John,
Two years ago, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative launched the Black Wealth Data Center (BWDC) to address a critical challenge: a lack of accessible, reliable, and centralized racial wealth equity data — available at the click of a button.
This free tool provides decision-makers with actionable data, raising the standard for data collection.
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The BWDC team continually works to bolster the platform with new data and tools for thousands of practitioners and policymakers.
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The Importance of Data
In a short time, the BWDC has expanded to include 30 databases, 415 sub-datasets, and 59 data visualizations. These cover a wide range of wealth topics, such as assets & debt, business ownership, education, employment, homeownership, and population — with more on the way as the team continues to build out new tools.
Through the Black Wealth Data Center, users can explore racial wealth disparities. For example, there are 27 counties in the U.S. with more than 100,000 households and where the Black population is more than 30%. They’re also the counties where households are spending the most on rent. All are in the top 50% for the percentage of household income spent on rent.
Users can also discover that from 2019 to 2022, the median total net worth for Black women across all educational levels increased by 75%, from about $8,000 to $14,020. In comparison, the median total net worth for White women increased by 34%, from $108,000 to $145,120. For Hispanic women, over the same period, the median total net worth increased 27% from $11,000 to $14,000.
Having this data, accessible from your phone or laptop, combined with data visualizations and a library of research helps decision-makers and others identify areas where initiatives to improve Black wealth can be most effective. It also provides efficiency for users who leverage the data to inform decisions and make strategic investments.
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At the Black Economic Alliance Summit 2024, BWDC team member, Jae Henderson, demonstrates the full potential of data-driven insights.
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Data empowers policymakers and leaders to act — enabling them to discover new opportunities and measure the impact we achieve.
I am incredibly proud of our team, who contribute their hard work, innovative thinking, and passion. Congratulations on an inspiring two years.
If you haven’t already, please sign up to explore the database.
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Warmly,
Garnesha Ezediaro
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