A Point of View

Gwendolyn Grant
President & CEO
Urban League of Greater Kansas City
April 25, 2008

From Poverty to Power – Destination: Wealth Creation

2008 marks forty years since the true beginning of emancipation of African Americans in US society. In the decades since, government programs intended to level the playing field for African Americans have been thwarted by a variety of factors. Discrimination long entrenched in institutional policies, practices, and programs continue covertly even now. We see the effects in housing, education, employment, health care, insurance, predatory lending and nearly every area of day-to-day living.

In Jackson and Wyandotte Counties where 91.1% of the Black population in the 17-county Kansas City Common Statistical Area reside, poverty is pervasive and persistent. The household median and per capita income is 59.5% of Whites’ per capita income; over three times as many Blacks live below the poverty line as do Whites; and the Black unemployment rate is more than three times that of Whites. The scourge of poverty is debilitating and it leads to hopelessness and despair.

As we assess the last forty years of economic struggle for African Americans, many wonder why we have not achieved economic parity. Lingering disparities in mortgage loan approval rates for African Americans, the proliferation of predatory lending outlets in our community, and high rates of Black unemployment have hindered our progress. We have failed to develop significant business ownership because we lack access to capital. Moreover, too many of us have are deficient in financial precepts and money management skills.

What can we do?

We cannot eliminate poverty, but we can create wealth. The time has come for the African American community to cease and desist from depending solely on government programs or handouts from charitable organizations. To significantly empower our community and change lives from generation to generation, sustained financial growth is imperative.

Later this year, the Urban League will launch Destination: Wealth Creation®. – a bold new initiative that will close the wealth gap through aggressive faith and community based financial education, the development of individual child accounts and trust funds in the Black church, investment clubs, and entrepreneurship.

What better place than the Black church to be the foundation for the effort to build wealth in our community?

Imagine the different path a poor child’s life can take if his church sets up a trust fund or individual development account, which amasses a sizeable enough lump sum to pay for his college education, a down payment on a home, or to start a small business. With the church as an anchor, imagine the impact we can have by engaging the working poor in financial education programs and private sessions with Wealth Creation coaches to guide their transition from poverty to middle class.

If we are ever to close the wealth gap, we must invest our time, energy and resources in long-term strategies that will position us to transfer assets and wealth from one generation to the next.