who made it their mission to preserve the culture, economy and spirit of Black communities across the country," Anderson says, "This mission takes us back to our roots."
At present, the symposium and the roundtable, "Preserving Historic Black Neighborhoods: The Movement of Community-Based Organizations and Leaders," are part of the group's plan for an integrated approach to increasing wealth in Black households and communities – something they believe can be done with NeighborWorks' existing lines of business, because their goals align with NeighborWorks America's strategic plan. Gray points out, for example, that financial health equates to areas like estate planning and preservation, and financial planning includes education about stocks, bonds, 401(k)s, mutual funds and more.
The symposium is part of a series built around examining equity in the wake of a pandemic that hit people of color especially hard. The theme of May's symposium reflects the collaborative and comprehensive effort necessary to address the racial wealth gap, Anderson says. "It Takes a Village" was inspired by the Swahili word, harambee, which means "all pull together." Part of that includes bringing awareness to all organizations and people working to increase Black wealth, Gray adds. "We want to share best practices, create partnerships and opportunities to advance the work."
The symposium isn't the end of the discussion, however, but the beginning. William says it's a way to create strategies, learn about successful approaches and keep the conversation going well past this year and into the future.
Johnson agrees. At the end of many conversations, she has with NeighborWorks staff, Johnson likes to say, "Let's reimagine our work." That's exactly what the Black Wealth and Asset Building Group is doing.
The symposium will be held during the NeighborWorks Training Institute (NTI) in San Francisco, California. The next NTI will be held in August in Chicago, Illinois, where the next symposium will focus on the impact of climate resilience on communities of color.
