Bridging the Divide

Bridging the Divide is a project sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies. It is a collaboration of leading advocates, implementers and analysts focused on producing an understanding and a praxis that addresses racial and economic inequality.

The purpose of Bridging the Divide is to incubate emerging practices, pilot prototypes and operationalize equity lens, frames and analyses. Our approach is to serve as a bridge that takes the learnings, skills and resources of the grass tops to the grass roots and from the grass roots to the grass tops in a way that builds capacity on the ground for local communities, organizations and institutions.

We will do this in three primary ways:

1. Act as a bridge between government and community to catalyze systemic social change
2. Act as a bridge between racial economic thought and on the ground best practices to advance economic security for the wealth poor
3. Act as a bridge between financial organizations, associations, professionals and community to provide best practice strategies for long term wealth development

Initial Projects:

Right To Root
Led by Radix Consulting, the Right 2 Root Campaign is an inclusive, grassroots, community-funded and led neighborhood planning and development campaign employing a solution focused approach to re/address the root causes of disparity while catalyzing social change.

Right 2 Root is designed to create a People+Place based community stabilization program to increase Health+Wealth for African American / Black residents using a Public Health approach as a means to reduce disparities, increase opportunities and generate prosperity. Right 2 Root leverages planning tools, public interest design, and community assets to create healthy, innovative places. #Right2Root #HealingSymptomsChangingSystems #SupportOurSisters

Grass Roots Change
Grass Roots Change is a project that supports local violence intervention initiatives and economic empowerment initiatives with an understanding that racial economic inequality and instability is a leading cause of community disruption and fragility.

Action, Analysis and the Racial Wealth Divide
In partnership with Inequality.org Bridging the Divide will help create an regularly update website of resources, analysis and best practices focused on addressing the racial wealth divide. This can quickly become the pre-eminent site for racial wealth divide information that so many institutions are looking for as more and more look to address this issue.

Latest Work

REPORT: Still A Dream: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality

60 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the racial wealth divide persists.

Taxes on the Wealthy Could Fund Reparations—and Create a More Equal America for Everyone

Congress should establish a national commission to examine the legacy of slavery and propose reparations funded by breaking up concentrated wealth in the United States.

From Affirmative Action To Reparations: Bridging Racial Economic Inequality

While our federal government backtracks, state and local lawmakers are increasingly taking action to repair racial divides through policies designed to address racial inequality.

Reparations Are Expensive — but Not Repairing the Harm Costs More

The racial wealth divide between Black and White Americans is much bigger — and more stubborn — than many of us realize. The median African-American household has just 6 percent of […]
team of corporate executives discussing racial justice

Can Corporations Walk the Walk on Racial Justice?

Many companies are tweeting about their commitment to racial equity, but not practicing it in their own staffing.
man wearing i cant breathe mask

The Simplest Way to Close the Racial Wealth Gap? Direct Cash Payments

Here’s my proposal: give $20,000 to every American with an enslaved ancestor, every year, for 20 years. We can afford it
A student sits on a bench at an empty school.

A Trillion in Prevention

For working people, our economy was never as strong as it seemed. The trillions we invest in recovering from the coronavirus must change that.
father-daughter-family-race-myths

The Racial Wealth Divide Hurts the Entire Middle Class

By bridging the racial wealth divide, we can reduce the economic inequality that’s holding down our entire country.
Children-Affordable-Housing

A Trump Plan to Throw 55,000 Children Out of Their Homes

A proposed rule would strip housing benefits from U.S. citizens if they’re found to have family members with the wrong immigration status.
reparations

Why 21st-Century America Needs to Enact Reparations

The House Judiciary Committee finally debated HR 40, which would form a commission to study the legacy of U.S. slavery — and how to make reparations for it.

Right to Root

eight-mile-alabama

How Fair Housing Laws Can Advance Environmental Justice and Racial Equity

Residents of Eight Mile, Alabama await a HUD ruling on a dangerous gas leak. Meanwhile, NCRC and the South Alabama Center for Fair Housing evaluate other legal options to secure compensation for the community.
child-racism-inequality

Racism Props Up America's Richest — Here's How We Fix it

Black and Latino unemployment hit historic lows in 2018, but this is not enough to close the enormous gaps in wealth.
wall-street

How the 1% Profit Off of Racial Economic Inequality

The racial wealth divide is bringing down median wealth, while wealth at the very top soars.
poverty-protest

An MLK Day Reflection: The Racial Wealth Gap Is Killing the Middle Class

Ninety years out from Dr. King's birth, the typical white family had 41 times more wealth than the typical Black family
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Martin Luther King's dream requires we overcome “our fantasy of self deception”

To fulfill Dr. King's dream we must drop the fantasy of a post-racial America and get real.

Report: Dreams Deferred

How Enriching the 1% Widens the Racial Wealth Divide

Help Spread the Word: #Right2Root

Help us spread the word about our latest report, "Right to Root: Conceptual Designs for Equitable Development in Portland"

Report: Right To Root

Conceptual Designs for Equitable Development in Portland, Oregon
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The Racial Wealth Divide Holds Back Black Earners at All Levels

If our nation wants to put its history of racial inequality behind it, we must bridge the wealth divide.
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Experts

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad

Chief of Race, Wealth and Community

Bridging the Divide, Program on Inequality and the Common Good

In the News