The median net worth of a white household in New York stands at approximately $277,000, a staggering 15 times greater than that of a Black household, which averages around $17,000.
—Brad Lander, NYC Comptroller
Black New Yorkers continue to face economic disadvantages at a scale disproportionate to their neighbors in terms of wealth, housing, education, and health.
To address the challenges experienced by Black New Yorkers, Comptroller Brad Lander’s office organized an event on Monday, February 26th, in conjunction with Black History Month, gathering Black leaders at the Schomburg Center.
During the event, Lander emphasized that Black New Yorkers continue to grapple with a significant wealth disparity when compared to their white counterparts.
He said, “If you continue to discriminate generation after generation after generation, the disparities grow as some folks are more able to take a little more income, build wealth via home, send their kids to college, and that wealth gap grows and grows and grows.”
Lander mentioned that the median net worth of a white household in New York stands at approximately $277,000, a staggering 15 times greater than that of a Black household, which averages around $17,000.
This 15-to-1 gap significantly widens the racial wealth disparity across the United States.
The wealth gap affects Black Americans in every way, from owning a house to funding education and health to their businesses.
Lander said it is essential to give the people of color the support they need, whether it is education or business, because only that would allow the community to flourish and get the maximum benefit from it.
In a panel discussion, Jason M. Clark, Executive Vice President of the NYS Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development, highlighted the department’s efforts to encourage women’s participation in the procurement process.
Clark noted that, as a result of these efforts, minority and women’s participation has surged to over 32%, marking the highest rate in the state’s history.
To ensure diverse participation, the state has allocated 30% of state contracts to minority and women-owned businesses.
Clark stated that their department conducts case studies to tackle wealth gap and disparity issues, guiding future improvement actions.
He also raised concerns about municipalities offering tax incentives to private businesses, suggesting it could inadvertently contribute to discrimination or disparities.
To mitigate this, Clark stressed the importance of broadening the MWBEs program, which could help mitigate the disparities.
Kirk Goodrich, President of Monadnock Development LLC, said New York’s affordable housing schemes and shelters are predominantly filled with people of color, showing the Black community’s economic underpinning.
However, he pointed out that these majority-minority population building contracts are awarded to White builders.
Goodrich said, “Who owns the real estate and who is building the buildings? And they look nothing like the folks who live there. And that’s sort of been the dynamic in our communities forever. That’s not a new thing.”
He said giving housing and other services contracts to Black people for these buildings is crucial to allow them more participation in business development.
Clark also mentioned a systemic attempt that stopped Blacks from flourishing in the business sector. He referred to the 1921 Tulsa incident when “Black Wall Street” was attacked, and more than 35 square blocks of the neighborhood were burned and destroyed to dismantle Black-owned businesses.
He said there is a need to change the policy to help minority communities instead of allowing them to face discrimination.
Clark said, “If you’re a minority-owned business, you’re more likely 70% report some level of discrimination to just getting their business off the ground. If you’re a Black-owned business, you’re more likely to have harder issues when it comes to getting funding for your business.”
Despite these hurdles, he said statistics show that the Black community is moving forward and creating more and better opportunities.
Discussing discrimination issues, Yvonne Stennett, Executive Director of the Community League of the Heights, said the laws enacted in the 1930s and 40s laid the foundation of challenges the minority community faces today.
She said it’s crucial for the Black community to have a holistic approach to address the issues of education, health, housing, and economics to rebuild.
The reason why Black communities are leaving New York, Goodrich said, is mainly because families struggle to get a home for a better life.
He said more than 200,000 people have left the state over the last two decades.
Michelle Crentsil, Political Director of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), said unions are leading the fight that would make life better for wage workers.
She said because of that fight, delivery workers and nurses were able to get a better per-hour rate.
To achieve social justice, she said, “There are these fights that we have to take on. But when we actually come together and organize together, we can win on them.”
Talking about the reparation commission initiated by Governor Kathy Hochul, Stennett said without the political and public will together, the commission’s suggestions will likely fail.
She stressed the importance of a genuine mechanism that could actually lead to a reparations discussion and how it would help the Black community.
Crentsil said that until the harm done to the Black community, as well as their value and contributions to America, are acknowledged and repaired, there will always be a trust deficit.
She said, “We won’t heal as a country if we can’t do that. They have to recognize that we are going to repair… and that we are going to invest in Black people.”
