There is a heaviness around us that cannot be ignored. The continual racism and violence in our country have led to justifiable anger, sadness, and worry that people are experiencing, individually and collectively.
Equity, justice, and inclusion are foundational to AFCPE’s mission and vision. Our community is rich with differences: across areas of expertise and client focus, geographic location, as well as across race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, political party, and religious affiliation. We do not condone racism, bigotry, violence, or hatred.
As a field, and specifically, as an organization we have a unique opportunity to address systemic and societal problems that plague people across our nation. While we may not always get it right, we are committed to doing the work and to continue learning and growing together.
Making progress and achieving justice requires all of us. As an organization, these are some of the steps we are taking:
- Updating our core competencies of the AFC® certification to ensure that AFC professionals are better equipped to understand the culture and values of their clients.
- Using an Equity Screen to guide our decisions, programs, and initiatives.
- Joining more than 750 businesses and organizations in Columbus, Ohio, where we are headquartered, to sign a petition encouraging Columbus City Council to adopt a resolution declaring that racism is a public health crisis.
- Evaluating Board nomination and staff hiring process to focus on building an inclusive team across race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability.
- Providing professional development opportunities from speakers and educators who are as diverse and inclusive as the communities that we serve.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion work is complex, complicated, and sometimes uncomfortable. It is important to us that we have these discussions with dignity, empathy, and a lens of intersectionality. We recognize that progress and change don’t happen overnight, and we remain committed to the longevity of this work.
As members of AFCPE, we ask you to raise your voice and share your ideas with us and with the community. We are listening, learning, and growing. Together, we will help more people achieve financial security and positively impact systems of inequality in our country.
Additional Resources
Thank you for the Exploring COVID19 from a Racial and Gender Lens webinar, I learned much from the presenters, and had a question or rather, wanted to know if my understanding was correct.
When Kelli stated that an African-American woman owned .02 cents from every dollar, Latina woman .08 cents, what exactly did she mean by own? I have been thinking about that statement since I heard it.
Appreciate any clarification you can provide. ~Thanks
Hi Arlene! Thank you for participating in the webinar. That’s a great question — Kelli was making the distinction between income/wage gap and the wealth gap (what assets people own to help them through times of financial security, income loss, etc).
In recent years, the national discussion about the causes of—and solutions to—inequality has focused on income. But for women, a focus on income alone is insufficient because the gender wealth gap is far greater than the income gap. We all know that women earn only 79 cents on the dollar compared to men, but less known is the fact that women own only 32 cents on the dollar compared to men. For women of color, the gap is a chasm: median wealth for single Black women is $200 and $100 for Latina women—just pennies on the dollar compared to white men and white women: https://womenswealthgap.org/