A disconnect between local wages and median incomes has led to a financial system lacking in entry points for early entrepreneurial ventures, a skewed financing system, and the inability to target the Black community in affordable housing opportunities. As you may be aware, organizations within the Greater Hill District have partnered with the Department of City Planning to update, adopt, and advance the implementation of the Greater Hill District Master Plan. Two core goals of the Greater Hill District Master Plan are:

1. Family-Friendly Housing Development without Displacement
2. Economic Empowerment & Commercial Development.

As part of these development goals, project managers and consultants have created a Wealth-Building Workshop to help update and adopt the Plan. This workshop has convened local leaders and practitioners to discuss best practices, tools, resources, challenges, and new opportunities for inclusive wealth building in the Hill District neighborhood. Our Economic Development consultants, ECONorthwest and Ideas and Action, have organized this workshop as part of a larger engagement process. Key elements of the plan and its program initiatives include community goals of economic justice, economic empowerment, and commercial development building upon the African American cultural legacy in the neighborhood.