A recent blog post by Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Director of CFED’s Racial Wealth Divide Initiative and Host of the Race and Wealth podcast, and Jason Purnell, Assistant Professor at Washington University’s Brown School, was published in November in The St. Louis American and The Huffington Post.
The post discusses the persistent and pervasive problem of racial wealth inequality in the U.S. According to a recent report, “it will take African-American households 228 years to accumulate the amount of wealth white families enjoy today.” Exploring the racial wealth divide in the St. Louis area in particular reveals not only poorer financial outcomes but also lower life expectancies for people of color.
Across the country, there are numerous local initiatives combatting issues like unemployment, low wages, and housing that can have an impact on financial well-being and health. Both For the Sake of All in its 2014 report and the Ferguson Commission in its 2015 report made recommendations for how to tackle these problems in St. Louis, and “a diverse, cross-sector set of stakeholders is working to translate [these] recommendations into action.”
Read the full post here.