Closing the Wealth Gap

The Center for Community Resilience (CCR) and the Institute for Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Equity (Equity Institute) have partnered to develop an implementation framework to close the nation's wealth gap. 

The GWU-based team has worked closely with community and elected leaders over the past three years to develop a framework that outlines a plan to align place-based investments that will close specific economic gaps while also improving health and social outcomes.

Turning research to action, the CCR-EI framework provides actionable strategies, measurable goals and an innovative tool to track progress over time.

A cornerstone of these efforts is the creation of neighborhood hubs, which serve as centralized access points for co-located services, including financial institutions, programs, and trained professionals. These hubs address critical service gaps in areas lacking brick-and-mortar institutions.

In keeping with our commitment to translating science into action, the CCR-EI team is working with public and private partners to develop an implementation strategy. While developed to address specific neighborhood needs in Cincinnati, this team looks forward to replicating this process for cities across the nation.

Access the full document here: Closing the Wealth Gap: Stakeholder Report. 

View a summary of the report here: Closing the Wealth Gap: Stakeholder Report | Summary. 

If you would like to discuss the findings of this report, implementation guidance or learn about our methods and tools please contact us at [email protected].

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Policies for Action (P4A), a signature research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), for their funding support.

Thank you to the members of the Cincinnati-based Building Community Resilience network whose partnership for the past ten years informed our research.

Additionally, this work would not have been possible without the invaluable contributions of individuals from the Avondale and Riverside communities. Thank you for your support and partnership.

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Amplifying Community Voices

Using the Group Model Building approach, we worked with an initial set of community leaders in both Avondale and Riverside to convene a group of 12-20 community members with diverse perspectives. Community members engaged in a 4-hour workshop to map out the complex systems at play to yield the current concerns around housing and wealth in their neighborhoods.

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Creating Neighborhood Hubs

The strategies for closing wealth gaps in Cincinnati focus on the creation of neighborhood hubs as the foundation. These serve as access points for the co-location of various services including financial institutions, programs, and trained professionals. Neighborhood hubs provide critical support in areas lacking brick-and-mortar institutions.

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Building Bridges Together

Together with civic leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to improving
the quality of life for all Cincinnatians, the Closing the Wealth Gap Study provides
specific, actionable guidance on providing a pathway to financial freedom for families and prosperity for the city’s children.

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Securing Public-Private Partnerships

Collaboration between city leadership and the private sector will be essential to scale these initiatives, ensuring alignment with the city's broader goals for economic growth and mobility. By leveraging cross-sectoral public and private investments, the strategies outlined in this report present a unique opportunity to drive lasting change in historically marginalized neighborhoods across the city.