These times have tested our resilience and stamina.
The pandemic made stark, everyday inequities drawn along racial, gender and geographic lines even more vivid. But we have also seen the magic of our resourcefulness, creativity and regard for one another.
Now we have a rare opportunity to address the widening wealth and income gap by strategically deploying historic federal funding, and in that process, work to heal our communities and repair our nation.
Federal stimulus funds have been flowing across the country, with more broad-based infrastructure investments on the way. These dollars give us a chance to rebuild our economy. However, it will take more than physical infrastructure projects to rebuild the systems that support people.
The good news is there are ways to move Americans who struggle with the daily economic choices forced by poverty and low incomes onto paths of economic stability through good jobs and brighter futures.
The opportunity
Enabling more people to do better does not mean that others must do worse. Our economy is not a zero-sum game. When more people do better, we can see positive ripple effects everywhere. Demand increases, lifting all our businesses and the people who work in them. More people start businesses of their own, creating jobs and growing the economy. This all means a bigger tax base for communities, more funding for neighborhood services and amenities and more charitable giving.
While philanthropies and nonprofits will not have control of federal funds, we can look for ways to influence how it is spent. If most of the funding goes to temporary, stopgap fixes — or to uses that reinforce the imbalances in our economic system — then it’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity missed.
The risk
Economic research finds higher levels of inequality cut into overall economic growth and make it likely that growth cycles won’t last as long. Why does inequality undermine our competitive strength? In part, because people at the lower end of the scale — and we’re talking about many millions of Americans — are under-utilized. Their potential is stifled by working in an economy that does not work for them.
Many have pointed to the link between inequity and political polarization. When people can neither earn what they feel they need, nor find fulfillment in their work, they are frustrated. They tend to be driven to extreme views. They don’t trust the government; they don’t trust other people. They lose the sense of being part of a unified society, because in so many ways, they really are not.
All this gives us the fractured society and adversarial political system we now have, in which meaningful government action to build the country’s future becomes more difficult.
When inequities reach today’s levels, we all lose. Even if you’re “winning” in the current system, the foundations of that system are growing weaker.
The time for both hope and fundamental action has arrived.
Our priorities
At the Kauffman Foundation, we take a multi-pronged approach to confront the many faces of inequity — chief among them being racial inequity. We have launched pilot programs here in Kansas City, raised issues that need to be addressed and advocated for regional and national reform.
Through a lens of racial equity, diversity and inclusion, we’ve focused our foundation on two priorities.
- Building a prepared workforce. The goal is to see that all young people in our region are equipped with the knowledge, skills and real-world experience to excel in the careers they choose.
- Entrepreneur-focused economic development. By this, we mean economic development strategies that recognize and support the power of people starting their own businesses in their communities.
The bottom line: We must all do better. We can no longer be willing to live with an economy that works well for some people while it leaves millions more scratching, fighting or forgotten.
Therefore, we take the need to rebuild better seriously. We are working step by step, strategically and fundamentally, to open the way for everyone to succeed.
I see so many people who want the same thing. We may not be the loudest. But we are working together, every day, to meet this moment.
It’s times like these that I focus on one of my favorite quotes from Ewing Kauffman: “All the money in the world cannot solve problems unless we work together. And, if we work together, there is no problem in the world that can stop us, as we seek to develop people to their highest and best potential.”
For more from Wendy Guillies on Kauffman’s approach to entrepreneur-focused economic development, a prepared workforce and the Foundation’s support through programs and investments, go to kff.mn/hope-action.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation based in Kansas City, Missouri, that seeks to build inclusive prosperity through a prepared workforce and entrepreneur-focused economic development. The foundation uses its $3 billion in assets to change conditions, address root causes and break down systemic barriers.
Wendy Guillies is the president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Guillies leads the foundation’s work to boost student achievement in the Kansas City region and to accelerate entrepreneurship across the country. She has worked at the foundation since 2000 and was named president and CEO in 2015.