Community Finance | November 17, 2020

Micron invests $50 million to reduce U.S. racial wealth gap

Roodgally Senatus
ImpactAlpha Editor

Roodgally Senatus

ImpactAlpha, November 17 — The Black-white wealth gap today is as wide as it was in the 1960s, published reports show. In fact, as of 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, the net worth of a typical white household in the U.S. is equivalent to a combined net worth of 11.5 Black households.

Another tech company is investing in closing the racial wealth gap. Data storage company Micron Technology will invest $50 million of its cash and short-term investments in an impact strategy managed by RBC Global Asset Management to spur economic growth in Black and other underserved communities across the U.S.

RBC’s $1.2 billion Access Capital Community Investment fund, a bond fund that supports affordable housing, job creation, education and more in low- to-moderate income communities in the U.S., RBC GAM’s Ron Homer told ImpactAlpha.

The fund will invest the capital from Micron in government-backed bonds made up of loans from local banks and credit unions to allow them to continue lending within their local communities.

Corporations have stepped up to help reduce the racial wealth gap by investing in Black and other underserved communities. Twitter committing $100 million to a racial justice fund.

Micron has a partnership with RBC GAM aimed towards deploying capital in underserved communities across the country, including those in the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland. The strategy focuses on increasing access to homeownership, affordable housing, community facilities and small business loans in Black neighborhoods.

As part of its diversity, equality and inclusion efforts, Micron plans to commit a percentage of its cash investments in minority-owned management firms, as per the firm’s 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Report.