The Greater Boston Partnership to Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Established in late 2022 as part of the Boston Foundation's commitment to racial equity, the Greater Boston Partnership to Close the Racial Wealth Gap is a uniquely powerful effort to close racial wealth gaps in the city and region by increasing homeownership in communities of color.

Why homeownership?

The Wealth Gap Partnership's initial focus on homeownership is based on two simple facts:

  • Homeownership is the largest driver of intergenerational wealth for Americans across virtually all racial and demographic groups.
  • The United States, and Greater Boston in particular, have a significant and measurable gap in homeownership between white households and Black, Asian and Latino households.

With a data-informed and mission-driven approach to advance racial and economic equity, the Wealth Gap Partnership brings together housing, financial, nonprofit, philanthropic and civic leaders to develop approaches to support, strengthen, and expand the current landscape of affordable homeownership, and through it, build intergenerational wealth for communities of color.

Who We Are

The Wealth Gap Partnership is a broad-based group of more than 40 members representing sectors including banking and finance, housing, issue advocacy, government, healthcare and life sciences, and education.

The partnership is convened and anchored by the Boston Foundation, including by its Director and leadership staff from across the organization, representing the Foundation's significant commitment to this issue.

Partnership Priorities:

Increasing Housing Supply

Lack of adequate housing supply is a fundamental, underlying cause of the affordable housing crisis in Massachusetts. There simply are not enough housing units to meet the demands of Massachusetts residents, especially those with low or moderate incomes.


Expanding Down Payment Assistance

Coming up with the down payment and closing costs for a home is a major hurdle to homeownership. Expansion of these programs and other forms of subsidy can help families overcome these obstacles and save their cash reserves for expenses associated with being a new homeowner, like unexpected repairs.

 

Increasing Access to Affordable Mortgage Products

Access to affordable mortgage products allows prospective homebuyers the opportunity to make affordable monthly payments resulting in significant cost savings. These cost savings can save families hundreds of dollars a month that they can use for short-term disposable income and long-term savings.
 

Tools and Avenues for Change:

Policy &
Advocacy

We believe that our laws must play a pivotal role in addressing the significant and longstanding wealth gaps that exist in communities of color. As a result, our work includes efforts to influence and shape policymaking on the local, municipal, and state level.



 
 
 

Research & Communications

The Partnership’s work is data informed and mission driven. Our work is shaped not only by the importance of our cause, but also by the qualitative and quantitative information we collect, receive, and analyze as well as our communication and engagement of these learnings (and the actions that come from them) to our external stakeholders and target communities.
 
 

Programming &
Interventions

Tacking individual, systems, and root-level causes of inequity require the support of and investment in programs and institutions that work within communities of color to improve their lived circumstances. The Partnership believes our role is to find opportunities to identify such programs and uncover ways to amplify and expand their efforts.
 
 
 
 

Wealth Gap Partnership Roster:

Asian Community Fund
Danielle Kim, Executive Director

Bank of America
A.J. Barkley, Head of CRA & Neighborhood and Community Lending
Miceal Chamberlain, President of Bank of America Greater Boston  
Michelle Swindell, SVP and Senior Business Development Manager, Bank of America

The Barr Foundation
Jim Canales, President and Trustee
Lisette Le, Director of Racial Wealth Equity Initiative

Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA)
Nicole Obi, President and CEO

The Boston Foundation
Brian Conway, Finance Committee Chair, Board of Directors
Linda Mason, Chair, Board of Directors
Lee Pelton, President and CEO

Boston Indicators
Luc Schuster, Executive Director

Boston Medical Center 
Thea James, Vice President of Mission and Associate Chief Medical Officer
Petrina Martin Cherry, Vice President of Community Engagement and External Affairs

Citizens Bank
Lisa Murray, President

Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association (CHAPA) 
Rachel Heller, CEO

City of Boston
Tiffany Chu, Chief of Staff, Office of the Mayor
Sheila Dillon, Chief of Housing
Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, Office of the Mayor
Arthur Jemison, Chief of Planning and Director of Boston Planning and Development

Eastern Bank
Bob Rivers, Chief Executive Officer and Chair, Board of Directors

Eastern Bank Foundation
Jeff Fuhrer, Foundation Fellow
Nancy Huntington Stager, President and CEO

Embrace Boston
Imari Paris Jeffries, Executive Director

FHL Bank Boston
Kenneth Willis, Senior Vice President

Fidelity Investments 
Pamela Everhart, Senior VP, Head of Regional Public Affairs and Community Relations

Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce 
Jim Rooney, President and CEO
Amber Haskell, Director, Economic Inclusion

HSBC Bank USA
Michael Viazzoli, Corporate Banking Executive, New England Region

Inquillinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA) 
Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, CEO

JPMorgan Chase
Roxann Cooke, Regional Director/ Managing Director, Chase Private Client and Chase Investments
Richard Macdonald, Managing Director, Commercial Bank
Rafia Zahir-Uddin, Vice President, Global Philanthropy

M & T Bank
Grace Lee, Regional President of Eastern MA

Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA) 
Symone Crawford, Executive Director

Massachusetts Housing Partnership  
Elliot Schmiedl, Director of Homeownership
Clark Ziegler, Executive Director

Massachusetts Life Sciences Center 
Kenn Turner, President and CEO

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
Roger Crandall, Chairman, President, & CEO
Sucharita S.K. Varanasi, Head of Public Policy

MassDevelopment 
Dan Rivera, President and CEO

MassHousing 
Mounzer Aylouche, Vice President of Homeownership Programs
Chrystal Kornegay, Executive Director
Tony Richards, Vice President of Equitable Business Development

MIT School of Architecture and Planning
Karilyn Crockett, Professor

New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund 
Makeeba McCreary, President

OneUnited Bank 
Teri Williams, President and COO

Preservation of Affordable Housing 
Aaron Gornstein, President and CEO

State Street
Ron O’Hanley,Chairman and CEO

 
 
 
 

Understanding the Racial Wealth Gap

To highlight research and resources about the dimensions of the racial wealth gap, Boston Indicators and the Boston Foundation, with the support of the Barr Foundation, have established the Racial Wealth Equity Resource Center at rwerc.org. The site tracks research on aspects of the wealth gap and innovations designed to address these gaps locally and nationally.

Inquiries about the Partnership:

Interested in learning more about the Wealth Gap Partnership and how to join the effort? Click here to contact Courtney Brunson, Director of the Wealth Gap Partnership.

TBF Staff:

In addition to President and CEO M. Lee Pelton and Board Chair Linda Mason, the Wealth Gap Partnership includes a number of Boston Foundation senior staff bringing research, policy, communications and housing experience to the Partnership and its work.
Courtney Brunson

Courtney Brunson serves as Director of the Greater Boston Partnership to Close the Racial Wealth Gap. Brunson comes to the role with experience in law and economic policy, having worked as the President of Harvard’s Legal Aid Bureau, a policy advisor for the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts and in the office of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, where she advanced the Senator’s priorities of investing in affordable housing, enforcing fair housing protections, and expanding homeownership opportunities. 

In addition to Brunson, Boston Foundation staff involvement includes:

Mariella Da Silva
Executive Assistant

Leigh Gaspar
Vice President and Special Assistant to the President & CEO

Kate Guedj
Senior Vice President and Chief Philanthropic Officer

Soni Gupta
Associate Vice President, Neighborhoods and Housing 

Keith Mahoney
Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs

Ted McEnroe
Associate Vice President, Communications and Digital Media 

Orlando Watkins
Vice President and Chief Program Officer