African Americans are making gains in household wealth, but need help building on that.
A conference outside Washington, D.C. this past week sought to close not only the racial wealth gap but also the racial inheritance gap for Black households with rising wealth. Doing so holds the key to creating first-time generational wealth for Black Americans, who were historically disenfranchised and continue to face challenges in building and passing on wealth.
The Black Wealth Summit, a conference held at City of Praise Family Ministries Campus in Landover, Maryland from
The event comes as data from the Federal Reserve finds that between 2019 and 2022,
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The Black Wealth Summit is only in its third year and already sees significant momentum, according to Black Wealth Summit founder Cedric Nash — reflecting attendees' interest in learning about wealth generation and preservation. Nash is also the author of the book "Why Should White Guys Have All the Wealth?" and is a
Registration data suggested the conference had attracted over 1,000 attendees this year, compared with only 600 who came last year, Nash said in an interview. The summit was offered in a hybrid format; about 800 registered in person while around 260 registered online. Program events covered topics ranging from couples' finances to real estate investments, estate planning, retirement planning and how to lead the Black community to greater wealth.
Nash added that the conference had been marketed in a variety of channels: social media, radio ads, email blasts, the church community and word of mouth, as well as referrals from advisors at sponsoring firms to their clients. Several major firms in financial services sponsored the conference, including Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, Raymond James and William Blair.
"We're hoping that we can keep the momentum going and build upon this, because we really believe this is a unique opportunity for people of our community to learn from people of our same community and be able to ask whatever questions they want regarding their financial health," he said.
Nash praised Morgan Stanley in particular for its support offering over 100 free one-on-one financial coaching sessions with attendees. (
"Not one person canceled on their one-on-one. So that's an indication that people are interested, fired up and wanting to learn," Nash said.
Priscilla Brown, the CEO and president of Amalgamated Bank, reflected the event's optimism in a fireside chat over the weekend. Building wealth from within Black communities means "very early on, recognizing that your needs are more important than your wants. That you have an obligation to yourself and to your family to save, you have an obligation to yourself and to your family to invest," she said.
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While more conferences now exist to help Black professionals in financial services, few exist that gather experts to help Black consumers build their wealth, Nash said. He added that he was disappointed that some firms in financial services that had made loud pledges to support Black wealth during the COVID pandemic appeared to be "backing off" this year in their engagement with the event. "Some of the firms did not come back this year. And they're trying to make it more of a business thing, and not be a part of the $2 billion commitment or the $1 billion commitment that they made to help close the racial wealth gap. It's unfortunate," he said.
However, the event has also gained new supporters, including Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, whom Nash praised for an enthusiastic speech at the conference.
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Nash aims to scale up the conference nationwide and said sponsors benefit by increasing their reach with potentially wealthy future customers.
"There are significant numbers of African Americans with high net worth. And we hope to reach them as we build our community," Nash said.
