In Chicago during the Democratic National Convention, BEA hosted a packed event titled A 2024 Work, Wages, Wealth Agenda. The event featured Governor Wes Moore, TIAA President and CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, Filmmaker and Founder of ARRAY Ava DuVernay, Ariel Investments Founder and Co-CEO John W. Rogers, Jr. moderated by the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, for a discussion on what it will take to expand Black economic opportunity in this critical moment.

In July, BEA PAC endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. BEA PAC had raised more than $3 million for the Biden-Harris campaign this cycle and endorsed the Vice President because of her career-long commitment to advancing work, wages, and wealth for the Black community.

As BEA PAC’s endorsement stated, “The stakes of this election could not be higher for the future of Black economic progress. There is no better candidate, and there will be no better president, for expanding Black economic opportunity than Kamala Harris.”

On July 28, BEA convened a call with nearly 250 Black business leaders along with key leaders including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Governor Wes Moore, Democratic National Committee Chair Jamie Harrison, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Steven Horsford, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Gregory Meeks, Harris for President Finance Chair Rufus Gifford, and Democratic National Convention Chair Minyon Moore to discuss the Black business community’s uniquely meaningful role in electing VP Kamala Harris and ensuring Leader Jeffries is elevated to the House Speakership this November. The meeting was covered in Dealbook.

On May 29, BEA Foundation released the Architecture for Action — a first-of-its-kind, data-backed suite of solutions designed to help leaders in the private and philanthropic sectors take meaningful actions to advance Black economic opportunity and prosperity. You can download the full Architecture for Action here. Drawing upon extensive research and input from leading experts, the Architecture for Action identifies a series of solutions across the interconnected markets and systems of our economy that impact Black economic advancement — centering those with proven success in providing achievable and transformative outcomes toward improving Black economic opportunity and prosperity. BEA hosted a webinar with partners and practitioners across the public, private, and philanthropic sectors to discuss the Architecture for Action and how it could be used in their work.

BEA Foundation’s Policy Agenda to Advance Black Work Wages and Wealth, along with BEA’s polling on voters’ economic priorities, fueled Vice President Harris’s Economic Opportunity Tour, which launched in April. The tour highlighted the historic investments the Administration has made in Black economic prosperity, with a focus on support for small businesses, job creation, and increasing access to affordable housing – kicked off in Atlanta and visited Milwaukee, Detroit, and Charlotte.

On May 2, BEA hosted its second Solutions Summit in New York. Speakers including Professor of Economics, Director of Opportunity Insights, Harvard University Raj Chetty, Vice President, Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, Apple Lisa Jackson, and 82nd U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, made clear that we are at an inflection point in our journey to make Black economic opportunity the norm, no longer the exception, in our nation.

The data and presentations underscored that it is possible to make meaningful progress in years, not generations, by focusing on getting the solutions right, and discussed those key solutions across housing, entrepreneurship and access to capital, and jobs and workforce development.  The Summit closed with an exploration of two imminent opportunities to dramatically increase Black wealth, the great wealth transfer and AI.

Partner Spotlight: Deloitte

Deloitte and Touche LLP has been a transformational partner to the BEA Foundation. They have offered expertise and leveraged their unique resources to provide invaluable support to BEA Foundation’s policy work – for instance, by helping design and conduct research into Black Americans’ views on economic success and opportunity to ensure our policy solutions are grounded in the lived experience of the community. Deloitte committed $10 million over the next five years to help accelerate the Black Economic Alliance Foundation’s impact through expanding and accelerating its programs and initiatives to promote financial inclusion. The partnership with Deloitte is a model for how private and social sector organizations can work side-by-side to further a single mission.

“The unique ability of the Black Economic Alliance Foundation to harness the collective expertise and influence of Black business leaders to develop generational wealth-building opportunities for the Black community has become a model for economic development.” – Deloitte Chief Purpose and DEI Officer Kwasi Mitchell