Even before COVID-19, our economy was suffering under inequality

From March 2009 to February 2020, America experienced 11 years of economic growth.  Yet 38 million Americans lived in complete poverty and a further 12 million Americans were “working poor.”  The quality of formal jobs had declined, earnings for middle-wage workers stagnated and the racial wealth gap worsened. There is an unbelievable appetite to rebuild the powerful $21 trillion American economy but just stimulating economic growth alone is NOT enough. The post-COVID economic recovery presents a powerful opportunity to embrace #InclusiveGrowth.  In particular, it is the right time to address the racial wealth gap, so that people of color, especially Blacks and Latinos, have equitable opportunities and pathways to prosperity.  It is the right time to say goodbye to gender-based economic discrimination. And it is the right time to invest in small towns and rural communities that are persistently ignored despite the valuable assets they hold.  

We are proud to launch our Five Calls to Action for an Inclusive Economic Recovery, which lays out how we can rebuild an economy which will deliver greater inclusion and prosperity for people of color, for women and for rural communities.