Black Americans have long been denied equal opportunity to build inter-generational wealth. Centuries of racism and structural inequities in the US have held back Black families as they seek to build wealth and pass it on to the next generation.
Recent studies show the wealth gap between Black middle-class Americans and White middle-class Americans is as wide as it was in the 1960s, and on average, Black women were paid 63% of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2019.
While we still have a long ways to go, organizations like Management Leadership of Tomorrow (MLT), a national nonprofit, are transforming the career and life trajectories for a new generation of diverse leaders. MLT is helping corporate leaders cultivate business practices that aid in the expansion of their minority talent pipeline.
Through the MLT Black Equity at Work Certification, businesses are motivated to create real business and hold themselves accountable for promoting racial equity in the workplace by committing to five key pillars:
- Having equitable Black representation at every level;
- Ensuring compensation equity;
- Creating an inclusive, anti-racist work environment;
- Ensuring racially just business practices;
- Making racial justice contributions and donations
While the road to an equitable workforce for women and men of color is still a work in progress, corporations must usher in an environment that leads to social change. Business leaders must educate themselves and adopt business practices that lead to the advancement of Black equity in the workplace, as employers are one of the gateways to creating social and economic change for all Americans.
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