1. The YWCA and Women’s Economic Advancement The Racial Wealth Gap
Narrator notes in this space for each slide

2. Title slide
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

3. understanding of WEA components
Asset equity & supports for
personal/home/family balance.
Service and Advocacy
poverty/welfare policy
living wage
life friendly policies
financial literacy
pay equity
YWCA work in the area of women’s economic advancement and its pillars. ///
understanding of WEA components

4. YWCAs, especially across New England, get their start reaching out to and serving young women arriving to work in the mills who were greeted with long hours, low pay, and an oppressive work environment.  
  These first YWCA services included
-boarding houses (safe and clean)
                 -safe passage to and from work
                -employment bureaus
                -skill building programs and fellowship
                -advocacy to improve working conditions and pay
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

5. gender: male gender: female wage:18 cents/hr wage: 8 cents/hr
The wage gap was large and advocacy to increase wages vigorous.

6. Safe working conditions made up the first advocacy plan of YWCAs typified by a visit by YWCA Kansas City to Armour meat’s president to demand changes in the work and transit environment.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

7. Efforts also included working to abolish child labor.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

8. Typing classes, like this one offered by YWCA New York City were organized and encouraged as a way for young women to get from the assembly line into the office where conditions and pay improved.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

9. The YWCA’s entry into the non-traditional job training field began soon after cars began to take the road – Driving lessons at the YWCA’s conference center at Asilomar, California, reportedly offered by the (amusingly) handsomest men on the planet, and,

10. …mechanical skill building at YWCA Cincinnati are just two examples.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

11. During the depression, leaders like these from YWCA Pittsburgh led efforts to challenge employers’ using of ‘the times’ as an excuse to justify lower wages. The slogan was, “Who pays for the bargain found?”    YWCA efforts linked with union development, immigrant support and English language classes were underway as well.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

12. Soon with women came children
Soon with women came children. It is the YWCA that provided the nation’s first organized child care programs. Here are scenes of YWCA child care through the years - 1st was in 1864 in Philadelphia

13. Wartime brought a surge of openings and needs in jobs traditionally held by men. YWCAs provided training and placement services and then worked mightily to keep women’s wages stable when the men came home…….
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

14. gender: male gender: female wage: $1.00hr wage: 60 cents/hr
….not with enough success, however.

15. With the 60's came an awakening among a broader base of women beyond those delivering empowering services, but there was no help from the media and retailers. Society-wide messages continued to channel girls into ‘glorified careers’ or so-dubbed ‘women’s work.’ Respect and wages continued to be lacking on both tracks.

16. YWCAs stepped up training programs, especially to facilitate women's movement into non traditional and higher paying occupations.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

17. So, today, we are still teaching girls to drive and, most importantly, to lead their lives. YWCA job training, career development and financial literacy programs abound nation-wide. Salary negotiation skill building is a key element to include, as is demanding accountability for the equal pay act of 1963

18. Here is one more step, the signing of the Lilly Leadbetter act in 2009-46 years later.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

19. Today’s YWCA women’s economic advancement programs include an effective mix of skill building, education, mentoring, and of course, advocacy.
in the business of women’s economic advancement since 1858

20. gender: female wage: $23.00/hr gender: male wage: $30.00/hr
There is still work to be done and the YWCA will continue to play an important role.
Now, on to the Racial Wealth Gap, a presentation by United for a Fair Economy

21. THE RACIAL Wealth GAP . Net Worth :Assets minus Debt
(What you own minus what you owe)
RWD simply means the assets gap between races. Black/White, Whites/People of Color

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24. Income and wealth
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25. Income vs. wealth Income is The River:
One’s weekly earnings or paycheck.
Used to buy groceries, clothing, pay rent, and pay for entertainment.
Excess income beyond what one needs to survive can be saved, building one’s wealth.
Wealth is The Reservoir:
Total value of what one owns – home, cars, savings, stocks and bonds, real estate, etc. less what one owes.
Used for big purchases, pay for college, buy a business, or tapped when income runs dry.
Net wealth acts as a cash reserve that allows people to start a business, buy a home, send children to college, and ensure an economically secure retirement.
Without wealth, families and communities cannot become and remain economically secure.

26. Why is wealth so important?
Gives choices
Can take time off to go to school
Can start a business
Research shows wealth vs. academic gap… (look up Conley stats)
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27. WHERE DOES WEALTH COME FROM?
Savings, home purchases, and other investments made with a family’s surplus income.
Intergenerational support such as gifts, informal loans, and inheritances.
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28. Income can only partially explain gap
Holding income constant factors in single parent families, racial bias in hiring, differential unemployment rates, etc… yet still, Whites have a huge advantage. So what is really driving the wealth gap?

