Pursuing prosperity: Bridging the racial wealth gap for Black communities

When Mastercard committed to closing the racial wealth and opportunity gap through our In Solidarity Commitment, we understood that a critical step in creating meaningful and sustainable change is to listen and learn. Over the past year, we've seen the importance in investing in understanding the values, perceptions, and challenges of middle and upper income Black Americans and small business owners through commissioned research, in hopes that we would be able to better serve this community with meaningful products and services and educate and inspire our partners on ways we can co-create solutions, together.   

We know that given the long history of exclusionary systems, Black Americans are more likely to live below the poverty line and to face disparities in everything from education to home ownership, healthcare access and more. While many research reports to date attempt to learn more about the Black Community as a whole, we wanted to embrace intersectionality to understand the nuanced needs of different socioeconomic groups, namely, middle and upper income Black Americans.  

In this research report and interactive experience, we explore a variety of topics and identify five key opportunities to close the racial and opportunity gap for Black communities in America.