WASHINGTON, D.C. — The NAACP has launched a national initiative aimed at helping Black families build, protect and pass wealth from one generation to the next.
Called the ‘Roadmap to Generational Wealth,’ the initiative combines financial education, practical resources and policy advocacy around some of the major building blocks of long-term financial security, including savings, credit, homeownership, investing, employment, education, retirement and estate planning.
The NAACP says the effort is designed to address a racial wealth gap shaped by generations of discriminatory laws, practices and policies that limited Black Americans’ ability to acquire property, accumulate assets and transfer wealth to their children.
The organization argues that closing that gap requires expanding the role Black Americans play in the economy beyond that of workers and consumers to include greater participation as homeowners, investors, entrepreneurs and asset owners.
“We must fight to restore and expand the pathways that allow Black families to build, protect, and pass down that wealth,” NAACP President/CEO Derrick Johnson said in announcing the initiative.
The Roadmap is organized around nine areas: financial education, savings, credit, post-secondary education, employment and career advancement, investments, homeownership, estate planning and retirement.
Rather than treating wealth building as simply a matter of earning more money, the initiative emphasizes the steps families can take throughout their financial lives.
Financial education, for example, is intended to help families make informed decisions about money and financial products. Savings can provide protection against emergencies while creating funds for future investments. Responsible use of credit can affect the ability to obtain mortgages and other financing.
Homeownership is presented as another potential avenue for building equity over time, while the Roadmap also addresses the costs associated with owning a home, including taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs.
Investing is addressed as a means of putting money into assets (including stocks, bonds and mutual funds) that can potentially produce income or appreciate over time.
Estate planning is another major component. Wills and other planning tools can help determine how homes, businesses, investments and other property are transferred to heirs rather than leaving those decisions unresolved after a family member dies.
Retirement planning, meanwhile, focuses on accumulating resources that can provide income after a person reduces or ends employment.
The NAACP says employment and education remain important foundations of the process because earnings provide families with the money needed to save and invest, while many jobs also provide access to benefits such as health insurance and employer-sponsored retirement plans.
The organization points to research showing that financial insecurity remains widespread among Black Americans. According to figures cited by the NAACP from Pew Research Center, 55% of Black adults experience financial worries daily or almost daily, while only 45% say they could cover three months of expenses using savings.
Keisha Bross, director of the NAACP Center for Opportunity, Race and Justice, said the campaign will combine individual financial resources with efforts to support policies that expand economic opportunity.
“We will provide families with insight and plans to build generational wealth for years to come,” Bross said.
The broader goal, according to the NAACP, is not simply helping families accumulate money, but creating financial stability that can extend across generations. That can include emergency savings, education, property ownership, business investment, retirement assets and an estate plan that allows those assets to be transferred to children and other heirs.
The Roadmap to Generational Wealth and its financial resources are available through the NAACP website.
