Giving Compass' Take:

· McKinsey & Company recently released research analyzing the earning potential of black families and highlights the racial disparities in earning power. 

· What is the first step to address the racial wealth gap?  

· Check out this article to learn more about the racial wealth gap. 

McKinsey recently released the results of our first-time research about the earning potential of black families in the United States. The findings were presented to 200 prominent leaders at the first Black Economic Forum (BEF) in late summer. We served as the knowledge partner for the event, hosted by the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), and Beta Iota Boulé, both of which work to advance black leadership.

Shelley Stewart and Jason Wright, McKinsey partners, co-led the initiative. Shelley explains: “We talked about researching a number of issues—criminal justice, poverty, community organizing—but ultimately concluded the most valuable thing we could do was to create a fact base about exactly how the black community makes, saves and invests its money— or creates wealth—and to dig deep on the root causes of why there is such a disparity compared to other racial groups.”

As an example, almost 70 percent of middle-class black children are likely to become poorer as adults, compared with 34 percent of white children.

Read the full article about the racial disparities in earning at McKinsey & Company.