The finals MVP of the NBA champion Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown has long been vocal about racial injustice. When he signed his five-year, $304 million contract extension with the Celtics last year – at the time, the NBA’s largest supermax deal ever – he vowed to turn his wealth and influence toward bridging racial wealth gaps.
“I want to launch a project to bring Black Wall Street here to Boston,” Brown told reporters, and “attack the wealth disparity here.”
Last week, the 27-year-old guard and forward launched The XChange in Oakland with Hall of Famer Jason Kidd, head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. Kidd is an Oakland native; Brown calls the California city his “second home” from his time at UC Berkeley. They are recruiting other professional athletes, philanthropists and other business leaders to realize their ambition: to help bridge the US racial wealth gap by generating $5 billion in net wealth for historically marginalized communities.
The XChange’s place-based approach also is focused on Boston, which has one of the largest racial wealth gaps in the country. “The racial wealth gap is not limited to Boston. It’s a national issue, affecting Oakland and cities throughout the country,” says Kidd. The disparity between the median wealth of white and Black US families stands at over $240,000, according to Federal Reserve data.
Oakland XChange, led by Kidd, will partner with Oakstop, a social enterprise focused on shared real estate ownership and impact investing strategies, as well as business education and technology and cultural competency.
In Boston, Brown’s Boston XChange has set up an accelerator and incubator program for creative entrepreneurs in partnership with the JLH Social Impact Fund. The impact fund was created by Brown’s Celtics teammate Jrue Holiday and his wife, former US women’s soccer player Lauren Holiday. It will provide up to $100,000 in grant funding and other business resources to underinvested creative business owners.
Through his 7uice foundation, Brown supports the Bridge Program, which works with the Community Biotechnology Initiative at the MIT Media Lab to provide science and technology education for Black and Brown students from under-resourced Boston communities. “True systemic change,” Brown says, “requires collaboration, shared vision and collective impact.”
