TEN YEARS AGO, a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study delivered a number so stark it became impossible to ignore: the median net worth of a Black household in Greater Boston was $8. That finding launched the organization I now lead, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), and it has shaped a decade of our work.

This month, the Boston Fed released the first statewide successor to that study, called the Massachusetts Economic Conditions & Household Opportunity Survey (ECHOS). I served on its Community Advisory Council because BECMA wanted a hand in shaping the questions, not just reacting to the answers. The number it produced: the median net worth of a Black family in Massachusetts today is $7,800, compared to a statewide average of $374,000. Yet nearly a third of Black families, 31.4 percent, have zero or negative net worth, compared to 15.7 percent of Massachusetts families overall. While the net worth figure has moved since 2015, the result has not.

This is not a finish line, nor a moment to celebrate. It is a measure of how much economic capacity this Commonwealth is still leaving on the table. Consider the report’s real-life scenarios: whether a family could cover a $400 emergency, a car repair, or a security deposit on a new apartment, with cash on hand. Statewide, more than a third of families could not. Among Black families, it is two out of three. I call this wealthlessness: not poverty in the traditional sense, but the absence of any financial cushion at all. It shows up as an inability to manage a normal, unexpected expense without falling behind, even with a steady paycheck. When families are forced to operate in that reality, achieving long-term stability becomes far more difficult. That is not just their loss. It is the Commonwealth’s.

That distinction, wealth versus income, matters because it changes the policy answer. A good job provides a paycheck, but wealth is built through assets that generate opportunity, and can be passed down, most often a home or a business. Business ownership was not in this report’s scope, but the data explains exactly why entrepreneurship is so hard to access for Black families: a family with $7,800 in median wealth cannot get a small business loan on reasonable terms from a traditional lender, and capital is the resource in shortest supply. Closing this gap is prudent for the wellbeing of this state, and it requires a deliberate focus on business growth for small, diverse-owned firms. These businesses create jobs, circulate dollars locally, and build equity for their owners in ways a paycheck alone cannot.

This summer, as the FIFA World Cup, Sail Boston 250, and the Massachusetts 250 Commemoration brought major economic activity to the Commonwealth, BECMA invested $155,138 to support 87 Black- and minority-owned businesses with grants, digital devices, loan capital, and contract facilitation. Those firms went on to generate $10.78 million in revenue, hire 358 workers, and build 580 new customer relationships. Our investment created wealth for owners while driving employment and circulating dollars in neighborhoods too often overlooked for growth. It was a modest investment, but one intentionally aimed directly at countering wealthlessness, and making sure small business owners can access the opportunities and capital needed to build lasting economic security, rather than paying the high cost that often comes with having too little wealth to begin with.

Mass ECHOS affirms where BECMA has focused since the 2015 report. What these families are missing is not just income but assets, and assets come from capital, contracts, and ownership. That is where we have concentrated a decade of policy and advocacy. In November 2024, Governor Healey signed the Mass Leads Act, which included $35 million for community development financial institutions and a five-year pilot helping disadvantaged businesses access the surety bonds that have long locked Black contractors out of major public projects, a provision BECMA advocated for directly. That same year we also supported the $5.16 billion Affordable Homes Act, because homeownership remains the most common path to family wealth. But a law on the books is not the same as a contract in hand. That is why I also chair the Supplier Diversity Office’s Diverse and Small Business Advisory Board, working to remove the barriers that keep qualified Black firms from participating in contracting across the Commonwealth.

Massachusetts now has the clearest picture it has ever had on the wealthlessness so many families experience, with data broken down by race, geography, and age. Mass ECHOS defines both the scale of the challenge and the communities most affected. BECMA’s focus on building wealth, through advocacy, programs, and capital, is just as important today as it was ten years ago when we were formed. There has been progress, but this report makes clear that much more remains to be done. Building a stronger Massachusetts economy requires creating assets, expanding ownership, and ensuring more families have the financial foundation to both weather setbacks and build generational wealth.

Join us on October 6 at the Mass Black Expo to discuss a plan for addressing the findings of this study. Learn more and register at massblackexpo.com.