Client Story
Location
Industry
Need
Project
Racial Wealth Gap Assessment Informs Community Action
The Challenge
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation (Dodge Foundation) entered a period of strategic realignment after committing to closing the racial gap in New Jersey. While the established organization had an extensive history of philanthropic investments across the state, leadership recognized that advancing economic equity required a refined understanding of the structural and systemic drivers of wealth, particularly in specific geographies across the state.
New Jersey possesses one of the largest racial wealth gaps in the United States. Median individual net worth for White residents is substantially higher than for residents of color. This divide reflects longstanding disparities in access to housing and economic security.
The Dodge Foundation needed to see a clear, data-informed landscape of these dynamics at both the state and local levels to inform funding priorities.
The Solution
To support this shift, the Dodge Foundation hired Transform Consulting Group (TCG) to conduct a comprehensive analysis of available data about the racial wealth gap in the state of New Jersey and five priority communities: Atlantic City, Camden, Newark, Paterson, and Trenton.
Decades of research show that housing and economic security and mobility are interconnected and influence access to financial security and the opportunity to build wealth.
Our partnership developed a statewide landscape report on the racial wealth gap in New Jersey, which examined root causes and drivers of the racial wealth gap with critical attention on housing and economic security and mobility. TCG analyzed quantitative data, policy context, and community-level indicators to clarify where disparities persist and why prior efforts have fallen short of closing the gap for New Jerseyans.
Our analysis provided the Foundation data that bolstered their location-specific strategies.
Our Role
TCG bridged the gap between research and strategy for the Dodge Foundation. Our role meant designing the analytical framework, analyzing complex data into decision-ready key insights, and translating findings into practical considerations for philanthropic strategy. The strategies and deliverables from this work collectively emphasized clarity in the data, comparability between communities, and alignment with the Dodge Foundation’s mission and values.
- Completed a literature review to validate the wealth drivers and inform the data to include
- Developed a framework and methodology for the data included in this study
- Completed key informant interviews in the five priority communities
- Conducted research of promising communities and aspirational models who are closing the racial wealth gap
- Collected, analyzed and synthesized the data to develop a formal written report
- Analyzed, summarized and presented insights in a community profile for each of the five priority communities
The Outcomes
The engagement resulted in a set of core deliverables to guide the Dodge Foundation’s grant-making strategy including:
- Comprehensive statewide report analyzing the racial wealth gap in New Jersey
- In-depth analysis of housing and economic security and mobility as key wealth drivers
- Identification of structural barriers and policy considerations affecting wealth-building
- Actionable findings and recommendations to inform philanthropic investment decisions
- Foundational research to support the development of five place-based community profiles