29. Ranking the contributing factors
Parents’ Net Worth is the single most important factor by far.
Ones’ own income is the second most important factor.
Other notable factors include:
single-parent vs. two-parent families
“Occupational prestige (professional jobs that have IRAs, profit sharing, etc.)”
From Table 2.1 (p. 51 of Conley’s book)
Race by itself is ironically not a factor (directly at least).

30. Inheriting yesterday’s inequality
Some white families historically have enjoyed the benefits of government support and tax policies to buy homes, start businesses, grow wealth and prepare for retirement at a time that Blacks and others were largely excluded.
Looking at one important historical example, few if any African-Americans were able to take advantage of the Homestead Acts that provided landowning opportunities for many whites. Recent history continued this pattern of blocked opportunity because African-Americans were mostly shut out of the greatest wealth-building opportunity of the post-World War II generation -- home ownership.
which impacts on current dynamics of race inequality, and legacy of past inequalities brought by structural racism- Gi Bill, SSA, Homestead act, FHA loans, etc

31. Inheriting inequality (sedimentation)
Unlike income, wealth is readily transferrable from generation to generation.
40 acres and a mule never happened. Yesterday’s inequalities are simply carried forward.
Reparations never given… previous inequalities simply carried forward
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32. Inheriting inequaly (part 2)
Land ownership restricted to citizens and citizenship was limited to whites 1800S
The last racial barriers to naturalized citizenship were lifted in 1952.
One in four white Americans have an ancestor who was given Indian or Mexican land under the Homestead Act.
New Deal excluded many people of color from Social Security
All veterans of color were unable to access the GI Bill's educational and mortgage benefits
Discrimination by realtors and colleges made the benefits difficult for vets of color to use
VA and FHA lending rules actually blocked mortgages in mixed-race and urban neighborhoods.
Most people don't know that land ownership was restricted to citizens and citizenship was limited to whites in many areas throughout the 1800s.
The last racial barriers to naturalized citizenship were lifted in Almost no-one realizes that one in four white Americans have an ancestor who was given Indian or Mexican land under the Homestead Act.
Most people don't know that the New Deal excluded many people of color from Social Security because until the 1950s, those laws excluded domestic and agricultural workers, the occupations of most workers of color.
The parents and grandparents of some African Americans and Latinos in the labor market today missed out on Social Security benefits.
As a result, many in the younger generations are supporting their elders instead of saving for their own retirement.
Few realize that almost all veterans of color were unable to access the GI Bill's educational and mortgage benefits, which boosted five million white veterans into the middle class after WWII.
Not only did discrimination by realtors and colleges make the benefits difficult for vets of color to use, but VA and FHA lending rules actually blocked mortgages in mixed-race and urban neighborhoods.

33. Wealth differences are key
Percent of population by race that does not have enough net worth to subsist for three months at the poverty level without income.
42 percent of Blacks
37 percent of Latinos
16 percent of Whites
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35. To learn more, visit
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36. RESOURCES
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37. As on slide http://www.faireconomy.org/dream
In 2042, thirty years from now, people of color will collectively represent the majority of the U.S. population. If we continue along the
governing path of the last thirty years, the economic divide between races will remain and, in many regards, will be considerably worse.
The Emerging Majority measures the impacts of the past thirty years of public policy on the racial divide, examining a host of social and
economic indicators, including income, wealth, poverty, health care, homeownership, education and incarceration.
The report then offers thirty-year projections based on data trends since the Reagan presidency. Its findings should prompt people of all races to unite in action for a more just and racially equitable future.
Center for American Progress:
The State of Communities of Color in the U.S. Economy: Christian E. Weller, Julie Ajinkya, and Jane Farrell explain how communities of color were hit particularly hard by the Great Recession in 2007 and how they're still struggling as the economy recovers.
From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half
More than a Choice: A Progressive Vision for Reproductive Health and Rights
Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development
Institute for Women’s Policy Research - The leading think tank in the U.S. focusing primarily on domestic women’s issues
with key program areas: Employment, Education Economic Change, Democracy & Society, Poverty, Welfare, & Income Security,
Work & Family, and Health & Safety.
How The American Economy Is Leaving Women Behind: Setting A New Course For Progress And Prosperity 4
IWPR created femstats.net as a primary resource for easily downloadable women-centered data.
Transforming Pink to Green: Moving Jobs into the Green Economy
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