Listen to Anne Price and Dr. Lori Pfingst discuss how the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services is addressing poverty through an equity lens, using the power of data, storytelling and building authentic community relationships.

Dr. Lori Pfingst is a skilled writer, speaker, and storyteller who uses the power of data paired with community voice to foster systems-level change for children and families throughout the state of Washington. She currently serves as the Chief of Programs and Policy for the Economic Services Administration in the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

Anne Price, President of Insight, welcomed Lori on the podcast to discuss her work in addressing poverty through the social safety net. Over the course of her career, Lori has focused on the issues of poverty reduction, income inequality, and tax policy through a racial and gender lens. Lori notes that there is growing momentum and commitment to equity in tackling poverty. She finds that, “once you see how structural inequities undermine people of color, women and low income families, you can’t unsee it. When we reach critical mass of people that have that understanding, structural change is possible.”

More recently, she has conducted several listening sessions around the state to build authentic relationships with underserved groups. She has heard first-hand the challenges people face and how the current economic system is rooted in racial and gendered narratives that ultimately hold back families from getting the resources they deserve. She noted that for Native communities for example, historical trauma, healing, and resilience were identified as major tenets of repairing the tremendous harms inflicted on Native families.

“These sessions really show the hunger of the people of Washington who want to share their stories and want to be heard to improve not just their lives, but all of the lives of the people we serve,” said Lori.

To listen to the full discussion, use the audio player above or subscribe to the Hidden Truths podcast on iTunes.

To learn about the poverty reduction work Lori describes in the podcast, please click here.

For many, Juneteenth is a day of celebration, reflection, and reckoning.

Commemorating June 19th, 1865, when a reluctant Texas state government finally emancipated a quarter of a million people enslaved in the state two years after the official Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth serves as a reminder of how the road to freedom and liberation for Black people in America is complex, laden with naysayers and barriers, yet achievable.

It is in this spirit that we bring you our latest Insight Conversation, Juneteenth: A Vision for Black Economic Liberation. Please join Anne Price, Mia Birdsong, Cat Brooks, and Nwamaka Agbo on June 19th for a lively discussion on why we need to be talking about Black economic liberation, what it looks and feels like, and the challenges and opportunities we face in achieving economic justice and self-determination.

• Anne Price is President of the Insight Center.
• Mia Birdsong is a Senior Fellow at the Economic Security Project.
• Cat Brooks is Executive Director of the Justice Teams Network, Co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, and an Oakland Mayoral Candidate.
• Nwamaka Agbo is a self-identified Restorative Economics Practitioner and Principal and Founder of Nwamaka Agbo Consulting.

Hosted at the Insight Center in downtown Oakland, this event is open to a limited number of in-person attendees, and will also be live-streamed for the general public.

The in-house event will run from 10am-12pm and include light refreshments and an informal reception. To join us in person, please click here or on the “Attend in Person” button below.

Can’t join us in-house? We’ll livestream the discussion beginning at 10:30am. To register for the livestream, click here or on the button below.

Follow and add to this conversation on Twitter with #BlackEconomicLiberation & #Juneteenth.

Have questions for the panel? Submit them in advance to questions@insightcced.org. Panelists will also address questions from the in-person and online audiences.

Unable to attend? All registrants will receive an invitation to access the recorded video and podcast.

Listen to Dorian Warren, Anne Price, Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, and Shawn Sebastian discuss how to reframe the conversation around racial wealth inequity to support both incremental and transformative policy change. 

Racial wealth inequity is a deeply entrenched problem that remains poorly addressed by conventional public policy and poorly served by many of the mainstream narratives around it. Inequities that should and could be dismantled are thus reinforced.

How can we change the conversation to lay the groundwork for advancing equity? And how can we come together to foster alignment and the necessary power for realizing that change?

To explore these questions, the Insight Center partnered with Prosperity Now to host a virtual conversation, Getting Real About Racial Wealth Inequities Part 2: Changing the Narrative and Building Power, a follow-up to our first discussion in this series.

