Driving urban economic empowerment through enhanced
financial literacy and collective neighborhood action
EmpowermentZones.org
WHAT WE DO
This neighborhood is slated for gentrification.
But its core is now protected by an Empowerment Zone, where local homeowners have rallied, helped each other better understand their financial leverage, and collectivized their negotiating.
As a result, they’ve enhanced their CollectiveEquity™.
(Learn more at CollectiveEquity.org)
For almost 40 years, big banks and developers have promised inner-city communities (which are often predominately populated by minorities) equity in urban renewal efforts. While not intended, these efforts prey on people with poor financial literacy, who sell a $50,000 home for $55,000 only to watch the price triple 2 years later. Worse yet, those who wish to remain are forced to sell, because of property taxes they can no longer afford. Failing school systems do not teach economic life skills adequately and those who should benefit most from the equity that gentrification can provide are instead victimized by it.
Our program would speak to communities just as major economic projects are beginning, to create Empowerment Zones of neighbors who are equipped with effective negotiating tactics and understand how to take actions like:
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Holding out to gain top dollar for the sale of their property
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Turning their home into a profitable rental to cover the property taxes and provide an income