We have fallen to the back of the pack in our marathon run to build wealth.
While America dealt with the Great Recession of 2007-2009, overwhelming numbers of minority households suffered through a modern-day version of the Great Depression. The result: the obliteration of billions in wealth. We received confirmation earlier this week when Pew Research Center released a report that clearly spelled out the extent of the damage.
The wealth disparity between African Americans and our White counterparts is Grand Canyon-wide, the largest gap in a quarter century. In fact, the median wealth of White households is 20 times that of Black households and 18 times that of Latino households, according to the organization’s analysis of U.S. Census data. In dollar terms, African Americans’ net worth–assets like property, savings and investments minus liabilities such as mortgages, car loans and credit cards–was a mere $5, 677 compared with $113,149 for Whites. The net worth for Latinos was only $6,325.
The report corroborated that the collapse of the housing market in 2006 and recession that followed from late 2007 to mid-2009 took a far greater toll on minorities than Whites. As a result, the inflation-adjusted median wealth of Black households dropped a staggering 53% from 2005 to 2009 versus just 16% for White households during the same period. Latinos were hardest hit as the group’s median wealth plummeted by 66%.
The major culprit was the steep decline in the median value of home equity. For Black homeowners, it plunged from $76,910 in 2005 to $59,000 in 2009, while the level dropped for White homeowners from $115,364 to $95,000. During the same period, Latino property owners’ home equity was sawed in half, from $99,983 to $49,145. To make matters worse, the Pew report revealed that 35% of Black and 31% of Latino households, respectively, had zero or negative net worth in 2009 compared with 15% of White households.
No doubt, these figures are alarming, especially when you factor in a Black unemployment rate of 16.2%, double the rate for Whites. Behind the numbers, you’ll find poignant stories of economic woe as families face foreclosure of homes and deferment of dreams of a bountiful financial future.
The Pew report offered further evidence that we must address the economic state of Black America. As Congress dithers over the debt crisis, resistant to overtures from President Obama to get serious about a deficit-reduction compromise, our salvation ultimately rests in a maxim made popular by director Spike Lee: “Do for self.”
We must take steps, large and small, to creatively piece together our own action plan to place African Americans on the path to sustained financial recovery. As you would expect, our key planks are job creation, entrepreneurship and financial education.To solve the Black employment crisis–you can’t rebuild wealth without a basic source of income–African American organizations have already begun the process. Last month, BLACK ENTERPRISE, in partnership with the world’s largest corporation, Walmart, held our 20/20 Vision Jobs Forum, and brought together brilliant minds in business, government and the non-profit sector to create short- and long-term initiatives. The National Urban League has made employment strategies the centerpiece of its annual conference in Boston this week while the Congressional Black Caucus prepares to launch a multi-city “For The People” Jobs Initiative to put at least 10,000 African Americans back to work. Collectively, such efforts–and many more will be needed–can have a powerful impact. So what can you do? On a personal level, I urge every employed Black man and woman to make a commitment to find a job or income-producing opportunity for someone currently out of work.
In terms of business development, we should take a chapter from past African American business leaders and
organizations that were forced to pool resources to create institutions and incubators for entrepreneurship. I recently reported on a program in which my good friend and syndicated radio talk show host Warren Ballentine teamed with National Bankers Association, a consortium of minority banks, to encourage African Americans to make deposits in Black financial institutions which, in turn, will provide financing for small businesses. That’s a great start but we can kick it up a notch. That model can be replicated across an array of sectors, ranging from professional services and manufacturing to private equity and digital technology. The starting point: Enlist minority-focused NGOs (non-government organizations) and trade associations as well as partner with the BE 100s–the nation’s largest Black-owned businesses–and major corporations that do business with us or rely on minority consumer dollars to meet top-line and bottom-line results.We must continue to educate our community–especially young people–about the most effective ways to manage finances, from buying homes to building investment portfolios. In fact, BLACK ENTERPRISE has helped hundreds by providing such direction through our Wealth for Life program and monthly Financial Fitness Contest in which we have selected households with access to free personal finance consultation and $2,000 to help them get back on track. African American
financial planners, investment advisers, money managers and the like can play a huge role in the expansion of financial literacy working with schools, churches and community organizations to teach people the rudiments of budget and tax management, investment planning and home ownership as well as the process of developing multiple streams of income. Companies like Ariel Investments (No. 6 on the BE ASSET MANAGERS list with $5.5 billion in assets under management) and Carver Federal Savings Bank (No. 1 on the BE BANKS list with $744 million in assets) have done exceptional jobs in structuring such programs.Those strategies represent but a few suggested power moves. The reality, however, is that it will take years for many families to recover and rebuild. To provide a foundation of wealth building for the next generation is another long-term proposition. But when we launched Wealth for Life more than a decade ago we maintained building lasting, multigenerational wealth would not be a sprint. It requires the focus, discipline and tenacity of a marathon runner who realizes achieving that goal is a lifetime pursuit.
So keeping that philosophy in mind, let’s lace up our track shoes today.