Amid soaring inflation, Black-focused nonprofits and community leaders are scaling up the aid they provide to their communities. Hosea Helps – founded in 1971 and operating as the largest Black-owned food bank in the Southeast – has ramped up its services to meet the demand of the moment. The nonprofit agency provides meals, as well as assistance for rent and utilities, to hundreds of families in the South. More than 600 cars waited in line for meals during Hosea Helps Easter 2022 food drive, according to an NBC News report.
Elizabeth Omilani, chief executive officer of the nonprofit, told NBC News that “the rise in food prices has caused our numbers of people asking for emergency food to almost triple.”
Inflation – at 9.1% in June 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – is the highest it has been since 1981. The increase in the price of everyday goods like gas, electricity, food, as well as cars and airline tickets, has disproportionately impacted Black and Latino families and households. Black and Latino families are spending an average of 7.1% of their post-tax income on energy-related costs, compared to 5.4% spent by other demographics. Black and Latino households also are spending 12.5% of their post-tax income on food-related costs, compared to 11.1% for other households.
That trend reflects the disproportionate impact that previous economic crises have had on Black families. Black wealth took the hardest hit in the Great Recession of 2008; while the median household wealth for white families dropped 17% from 2005 to 2009, it dropped 53% for Black families during the same period. The dropoff of household wealth for Black families resulted in the exacerbation of the racial wealth gap in the Great Recession’s immediate aftermath – emphasizing the critical nature of getting capital into Black communities.
Supporting Black Communities Accessing Capital
Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, has made infusing capital directly into Black communities a major part of his advocacy. He made national news when he donated $34 million to alleviate the student debt of the 2019 graduating class at Morehouse College – a historically Black college for men. The disproportionate student loans Black college graduates take out compared to their white peers reinforces the racial wealth gap, a Brookings Institution study found. Morehouse President David Thomas called Smith’s donation a “liberation gift” that afforded members of the Class of 2019 the ability to begin their careers without the weight of student loans holding them back. Student Freedom Initiative, chaired by Smith, was created to alleviate the educational debt of students of color across the country in a similar manner.
Smith has also advocated for businesses to donate 2% of their annual earnings to initiatives which address systemic racism across their own sectors. Learn more about The 2% Solution.
