The Black Wealth Data Center (BWDC) is building a comprehensive repository, the Racial Wealth Equity Database, to empower decisionmakers with reliable data on Black wealth and raise the national standard for data collection and accessibility. The database was conceived and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, a program aimed at increasing generational wealth and addressing systemic underinvestment in Black communities.
The Urban Institute’s Office of Race and Equity Research supports BWDC through research and analysis, curating user resources, and content advisory. Urban researchers will publish blog posts examining the limitations of publicly available data and tools and resources that can lead to better data for exploring racial wealth equity. Researchers will also use BWDC data to examine the sources of racial wealth inequity, including inheritance and property refinancing.