Dorian Warren, President of the Center for Community Change Action, Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and Co-chair for the Economic Security Project, led a virtual exchange with:

• Anne Price, President of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development;
• Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Senior Fellow for the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative at Prosperity Now; and
• Shawn Sebastian, Director of the Fed-Up Campaign, Center for Popular Democracy.

The panel discussed how widely held beliefs on solutions to racial wealth inequity are damaging and false, and how institutions like the Federal Reserve continue to shape policy around harmful narratives of Black and Brown people. The panel identified important counter-narratives and strategies for advancing racial equity, and discussed different approaches to advocacy and policy change, from the incremental to the transformative. 

Watch the full discussion using the media player above, or listen to the podcast by using the audio player below or by visiting the Hidden Truths podcast on iTunes or Android.

Additional Resources

• What We Got Wrong About Closing the Racial Wealth Gap, Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and the Insight Center

• Rewrite the Rules, Roosevelt Institute

• Bloomberg Businessweek’s Racist Cover Also Gets the Housing Crisis Backwards, City Lab

• This Is America, Childish Gambino

• Returning to the Promise of Full Employment: A Federal Job Guarantee in the United States, The New School for Social Research, Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, and the Insight Center

• 10 Years After: The Financial Crisis and the New York Federal Reserve District, Fed Up

• The Full Employment Mandate of the Reserve: Its Origins and Importance, Fed Up

• Plan for Federal Reserve Reform: Making the Federal Reserve Fully Public: Why and How, Fed Up

• A People’s Fed: How to Make the Fed Fully Public, Executive Summary, Fed Up

• Racial Gaps in Labor Market Outcomes in the Last Four Decades and over the Business Cycle, Federal Reserve

• Pop Ed: Fed Up 101 – How the Fed Affects Your Jobs and Wages, Fed Up

• Pop Ed: Private Prisons, Big Banks, and the Federal Reserve, Fed Up

You can also follow and add to this conversation on Twitter using #GettingRealAboutRace and #RacialWealthInequity, and be sure to tag us at @InsightCCED and @prosperitynow.

Missed our first conversation on racial wealth inequities? Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Listen to Anne Price, Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, and Dorian Warren discuss the realities, myths, and narratives behind racial wealth inequities, and next steps for fostering racial economic justice and equity.

Persistent racial wealth inequity in the U.S. stems from a legacy of deep-rooted, systemic racial and economic injustice. Policy decisions – both intentional and careless – have not only systematically excluded people of color from economic opportunity but have extracted wealth from families and communities over many generations.

Addressing racial wealth stratification has been a key focus of work in the economic security field for more than a decade. Where are we in efforts to tackle racial wealth inequities, and what are our next steps for securing policies that foster equity and opportunity for all?

To explore these issues, the Insight Center partnered with Prosperity Now to host a virtual conversation, Getting Real About Racial Wealth Inequities: Reflections & Next Steps.

Dorian Warren, President of the Center for Community Change Action, Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and Co-chair for the Economic Security Project, led a virtual exchange with:

• Anne Price, President of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development; and
• Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Senior Fellow for the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative at Prosperity Now.

The panel discussed the latest research on racial wealth inequities, reflected on past and current efforts in the field, identified strategies and pathways for advancing racial wealth equity, and more.

Watch the full discussion using the media player above, or listen to the podcast by using the audio player below or by visiting the Hidden Truths podcast on iTunes or Android.

You can follow and add to this conversation on Twitter by using the hashtags #GettingRealAboutRace and #RacialWealthGap and be sure to tag us at @InsightCCED and @prosperitynow.

Additional Resources

• “Where We Went Wrong with the Racial Wealth Gap,” by Anne Price

• The Color of Wealth:The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, by Meizhu Lui, Bárbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer, and Rebecca Adamson

• The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality, by Thomas M. Shapiro

• Lifting as We Climb, by Mariko Chang