KYCC Community Economic Development (CED) Manager Rick Kim spoke about providing services to communities of color at the launch of special report, “The Color of Wealth,” a joint publication of Duke University, UCLA, The New School, and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, on March 10 at the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

The report utilizes new data from the National Asset Scorecard and Communities of Color (‪‎NASCC‬) Survey to better understand the economic well-being of people of color in several cities in the United States.

“Having this discussion sheds light on how communities of color are usually lumped into aggregated data, such as ‘Asians’ or ‘Latinos,'” said Kim. “This report shows ethnic-specific data on the financial instability of the communities that we serve. It provides us with a framework from which to design and implement economic development services.”

One of the statistics provided in the report was the ethnic disparity in media net worth. The median net worth of Korean Americans is $23,000. The median net worth of Mexican households is $0. When compared with the net worth of $494,000 of mainstream white households, these numbers clearly highlight the importance of asset building activities and financial empowerment in Koreatown based on its two largest ethnic groups.

“Discussing ethnic disparities with people from communities of color is crucial towards analyzing the supposed ‘color of wealth,’ and more importantly, the impact of color on the disparity of wealth,” Kim added.