The Congressional Black Caucus and the National Urban League have joined forces to create an initiative focused on promoting financial literacy among underserved communities throughout the country. According to Black Enterprise, the two organizations launched a tour—dubbed the Jobs and Justice Tour—where they host town hall-style discussions surrounding the obstacles holding people in the Black community back from upward mobility and solutions for overcoming those barriers.
The tour—which kicked off on Thursday—also examines upward mobility from a political standpoint and highlights how policy change is crucial when it comes to closing the racial wealth gap, the news outlet writes. The concept of the tour was derived from a piece of legislation created by CBC Chairman Rep. Cedric L. Richmond called the Jobs and Justice Act of 2018 which was created as an avenue to address socio-economic issues. The objective of the bill is to invest $4 trillion in health insurance, education, and job training as an answer to unemployment, faulty school systems, and the lack of resources provided for veterans and ex-offenders who are trying to re-enter society after being incarcerated.
“As a result of racism and discrimination in our country, African-Americans still face a number of economic and social barriers that the federal government can and should help our community address since it was and still is complicit in building them,” Rep. Richmond said in a statement, according to the news outlet. “Although we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go.” Marc Morial, National Urban League President & CEO, echoed Richmond’s sentiments stating that “urban communities and infrastructure have been shattered, not by bombs and tanks, but by malfeasance and indifference.” The next stop on the tour is in Pennsylvania on September 7.
Several efforts have been made to promote economic stability and financial literacy in the Black community. Sheena Allen, 29, has launched an online banking platform called CapWay to make banking fair and accessible for communities of color.
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