A recent study by Harvard University found that homeownership in the black community stands at only 42.2 percent in the nation’s largest metro areas. That’s below the Latino-American community, which is at 46 percent and well below the white-American community, which is at 72 percent.
In addition, the mortgage denial rate for blacks is more than 25 percent, near 20 percent for Latinos but just over 10 percent for white applicants, according to the Center for Enterprise Development.
Likewise, the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. says the lack of access to capital remains the greatest barrier to the establishment, expansion and growth of Black-owned businesses.
Finally, black-owned banks, which grant an overwhelming majority of their loans to Black people, continue to climb their way out of the disparate hit they took during the great recession while maintaining their historic role in stabilizing black communities.
These revelations illustrating the economic struggles of African Americans are the driving forces behind the founding of a new group that’s leading a movement for black economic
justice across America. Black Wealth 2020, formally established only two years ago, aims to lock arms with national civic and civil rights organizations with a goal to impact economic outcomes in Black America over the next three years. The group’s three-pronged strategy is to increase the number of black homeowners, strengthen black-owned businesses and increase deposits in black banks by the year 2020.
“Those really are the three pillars of economic empowerment,” says Marie Johns, former deputy administrator at the Small Business Administration and retired president of Verizon Washington, who is a member of Black Wealth 2020.
“If you have strong business ownership, strong home ownership and strong financial institutions, that’s freedom. It’s the closest proximity that we’ll get,” said Johns, also chair of the Howard University board of visitors and creator of SBA’s Council on Underserved Communities.
The group gelled after National Bankers Association President Michael Grant, National Association of Black-owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston and U.S. Black Chamber President Ron Busby joined forces with U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) to push for black business inclusion in a proposed merger between Comcast and NBC Universal.
Winston had asked Waters, ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, to take action in the situation. Winston then pulled in Grant who pulled in Busby. The Comcast merger ultimately failed. But, “We decided to put together some kind of organizational team,” recalls Grant, “So that whenever these issues come up, we’ll have a united front and we’ll have a lot of organizations. That’s how Black Wealth 2020 was formed.”
Other leaders in Black Wealth 2020 are HomeFree USA President Marcia Griffin; Zenviba Academy of Arts and Science President John Templeton; Collective Empowerment Group National President Dr. Jonathan Weaver; National Association of Real Estate Brokers President Ron Cooper; Enlightened: Beyond Expectations President Antwanye Ford; and Delta Sigma Theta President Dr. Paulette Walker.
Members of Black Wealth 2020 point to the historic roots of its economic goals. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, he had launched a “Poor People’s Campaign,” an economic justice movement that had begun in Memphis.
“King said he wasn’t going to get to the promised land with us. But we as a people will get to the promised land. And people have forgotten that,” said John Templeton, founder of the now 14-year-old National Black Business Month in August.
“This current administration is going to force us to look internally because we don’t have any help coming from outside our community,” said USBC President Ron Busby.
National Bankers President Grant says the participation of youth is key. Black Wealth 2020 has begun incorporating and mentoring youth economic leaders in their monthly meetings.
“It’s a fact that more than half of all African- Americans in our country rent. It’s a fact that a homeowner’s net worth is 36 times that of a renter. And it’s a fact that the median income for an African-American household is $35,000 compared to the national average of $53,000,” says Marcia Griffin of HomeFree USA. “This is an unacceptable situation for our people, and Black Wealth 2020 initiatives are critical in reversing these statistics and rebuilding wealth in the black community.”
Despite the name, representatives of the Black Wealth 2020 movement said they have vision well beyond only three years from now.
“Our goal, of course, is to continue beyond 2020. Building wealth in the African-American community is not an item that has a time line on it or a deadline on it,” Winston said. “We just wanted to give ourselves a target where we can see some substantial improvements in that time frame.”
For more information, visit https://www.blackwealth2020.com.