Juneteenth is Freedom Day, but Racial Wealth Gaps Persist: A NYC Symposium

Juneteenth Discussion: Why does the Black-White Wealth Gap Persist?

This public in-person event will take place at The Theater Center in Times Square. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the factors contributing to the Black-White wealth gap and what can be done to address it. Hear from experts and engage in meaningful conversations with fellow attendees.

This event is hosted by journalist-academics Louise Story and Ebony Reed who teach on racial wealth gaps at Yale University and have a new book out on June 18 called, "Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap." More info on their book -- which is included in this registration price -- here: www.15cents.info.

Story and Reed will discuss why racial wealth gaps are so persistent, who in our country has negative net worth, and what people can do in their own lives to reach across the gap. There will also be a conversation with some key people featured in "Fifteen Cents on the Dollar," including James Woodall, Tandreia Dixon, and Brook Bacon. Readers of the book will not want to miss the chance to see these individuals in-person.

Special guests also featured in the event to add context and action steps include New York Cares Executive Director Sapreet Saluja, and Robert Soriano-Hewitt of the Legal Aid Society. Athletic leader and former basketball star Batouly Camara will speak about race, athletics and kids' empowerment and her organization, Women and Kids Empowerment (WAKE). Riley Jones, the president of Columbia's Black Alumni Council and founder of A.I. company Bloc , will provide introductions and context.

This event is open to the public, and it is co-hosted by the Yale Black Alumni Association, Yale Alumni Association, and Yale Women. The event will conclude with a panel with notable Yale alumni working in this space. The panelists include:

*Chiraag Bains YC '03 is a senior fellow at Democracy Fund and the Brookings Institution. From 2021 to 2023, he was Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he led the racial justice and equity portfolio, including efforts to close the racial wealth gap. He previously led a team of voting rights litigators at the national democracy organization Demos and served as a prosecutor and senior official in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

*Ivuoma Onyeador YC '11 is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. Her research examines how people judge and respond to group-based discrimination and disparities. Through her research program, she aims to increase people’s understanding of and willingness to address inequality. Professor Onyeador’s research has been published in leading journals such as Psychological Science and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Her work has also been featured in popular press outlets, including The New York Times and The Atlantic.

*Gary Stewart '96, YLS '99 is is the founder of FounderTribes, a start-up that uses conversational AI agents and a proprietary semantic recommendation engine to help founders and small business owners to access AI-generated mentorship and warm intros. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of Techstars NYC powered by JP Morgan, part of an $80 million fund to invest in underrepresented founders. Gary is also the inaugural lecturer of entrepreneurship at Yale Law School.

*Lolade Siyonbola GS '19 is is the Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST.

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Come to the event to see other people who are interested in this topic and to learn more context about racial wealth gaps. Book signing as well as mingling before and after. . Free refreshments provided by the Yale Alumni Association.

Each ticket includes a copy of the "Fifteen Cents" book, purchased from the local Black-owned bookstore Cafe con Libros. If you would prefer to attend without purchasing a book (or if you are attending with someone else who is purchasing a book to share with you), feel free to register for a lower price here. It is open seating and you can sit with people registered on either page.

This event is sponsored by the Players Coalition, which works with professional athletes, coaches and owners across leagues to improve social justice and racial equality in our country. Special thanks to the Coalition for donating books to organizations focused on racial equity. Special thanks also to The Boston Globe for its support of this gathering.

Invite your friends and come help us spread information on these pressing issues.