Despite rising employment rates and the promise of economic recovery ahead, millions of Americans are still facing extraordinary financial hardship brought on by the pandemic. Americans collectively owe more than $57 billion in rent, and more than 11.5 million Americans are facing homelessness. The disproportionate impact of economic hardship on communities of color is nothing new, reflecting long standing racial inequities that create pockets of poverty across the United States.

In this session, we’ll dive deeper into our nation’s intersecting housing, hunger, and poverty crises. From housing affordability and income inequality to redlining and disinvestment in communities that leads to segregation, we’ll explore the systems and structures that contribute to housing inequality, all of which come with significant financial, educational, health, and opportunity costs for people of color. We’ll also put forth policies and practices that can move the needle on equitable housing and the redistribution of wealth and resources.

More Conversations on Food Justice

  • Four square portraits of the three panelists and one moderator who spoke about philanthropy and food justice as part of a regular series, Conversations on Food Justice. From left to right, Caesare Assad (brunette, smiling at the viewer, and wearing a dark blue shirt), Christina Chauvenet (short light brown hair, smiling at the viewer), Mel Jackson (a smiling black women with shoulder length hair, arms crossed wearing a white suit coat) and Chuck Scofield (a smiling man wearing a dark sport coat). The image is outlined in orange and blue. The logos for Share Our Strength (in bold black) and Food & Society at the Aspen Institute (bold blue underlined in red, light blue, yellow, and turquoise blue) are placed in the lower left corner.