CAP Announces Formation of the National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap

National -
By Center for American Progress -

Washington, D.C. – RealEstateRama – For 400 years, structural racism embedded in federal, state, and local policies has produced and maintained a stark wealth gap between Black and white Americans. Today, the typical white household holds 10 times more wealth than the typical Black household. This disparity persists even after controlling for protective factors such as education, income, or homeownership. While lawmakers and policy experts increasingly agree that the racial wealth gap poses a serious problem, little consensus exists on the most effective way to eliminate it. For instance, a recent CAP analysis found that five leading policy proposals will not be enough alone or in combination to fully close the racial wealth gap by 2060.

The Center for American Progress considers it imperative that the next president take meaningful steps to address the racial wealth gap upon taking office. To aid these efforts, CAP has convened the National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap, a panel of 10 national experts in economics, history, public policy, and presidential transitions. The Advisory Council will be charged with generating new ideas for closing the gap and outlining clear actions for an incoming administration to take within its first 100 days.

The National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap includes:

Kilolo Kijakazi, Institute Fellow, Urban Institute; Co-Chair

Darrick Hamilton, Executive Director, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Ohio State University; Co-Chair

Mehrsa Baradaran, Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine

Lisa D. Cook, Associate Professor of Economics and International Relations, Michigan State University

Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University

Ibram X. Kendi, Professor of History and International Relations and Founding Director, Antiracist Research and Policy Center, American University

Trevon Logan, Professor of Economics and Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University

Anne Price, President, Insight Center

Richard Rothstein, Distinguished Fellow, Economic Policy Institute; Senior Fellow, emeritus, Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and of the Haas Institute at the University of California, Berkeley

Rhonda Sharpe, Founder and President, Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race (WISER)

“The time has long passed for the U.S. government to fully address 400 years of collective harms against Black people. As the next president engages in conversations about systematic inequality, they must be bold; they must be honest; they must deliver intentional and targeted approaches to closing the racial wealth gap,” said Danyelle Solomon, vice president of Race and Ethnicity Policy at the Center for American Progress. “Therefore, I’m thrilled to convene the National Advisory Council on Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap. This exceptional group of scholars and thought leaders will spend the next year developing a meaningful, targeted, and effective set of policy solutions to finally begin to close the gap.”

For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Julia Cusick at  or 202.495.3682.

Contact: Julia Cusick

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