Natural hazards have devastating impacts on people's lives, especially those who are already marginalized by race and poverty. Research from Junia Howell and James Elliott showed that white residents accumulated more wealth after a disaster. The bigger the disaster, the more wealth white residents gained. The bigger the disaster, the greater the disparity between white residents and residents of color. 

But the opposite was true for communities of color. In small disasters, there was a small amount of wealth accumulation for residents of color, but after a disaster causing more than $10 billion, Black, Latino and Asian households lost $27,000, $29,000 and $10,000, respectively. 

So, white residents in hard-hit areas gained wealth, and residents of color in those same areas lost wealth. These differences occurred even after the researchers controlled for various factors, including age, education, homeownership, family status, residential mobility, neighborhood status and county population.

So, how can donors help ensure that disaster recovery efforts are equitable, inclusive and address the underlying causes of vulnerability and injustice? 

That question was tackled by panelists at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy's (CDP) webinar, “Race and poverty: Connecting disparities, disasters and equitable recovery.” Moderated by Tanya Gulliver-Garcia, CDP’s Director of Learning and Partnerships, the webinar featured Allison Cormier, Sales Implementation Manager, MoCaFi; Ashleigh Gardere, Executive Vice President, PolicyLink; and Kelli King-Jackson, Principal and Founder, Kelli King-Jackson, LLC.

Ashleigh started the dialogue by cutting to the core of philanthropy's problems: “Our nation was designed for the success of white male property owners. It was an economic decision that we then built our government and all other institutions around. … Everyone who’s been excluded from this group, so that's Black folks, and brown folks and poor white people, have been struggling with the consequences of this flawed design since the nation's founding. And we feel it across our daily lives in every system that we encounter. So labor, education, housing, health, transportation, these systems do not serve all of us. And they certainly don't serve us well. As Tanya said, the disasters and our recovery efforts only exacerbate these inequities.” 

Sometimes, as funders (and as people), we believe that just one more grant or another year of resources can help fix the disparities we see. However, citing Katrina as a prime example, Ashleigh explained that despite $120 billion dollars in federal investments to rebuild the region, the statistics now show even greater disparities than before the hurricane hit. Throughout the recovery process, although progress was made, it slid back because the system’s original design was never meant to include everyone. 

Allison described the importance of addressing poverty by providing a guaranteed minimum income, which promises all citizens or families an income sufficient to live on. This allows individuals the autonomy to get what they need to survive and to prepare their family for a disaster. Food, childcare, housing, transportation - everyone will need something different when a disaster strikes. Allison asked us, “Who knows best what you need? YOU DO. No one wakes up and says ‘I want to be impoverished. I want to struggle. I don’t want to provide for my children. I don’t want to feed them or feed myself’”. 

Allison and Kelli addressed the issue of providing cash assistance to further that autonomy. People donate goods in times of need, which makes them feel better but creates a logjam of logistics questions. Who needs the goods donated? Who transports the goods to the people who need them? Who disburses the goods and chooses who deserves them? People affected by disasters need the agility of cash to meet the needs they know best. Direct cash assistance also allows people to support the local economy, where too many donations can hurt local businesses. 

Kelli illustrated how cash can be used for both immediate relief and to help support long-term recovery: “When [donors] give cash, they can help prevent evictions, help folks do things like pay for burials and cremations when people pass away, they can keep folks together.” 

Cash can keep people in their homes. Cash can keep cars from being repossessed so people can make it to work. Cash can stabilize life like no other donation can because people can get exactly what they need. Trust-based philanthropy goes beyond organizations; it means trusting individuals. 

What can funders do to support equitable long-term recovery? 

  • Identify and address the root causes of racial and economic disparities before a disaster strikes, such as lack of access to quality housing, health care, education and employment.
  • Build and strengthen partnerships with community-based organizations that serve historically marginalized populations, such as people of color, immigrants, refugees and low-income families, and that can provide culturally appropriate and locally relevant services and advocacy during and after a disaster.
  • Use philanthropic funding to fill the gaps in government assistance and insurance coverage, and to support long-term recovery and resilience efforts that address the structural and systemic barriers faced by marginalized communities.

Watch the full webinar: Race and poverty: Connecting disparities, disasters and equitable recovery at The Center for Disaster Philanthropy.