Note: Our list is not comprehensive, but only a sampling of what's being done. If you know of initiatives from other corporations and institutions that can be added to our list, please let us know!
Citibank: https://www.citigroup.com/citi/news/2020/200923a.htm
Bank of America: https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/helping-advance-racial-equality-and-economic-opportunity
JP Morgan / Chase: https://www.jpmorganchase.com/ir/news/2020/jpmc-commits-30-billion-to-advance-racial-equity
PNC Bank: https://www.blackenterprise.com/pnc-financial-services-makes-1-billion-pledge-to-help-end-systemic-racism
Wells Fargo: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200713005623/en/Wells-Fargo-Awards-13.5M-Grant-to-the-Expanding-Black-Business-Credit-Initiative
Fifth Third Bank: https://www.blackenterprise.com/fifth-third-banks-major-racial-equity-commitment-includes-over-2-billion-to-help-black-homeownership-and-businesses
Northern Trust: https://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/pr/2020/commits-20-million-to-reduce-opportunity-gap
BMO Harris: https://tribunecontentagency.com/tns_articles/bmo-harris-launches-5-billion-program-to-help-black-and-latino-businesses-and-communities
MB Financial: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-bmo-harris-minority-business-investment-recovery-20201110-jhnqwuqayffu7gc66vsyrdh2wa-story.html
We, as members of Our Saviour’s and the ELCA are all responsible to look out for “our neighbors” including the widening income, housing, and education gaps between races. Did you know that several U.S. corporate institutions – including some banks – have instituted policies to address these very issues?
But why?
Many U.S. banks, corporations, and insurance companies were founded during Antebellum times and greatly prospered throughout our country’s history because of slave labor. They counted enslaved people as assets when assessing a person’s wealth, sold securities that helped fund the expansion of slave run plantations, and some sold policies that insured slave owners would be compensated if the slaves they owned were injured or killed.
Today many banks acknowledge their role in post-war practices such as red-lining and other questionable practices “that caused and continue to cause discrimination against Blacks over the years.” The gaps in many cases remain wide 60 years after the Civil Rights Movement. In some cases – including homeownership rates and college degree attainment – the gaps are wider now than in the 1950s and 1960s.
What’s Being Done?
More importantly they are doing something about it. They are actively creating and funding programs to help close this wealth gap. Most initiatives focus on some combination of:
• greater access to banking and credit for communities of color,
• increased investments in Black-owned businesses,
• expanded access to home ownership for Black Americans, and
• an increased focus on anti-racist practices in the financial services industry.
These efforts help poorer people, people of color, and indigenous people, but it also turns out they create a larger and stronger economy for everyone. In its newly released report titled “Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps,” Citibank found that if the U.S. had closed the racial gap for Black Americans in wages, education, housing and investments 20 years ago, then $16 trillion could have been added to the economy. If these gaps are closed today, the report finds that $5 trillion could be added to the economy over the next five years.
Maybe for our sake – and for those of our neighbors – we should actively support and thank institutions that are helping our country become more equitable.