NNIP Explores Using Data to Improve Wealth Equity

Over the past two years, the NNIP Network has elevated how local data are critical tools for communities to address the racial wealth gap and improve racial wealth equity through a multi-city project, blogs, and Partners’ Meeting sessions.

In 2022, NNIP (through its national partner the Urban Institute) began its collaboration with the Black Wealth Data Center on the project “Advancing Black Wealth through Local Data and Engagement.” The project funds two NNIP partner organizations, Data Driven Detroit and The Data Center (New Orleans), to take on work that provide access to neighborhood-level data and assistance in using them to inform the development of policies and programs to support wealth accumulation for Black families, communities, and businesses. The Black Wealth Data Center is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative.

Historically, homeownership has been a critical way to create generational wealth. Data Driven Detroit and their collaborator Detroit Future City analyzed local housing data to explore the role of small-dollar mortgages in Detroit’s housing market and provided recommendations for increasing small-dollar lending for in Detroit for Black homebuyers.

National surveys and estimates are helpful when generating broad insights but don’t provide the necessary information to fully understand community members’ experiences and the local root causes of wealth disparities. This is why local data are key to closing the racial wealth gap. To this end, The Data Center developed a new methodology for producing local disaggregated wealth estimates (PDF) which localities across the country can use to uncover wealth gaps, develop solutions, and measure progress toward their goals.

This year, the annual NNIP Partners’ Meeting in Detroit featured the plenary session “Using Data to Guide Strategies for Closing the Racial Wealth Gap.” The session was moderated by Dr. David Asiamah from the Black Wealth Data Center. Dr. Camardelle explained the importance of data when illustrating the connection between Black-owned businesses and neighborhood well-being. These businesses are massive assets in their communities, but are in danger of being lost or displaced due to rising commercial rents.

Plenary speakers Lamar Gardere from The Data Center and Alex Camardelle from the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (now known as Kindred Futures) also shared examples of work from their communities. The Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative is working with the City of Atlanta to strengthen the legacy business program and accelerate policy movement to support these businesses. In New Orleans, estimates of the local wealth distribution revealed wide gaps between the bottom and top of the distribution across races and informed the development of better targeted strategies, such as interventions to help younger people build wealth as they age. Asiamah, Camardelle, and Gardere discussed why local data are critical to motivating leaders and galvanizing action, the importance of narrative and qualitative data, and how to engage a wider spectrum of stakeholders on this issue.

Watch the video of their presentations and conversation here.