President Biden’s remarks this week in Tulsa were both a lament for all the country has lost to racial discrimination and a call to action—even for organizations like LISC that have long worked to promote racial equity. LISC’s Denise Scott takes a look at what it means to move from words to action in order to dismantle the systemic underpinnings of inequality, taking a closer look at the president’s new proposals on fair housing, minority-led businesses and more.
I’ve been thinking this week about how important it is to explicitly name the racial violence and discrimination that have so deeply scarred our country. It helps people of goodwill better understand the lasting human and economic damage and encourages private-sector leaders to make diversity and inclusion part of their business goals.
Still, it is another thing entirely to move from national conversations to concrete actions—to implement policies that break down systemic barriers and empower Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) to fully participate in the nation’s prosperity. That shift from hopeful words to decisive action is critical right now, as the country faces an uneven recovery from COVID-19—one that could fuel a further loss of wealth in hard-hit communities.
President Biden recognized some of those realities this week in his emotional speech to commemorate the anniversary of Tulsa’s Greenwood massacre. There, in 1921, a white mob brutally murdered hundreds of Black residents and razed 35 blocks of thriving homes and businesses. Decimated, traumatized and without access to public or private financing to rebuild, Greenwood never recovered.
On that scorched but sacred ground, the president pointed to the “through-line” that runs from Greenwood to many of our communities today. He announced plans to help build Black wealth through stronger homeownership and business ownership opportunities—plans that also connect to the infrastructure investments of the American Jobs Plan rolled out earlier this year. (Check out LISC’s assessment of the plan as well as our 2020-21 policy proposals to close the racial equity gap.)
He specifically noted progress on a revitalized federal fair housing approach and described strategies to address a racist system of home appraisals, which the president said has left Black families with just 13 cents for every dollar of white wealth.
In fact, as Andre Perry, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, pointed out during a recent LISC webcast on this topic, there is a 23 percent gap between the appraised values of Black-owned homes, on average, and similarly situated white-owned homes, even when controlling for things like neighborhood amenities, crime, education, etc. That gap represents $156 billion in lost equity for Black families and communities, and it tells us in no uncertain terms that while redlining may technically be dead, its lingering effects are alive and well.
“We must find the courage to change the things we know we can change,” the president stressed, offering both a lament and a call to action.
There is a 23 percent gap between the appraised values of Black-owned homes, on average, and similarly situated white-owned homes
That gap represents $156 billion in lost equity for Black families and communities
So, what do we “know we can change?” The administration’s investment plans reflect strategies that LISC and a cadre of community-focused organizations that have been testing and implementing for years, including our $1 billion Project 10X strategy to narrow racial gaps in health, wealth and opportunity over the next decade.
What we know is that most high-impact community development efforts need a strong federal policy basis to succeed, as well as an opportunity to leverage the funding, expertise and commitment of the private and nonprofit sectors. In the American Jobs Plan, for instance, initiatives like the $10 billion Community Revitalization Fund are built on this idea—setting a strategy to fuel community organizations and investments, while activating vacant land to benefit residents. The same is true of the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which would attract private capital to support housing rehab and development for low- and moderate-income homebuyers. The new $30 billion plan to support Small Business Administration programs for minority-owned enterprises is another piece of the federal response.
What we know, in all of this, is that we must invest in both people and place, and explicitly seek to dismantle discrimination in the process. For instance, on housing, in addition to supporting billions of dollars in development activity, LISC is helping lead multiple strategies to mitigate unfair appraisals—whether by providing no-cost financing for home repairs for owners who can’t get conventional loans because their appraisals are artificially low or by building collaborations with municipalities, banks, appraisal firms, and philanthropy to unravel long-standing devaluation practices.
That same sense of innovation is apparent in national efforts to advance business ownership. In Tulsa, President Biden announced that he would leverage federal procurement dollars to increase the share of contracts going to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) by 50 percent over the next five years—which could mean an additional $100 billion in revenue for these businesses and help them to attract private capital on a much greater scale.
Think about the impact of that one policy shift. Data has long shown that minority businesses owners have less access to capital than white owners do. Similarly, many entrepreneurs of color have struggled to access COVID-19 relief, though community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like LISC have helped mitigate some of that shortfall. With this single, relatively simple expansion around contracts, the federal government can provide a foundation for economic stability and growth for thousands of owners and workers.
This is all encouraging. The past year, for all its heartbreak and loss, has changed our national expectations about justice. As the president quite simply said in Tulsa, “we cannot give hate a safe harbor.”
Instead, with the right policies and funding, the field of community development can drive systemic change. The federal government is perhaps our most important partner in this work, but it is certainly not the only one. We are grateful for the support of foundations, impact investors, municipal officials and community leaders as well. Together, we can connect promising words to transformative action so that our economy and our country work better for everyone.
Denise Scott, President
With more than three decades of experience in community development, Denise leads LISC’s investment in 38 local offices in cities and rural communities across 49 states with a firm commitment to ensuring local leaders have the platform and capacity to drive strategies for equitable community change. She is responsible for providing vision and setting the strategic direction for local offices and national programs and leading implementation of enterprise priorities like Project 10X. Denise previously served as LISC’s Executive Vice President for seven years. In this role, she elevated the field agenda and refined a service delivery system for national resources, investments and technical assistance to maximize LISC’s impact.
@LISCDeniseScott