The Color of Wealth
By Anne Price, President
Originally published in Insight Center’s October 2016 Newsletter.
I’m writing from Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital and home to a substantial Black population since the District’s founding. As the center for our nation’s public policy, D.C. stands as a striking example of a city marked by the legacy of systemic discrimination and exclusion that we at the Insight Center are working to counter.
Let just a few data points sink in: White households in D.C. have a net worth that is 81 times greater than Black households. In a city that was 65% Black as recently as the early 1990s, Blacks have the second lowest homeownership rate among racial/ethnic groups in D.C., and when they do own homes, their typical value is two-thirds of that of homes owned by Whites.
These are just a few of the findings presented in The Color of Wealth in The Nation’s Capital, a new joint publication from the Insight Center, Urban Institute, Duke University, and The New School.
This week, I joined fellow co-authors and stakeholders here in D.C. to highlight the importance of these findings — not only for this major metropolitan community but for communities of color throughout our country.
Awareness is a vital stepping stone for policy change. Through initiatives like The Color of Wealth, we’re working to peel back the curtain on how racial and economic inequalities are rooted in history and policy — how they’re the product not of mere individual choices but concerted public policy decisions.
We invite you to read and share this new report as part of our shared work in bringing to light these hidden truths to pave the way for a more level playing field.
