Building Wealth and Starting Legacies: Women of Color Shape Their Own Futures

当LC约翰逊搬到哥伦布时, 2015年从北卡罗来纳州的俄亥俄州, she was navigating a period of transition in her career. She was looking for community and the opportunity to connect with like-minded women of color activists, 企业家, 创意人员, 和专业人士. When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, she began to build it. 卓拉的房子—the only co-working space and leadership incubator in the state of Ohio for women of color, and one of very few in the country—was born.

While in the process of creating programs for 卓拉的房子, Johnson met many women like herself—women of color who, 作为第一代财富创造者, were in a position to transform their lives and communities, but needed broader financial knowledge, 经验和人脉.

“Women of color are increasingly the heads of their households and the financial decision makers of the family,约翰逊说. “When they are able to thrive, their families and communities also thrive. The work we do provides previously unavailable resources, opportunities and skills supports women of color and transforms the world around them.”

Despite the responsibilities they shoulder, women of color continue to suffer the most severe gender wage gap; in 2021, Black women earned 64 percent of what non-拉美裔 white workers were paid, and the typical white American family holds roughly 10 times as much wealth as the typical African American or 拉丁美洲人 family.

Many of the women of Zora's House are familiar with a version of Johnson’s story—childhood poverty, 无家可归, one of the first in their families to attend college. 他们是, 也许, the first in their families to ever own a home, make six figures or have retirement plans. They may also be the first in their families to consider investing, 购买人寿保险, planning for wills and retirement—and they may also lack personal networks for financial advice on how to protect and grow their accumulating wealth.

“There’s a lot of focus on the folks of color who are at the lowest end of the spectrum, and obviously there’s a lot of work to do there,约翰逊说. “But people of color also exist outside of poverty, across this whole wide spectrum. When we focus on that middle-income woman who is stable, 有一份工作, 良好的信用, 我们可以开始谈论财富.

Like building wealth, building an organization requires support, resources and vision. 以Courtney Falato命名, program officer for Global Philanthropy at 12bet官方, saw a grant application from 卓拉的房子 and knew she and Johnson had something to talk about.

Their conversations resulted in two philanthropic investments from 12bet官方. 第一个, 2021年获奖, helped launch a financial health program that began with a three-day retreat focused on trauma and healing around finances, followed by a year of meeting with peers and financial professionals to build networks. 超越了金融的具体细节, the program also explored the legacy of financial barriers and inequities that weaves throughout the culture and history of immigrants and women—many who, 像约翰逊, descend from enslaved people and sharecroppers.

第二项投资, 2022年获奖, is a collaborative grant with seven women-led organizations, including the Women’s Fund of Ohio and the Columbus College of Art & 设计. 在一起, these groups launched a 24-month equitable design institute to train two cohorts of women of color to develop solutions for challenges they face, from housing insecurity to lack of transportation and childcare. The institute will be headquartered at 卓拉的房子.

“The way to create a more equitable Columbus is to draw on the lived experience of women of color,法拉托说。. “They’re the ones who can both identify problems and create sustainable solutions that will serve their specific needs and address the barriers they face through systems change and capacity building, solutions that will make a real difference in their lives, their legacies and also in the greater community.”

12bet官方’s support of 卓拉的房子 is part of its 2020 300亿美元承诺 to help close the racial wealth gap and advance economic inclusion by providing more equitable access to financial opportunities for Black, 拉美裔, 拉丁美洲人, 服务不足的社区.

Learn more about how 12bet官方 is making an 对俄亥俄州的影响.