Secure the Bag DC: Financial Literacy Classes for Children

It’s been over 150 years since slavery was abolished and we are still battling disparities in wealth that continue to impact African Americans.

Here are some of the statistics:

• According to the New York Times, for every $100 in white family wealth, black families hold just $5.04.

• The Economic Policy Institute found that more than one in four black households have zero or negative net worth, compared to less than one in ten white families without wealth.

• The Institute for Policy Studies recent report The Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Divide is Hollowing Out the America’s Middle Class (RZW) showed that between 1983 and 2013, the wealth of the median black household declined 75 percent (from $6,800 to $1,700), and the median Latino household declined 50 percent (from $4,000 to $2,000). At the same time, wealth for the median white household increased 14 percent from $102,000 to $116,800.

Why are African Americans still at the bottom of the wealth scale? What needs to happen to change the narrative in communities that suffer from limited access to resources? How can we pool together to create more opportunities for the next generation?

With Secure the Bag DC Commissioner Salim Adofo will help address these issues by working with youth, ages 13-17 years old and their families from some of the most marginalized and vulnerable neighborhoods in the District of Columbia.