In April 2009, Jose Garcia of Demos posted in RaceWire that "social investment policies in the past have failed to provide a hand up for families of color in the United States, creating a racial wealth gap that persists today." This is especially true when you look at how the disproportionate rate of foreclosure compound the deep and growing wealth divide in the recent report Race and Recession: How Inequity Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules. In an effort to bring more stories of the impact of the racial wealth divide to a wide range of audiences and to foster more public conversations on the issue, the Media Consortium and our allies at Insight Center for Community Economic Development’s Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative are hosting the Journalist Webinar Briefing: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap. Listen in tomorrow, Tuesday June 16, at noon. More info after the jump. The Media Consortium, the Insight Center Journalist Webinar Briefing: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap MC Contact: Tracy Van Slyke [email protected] America’s most glaring economic injustice is the racial wealth gap: families of color have only 15 cents of wealth to the white family’s dollar. The racial wealth gap has been caused by government policies from the expropriation of Indian lands and slavery, to many aspects of the New Deal like the GI bill and Social Security, to current policies like the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction and unregulated housing and financial markets. The Oakland-based Insight Center’s Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative has over 120 experts of color across the country who are resources to journalists and elected officials on federal, state and local economic stories and policies. On Tuesday, June 16, this call will feature story ideas and investigative journalism proposals from: Michael E. Roberts, President, First Nations Development Institute, on Closing the Racial Wealth Gap in Indian country Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, Ph.D., Director, National Council of Negro Women, Research, Public Policy, and Information Center, on her new report Assessing the Double Burden: Examining Racial and Gender Disparities in Mortgage Lending, co-released with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition Janis Bowdler, Senior Housing Policy Analyst, National Council of La Raza on the housing crisis and Latinos Short presentations will be followed by Q&A. To access ECON, the Experts of Color Network, visit www.expertsofcolor.org. For narratives on the racial wealth gap and proposals to close it, visit www.racialweathgap.org. For more information on The Media Consortium, visit www.themediaconsortium.org. WHAT: Journalist Webinar Briefing: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap WHEN: 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST, Tuesday, June 16 (40 minutes) WHO: Insight Center Closing The Racial Wealth Gap Initiative and The Media Consortium To RSVP: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/854239593. Please RSVP by Monday, June 15 at 3 EST.