Our Chicago: Addressing Chicago's Wealth Gap
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Wealth affects a person's educational attainment, their job opportunities, political power and overall well-being.
A first-of-its-kind study commissioned by the Chicago Community Trust found a major wealth gap between White, Black and Latine households in the Chicago area.
One example, White families have a median net worth of $210,000.
For Black households, that number is $0.
The Chicago Community Trust, which pools resources from many different philanthropists, is working to address that gap.
"We took a step back a few years ago and said, you know, what is it that is underneath all of the big disparities that we see when it comes to health outcomes, life expectancy outcomes, educational outcomes, you name it, right," President and CEO of the Chicago Community Trust Andrea Sáenz said. "We look at the same heat map when we look at Chicago's issues over and over again. Gun violence, etc. What is behind that? And as we started to educate ourselves about what's going on with peoples' bank accounts, really, their safety nets, their personal safety nets, we saw huge disparities."
She said the findings of the study were sobering, but not surprising to those who have worked in community well-being.
"In Chicago, fully two thirds of our population are either Black or Latine. And so, when you think about a city's future and a region's future, and two thirds of that city's population are held back from being able to fully engage in the city's economic life, it really does harm us all."
A number of systemic issues have kept people of color, families of color from building wealth.
"In Chicago's history, unfortunately, redlining, this notion that banks and the federal government together, put red lines, literally, around neighborhoods and said these are too risky for mortgage lending."
At the time, these were areas where Chicago's Black population was concentrated. Sáenz says redlining meant no real investment happened in those areas.
"Families were locked out of the number one wealth building tool that Americans have today which is home ownership," and for decades Black families were locked out of that.
These days, it's illegal in housing to discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity.
"We still find, study after study shows us, that people of color tend to have higher denial rates when it comes to mortgage loans, even when they qualify for them," said Sáenz. "So, the bias that's still built into our system is keeping people from being able to participate fairly and equitably."
The Chicago Community Trust launched the "We Rise Together" initiative to help address these disparities.
"One of the things that we know, is that, a house often is the main source of wealth for a family. In many of our neighborhoods in Chicago, there are houses, people who own homes, whose value has not appreciated over time. And if you go through some of those communities you don't see the kind of private investment that creates the amenities that make for the kinds of homes that people want to buy," Sáenz said.
We Rise Together was a collaborative effort with many philanthropic institutions and individuals that brought together resources which were invested in neighborhoods hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic to stimulate economic recovery.
"What we've been able to do there is invest in 40 real estate projects. So, community led projects, brick and mortar, health clinics, after-school programs, sports facilities, small businesses, that allow for economic vibrancy to come back into those communities."
