Racial Equity & Mobility
Racial Wealth Gap Project Funded by: The Ford Foundation and the Levi Strauss Foundation
Study of Employment and Advancement of Racial, Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities Funded by: US Deparatment Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families
Racial Wealth Gap Project
IASP's “Closing the Racial Wealth Gap" project, funded by the Ford Foundation, develops research to understand the main drivers behind the continued expansion of the Racial Wealth Gap. This work is further supported by the Levi Strauss Foundation to improve constitutency understanding and discussion about the racial wealth gap and more comprehensively link understanding to changes in policy and practice that will reduce it in the future, improving racial equity.
The Great Recession revealed the fundamental need for assets as both a private safety net to cushion shocks and to provide opportunities for future economic mobility. It also exposed the fragility of economic security for low- and moderate-income households, particularly those that are African American and Latino. The Institute’s research shows that while wealth loss impacted nearly all American households, the consequences were disproportionally harder and deeper for people of color.
A May 2010 IASP research brief revealed, for example, that the racial wealth gap between African-American and white families quadrupled between 1984 and 2007. Using national data sets and a multi-site interview study, we are exploring the critical factors underlying the racial wealth gap. This work has received widespread media attention through such outlets as NPR’s Morning Edition and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show.
Webinar on the Racial Wealth Gap
IASP, in partnership with the Insight Center's Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative and Dēmos, held a webinar in May 2010 to discuss the report's findings, the reasons for the gap, and innovative policy solutions to close the racial wealth gap and ensure economic security for all Americans. Speakers included:
- William Darity, Professor of Public Policy, Professor of African and African-American Studies and Economics, Duke University
- José Garcia, Associate Director for Research and Policy, Dēmos
- Meizhu Lui, Director, Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative
- Tom Shapiro, Ph.D., Director, Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University
Study of Employment and Advancement of Racial, Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities
The Employer Research Initiative is a partnership with the NH Office of Minority and Refugee Affairs (OMHRA) and New Hampshire health care providers. In October 2011, IASP was awarded a four-year University Partnership grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, for the Study of Employment and Advancement of Racial, Ethnic and Linguistic Minorities. This study focuses on workforce diversity opportunities and challenges in health care in New Hampshire to help inform the Health Profession Opportunity Project (HPOP) administered by OMHRA while advancing broader knowledge related to workforce diversity in all the health care sectors.