South Bend trying to bridge wealth divide by project to grow small businesses

The city of South Bend’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion hopes to bridge the city’s racial wealth divide through it’s new Plan for an Inclusive Economy (PIE), which is designed to connect individuals to resources that can help foster new business ventures and address wealth disparities and reduce economic inequality.

The program kicked off on Nov. 3with a presentation from Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, senior fellow for advocacy group Prosperity now, highlighting the specific data that clarifies the wealth divide in South Bend. Prosperity Now, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group, focuses on ensuring all Americans are able to prosper financially and build wealth in communities that are impoverished.

Asante-Muhammad said one way to understand the true level of poverty in the U.S. is to measure liquid asset poverty, adifferent approach than the federal government’s poverty calculations by income.