While the Detroit mayoral race gets underway with 9 candidates who have filed to run and one candidate mounting a write-in campaign, I am extremely excited to see nearly all the candidates talking about the need to create generational wealth and build Detroit’s middle class.
In 2023 I led the Wealth Generation Task Force (WGTF), which wrote a report on wealth generation for Detroiters, that developed numerous recommendations for the city to pursue. The experts who served on the task force, and continue to serve, are from the fields of higher education, banking, the legal system, unions, city government, and the business community.
Detroit is one of the largest majority-Black cities in America, with approximately 78 percent of our residents being of African American descent. Until recently, Detroit was the poorest city in the country, with more than 30 percent of residents living below the poverty level. Only recently has Cleveland taken over this unwelcome honor.
As the WGTF pointed out, the city can help Black families build generational wealth. Escaping poverty and gaining economic independence means we must increase access to opportunities that provide better jobs, secure housing, and/or a wider array of education options. Our next mayor can and should make this priority for Detroit.
For years, government has relied on job creation as the primary corrective action to address the generational wealth gap for African American families. However, the task force’s work and research show more must be done to create safe and healthy neighborhoods, help families save for emergencies, help them purchase a home, and ensure children are prepared to enter kindergarten, college and the workforce.
The Wealth Generations Task Force’s recommendations address these pressing needs, identifying a multi-prong approach that goes beyond what government has done in the past by simply relying on job creation. To lift people out of poverty, it’s important residents be job ready. They also need the assistance and knowledge to protect their family’s wealth and assets.
The six key policy areas, or “pillars,” identified by the task force as essential to addressing the generational wealth gap include: education, entrepreneurship, employment, banking, property ownership, and healthy neighborhoods. Focusing on these policy areas will help the middle-class grow by moving families out of poverty, maintaining Detroit’s existing middle-class family population and encouraging middle-class families to move back to Detroit.
A big thank you goes to Mayor Duggan who helped us implement parts of the task force priorities by allocating ARPA funds for free estate planning workshops. We’ve also received a grant from the Gilbert Family Foundation for free probate court support, and we established a partnership with Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree. However, there is much more to do.
As a direct result of our “education” pillar we are actively working to encourage more early childhood education (ECE) centers. Working parents need more quality, affordable ECEs in Detroit. The City estimates that 12,000 parents in Detroit are unable to fully participate in the workforce due to the lack of affordable, quality ECE centers. The city is also working with Detroit at Work on a collaboration with existing ECEs to help improve their business models and staffing practices. To further expand access, we also need employer buy-in from businesses large and small to make ECE more affordable and accessible for working families. I am hoping to work with our next mayor on this critical issue.
While all of the task force’s recommendations require a large amount of brain power and/or funding to succeed, the return on investment is tremendous. These recommendations help move Detroiters out of poverty and get them on the road to creating generational wealth and improving their economic mobility, maintaining our middle-class family population and attracting middle-class families back to Detroit.
I will never stop working on policies to help Detroit families achieve generational wealth and grow our middle class. I urge the mayoral candidates to read our task force’s report and reach out to the experts who served on the task force to have real conversations about these issues. Whoever wins the election, I stand ready to work with them to, in the words of WGTF member Huel Perkins, “Put money into the pockets of Detroiters.”
Hon. Scott Benson is a Detroit City Councilman who represents the 3rd District on Detroit’s north eastside. Councilman Benson is an Urban Planner by training with a long background in real estate, business and community development in Southeastern Michigan. Scott also serves his community by sitting on numerous boards, is an avid cyclist, and a proud husband and father.
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