Our Legacy Starts With the Choices We Make Today

The numbers are staggering, but they don't have to determine what comes next.

Whether you are working toward homeownership, trying to build savings, growing a business, planning for retirement, or simply trying to make better financial decisions, building wealth starts with knowing what opportunities are available to you—and taking the next step.

For individuals and families, that may mean creating a realistic budget, improving credit, establishing an emergency fund, purchasing a home, investing, securing life insurance, or creating an estate plan. You don't have to do everything at once. Start with the financial decision that can make the greatest difference for your family right now.

But closing the wealth gap isn't solely the responsibility of individuals. Businesses, financial institutions, corporations, and community partners have a role to play too. Where we invest, who we hire, which businesses we support, where we bank, and which organizations we fund all influence whether wealth and opportunity grow within our communities.

That's where collective economic power becomes important. When we support Black-owned businesses, invest in community-focused institutions, share financial knowledge, create pathways to homeownership and entrepreneurship, and connect people to trusted resources, individual progress becomes community progress.

ABEP's Financial Empowerment Center exists to help individuals and families turn information into action. Through financial education, trusted resources, community partnerships, and connections to financial professionals, we are working to make wealth-building opportunities easier to understand and access.

So, what can you do?

Start where you are. Take one step toward strengthening your own financial future. Have a conversation about money with your family. Support a Black-owned business. Share a financial resource with someone who needs it. Invest in organizations doing this work. And if your business or organization has resources, expertise, or opportunities to contribute, partner with organizations working directly within the community.

Minnesota's racial wealth gap was built over generations, and closing it will require sustained action across generations. The numbers tell us where we are. What we choose to do next will determine where we go.

_____________________________________ Want more information? The Financial Empowerment Center is one of the

ways ABEP is helping individuals and families create, protect, and transfer

wealth. Learn more about upcoming workshops, coaching opportunities, and how

you can be a part of the solution.