How to Build an Inclusive Economy
The U.S. has long operated without being an inclusive economy. It’s a fact of American life that’s most apparent in data on racial wealth gaps. In 2019, the median…
The constructs of race and racism have limited the effectiveness of American systems and institutions, suppressing the potential of our democracy and economy for over 400 years. Centuries of exclusion and exploitation have left nearly 100 million people in America—including 55 million people of color—struggling to make ends meet and preventing generations from realizing their potential. Inequitable outcomes across most dimensions of American society are not the result of the failures of individual people but are due to structural and policy failures that have created vast and growing disparities in wealth and opportunity.
The structures, policies, and institutions that were designed, whether explicitly or implicitly, to create inequity, can be redesigned to produce a different result. PolicyLink and the Winning on Equity Campaign aim to deliver transformative results for the 100 million people living in or near poverty by centering this population in designing and advancing solutions to the nation’s greatest challenges. PolicyLink is compelled to deliver on one unifying result: Ensuring all people in America—particularly those who face the burdens of structural racism—participate in a flourishing multiracial democracy, prosper in an equitable economy, and thrive in communities of opportunity.
Centuries of exclusion and exploitation have left nearly 100 million people—including 55 million people of color—in America struggling to make ends meet.
PolicyLink is a research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by lifting up what works.
Dr. Michael McAfee became President and CEO of PolicyLink in 2018, seven years after becoming the inaugural director of the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink.
PolicyLink is working to realize a future where all people in the United States—particularly those who face the burdens of structural racism—can participate in a just society, live in a healthy community of opportunity, and prosper in an equitable economy
A flourishing multiracial democracy, inclusive of diverse and anti-racist governments, voting rights, and protected electoral practices. An equitable economy in which people of color have good jobs, dignified and rising standards of living, and increased voice, power, and ownership. Thriving communities where children and families of color can prosper through equitable infrastructure, affordable housing, quality education, anti-racist human services delivery, healthy water and food, and community safety.
Government at all levels become anti-racist by embedding equity as a standard consideration in design and assessment of policy impact, making equity as important as budgetary effects. Major corporations individually advance equity through their treatment of workers, consumers, and communities. Increasing numbers of previously economically vulnerable people have access to safe, affordable housing, water, transportation, health care.
President and CEO, PolicyLink
Dr. Michael McAfee leads PolicyLink, a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by lifting up what works. He is responsible for achieving the result of all people in America participating in a flourishing multiracial democracy, prospering in an equitable economy, and living in a thriving community of opportunity. During his time at PolicyLink, McAfee has played a leadership role in securing Promise Neighborhoods as a permanent federal program, led efforts to improve outcomes for more than 300,000 children, and facilitated the investment of billions of dollars in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. He is the catalyst for a new and growing body of work—corporate racial equity—which includes the first comprehensive tool to guide private-sector companies in assessing and actively promoting equity in every aspect of their company’s value chain.
The U.S. has long operated without being an inclusive economy. It’s a fact of American life that’s most apparent in data on racial wealth gaps. In 2019, the median…