This is about being bold.
Project 10X is LISC’s biggest, most ambitious and most urgent initiative ever. It is designed to upend the racial health, wealth and opportunity gaps that keep tens of millions of Americans from sharing in our country’s prosperity and realizing their personal potential.
Project 10X is both a moral imperative and economic common sense: it is a means to realizing America’s egalitarian and democratic ideals.
Why 10X?
- At last count, the average White family’s net wealth was at least 10 times that of the average Black family.
- There is at least a 10 year gap in average life expectancy between Black and White people in many American cities.
- Authentic, lasting change doesn’t take place overnight. We are dedicated to investing in and pushing forward this initiative for 10 years.
- This effort requires “10X thinking”—10 times the vision, determination and dedication of previous initiatives. And we need partners who will join us in 10X investment, to help ensure Project 10X creates maximum impact.
Why now?
In 2020, the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting recession, and the anguished public outcry over the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of police have coalesced, highlighting the many levels at which our union is not working for all its members. In fact, historically it has been structured to discriminate and exclude, which has resulted in the disproportionate impact of the pandemic and its economic fallout on communities of color.
We share in the widespread sense of urgency: never has it been more imperative that we do everything in our power to nurture systems that promote racial equity and wellbeing for every American.
How does Project 10X work?
Project 10X will invest in community organizations, businesses and developers working in rural and urban communities across the country. We aim to scale proven solutions, seed new ideas for closing racial health, wealth and opportunity gaps and build the capacity of our partner organizations to do so. Our investments will target four fundamental approaches to building equity:
- Generating enduring wealth and equity through homeownership and small business ownership
- Building credit and savings and strengthening financial institutions led by Black, Indigenous and People of Color
- Investing in community wellness, digital access, education, arts, and justice reform
- Supporting quality jobs with good wages and benefits