For people living in lower-income neighborhoods, what is the single most determinative factor in economic upward mobility? Crime? Education? Jobs?

Not according to studies out of Harvard and NYU which found that “commuting time has emerged as the single strongest factor in the odds of escaping poverty.”

If you’re surprised by this, you’re not alone. For most of my life, I wasn’t aware of the significance that transportation was having on my own life, let alone how transportation can disproportionately impact communities of color and underserved neighborhoods.

I first began to understand this connection as a young adult living in New York City. From relying on the dollar vans in Flatbush that offered transportation options not provided by public transit, to experiencing the challenge of trying to hail a taxi as a black man — just getting around could be a hassle if you lived in the wrong part of town.

This is why I was so excited about ridesharing when I first heard about it. I was also skeptical like many other people: Will this be another startup fad that eventually goes away? Will it actually significantly change transportation for communities of color?

Today, four and a half years later, the answer to that last question is a resounding “yes” and here’s why. For most people, owning a car is the second highest household expense, costing an average of $9,000 per year. This is absurd when you consider the average vehicle is used only 4 percent of the time and parked the other 96 percent.

Car ownership is a Catch-22 for lower-income people: if you own a car, yes, you are able to get around, but for that privilege you incur massive expenses: car payments, auto insurance, fuel, repairs, parking, and more. If you don’t own a car, you can avoid those expenses, but the trade-off is that you may depend on other less reliable transportation options, which can limit the jobs available to you or increase the time it takes to get to job opportunities.

Ridesharing helps by making car ownership optional while still allowing you to get around reliably or, if you own a car, gives you the ability to supplement your income to subsidize the cost of owning that vehicle. It is having significant positive impacts in terms of upward economic mobility not only for drivers, but also for passengers, particularly in communities of color.

For example, of the hundreds of millions of rides Lyft provided last year, 29 percent started in low-income areas and 40 percent of our passengers earn less than $50,000 per year. We also know the following about our black community of drivers and passengers:

• 72 percent of black drivers use their driving income to support their families
• 70 percent of black passengers use Lyft to commute
• 22 percent of black passengers use Lyft to get to job interviews

I believe this to be evidence of the truly significant impact of ridesharing, and I also believe that we have only scratched the surface of how much ridesharing can improve the lives of diverse communities

For example, access to healthcare transportation affects 3.6 million Americans each year, many of which are minority and disenfranchised populations. In the coming years, ridesharing will transform non-emergency medical transportation, and Lyft’s commitment is to cut missed doctor appointments in half by 2020. What we have is an enormous opportunity to tackle health disparities and meaningfully improve health outcomes especially for low-income communities.

So as we assess the opportunities and challenges associated with the digital revolution, I hope we will keep in mind that economic upward mobility literally requires mobility — as in actually getting to where the jobs are — and that the discussions taking place today in our cities about the future of transportation are worth engaging in to ensure everyone has the reliable, affordable transportation options they need to get to where they’re going.

As chairman of the National Urban League Board of Trustees, the board and I are pleased to present to you the 2018 edition of the State of Black America®. This year’s theme is “Save Our Cities: Powering The Digital Revolution.”

Today’s digital economy offers a universe of new possibilities – cutting edge products, faster services, more information at our finger tips, and new and innovative business practices.  It not only brings a new way of living and doing business, but an opportunity for organizations like the National Urban League to address pervasive disparities in education, employment, health, and housing within urban communities through innovative solutions based in tech.

This year’s State of Black America highlights the unique opportunity to marry new tech advancements seen in corporate America with the innovative solutions that are required to overcome the challenges of economic and social inequality in our cities.

In many ways, we are seeing communities of color shaping, sharing and powering the digital revolution. Nielsen reported in 2016 that African-American millennials have been leaders in leveraging social media to drive social justice narratives and to rally growing support through grassroots efforts. This is one example of technology being used as a catalyst for social change.

Strategically, National Urban League affiliates work to provide students and adults with a digital-era education and ready access to emerging technologies to close the digital divide and arm the country with the most skilled workforce possible. The National Urban League’s STEM education, training, and employment programs offer a workforce well-equipped to meet the high-demand and urgent workforce needs of our ever-changing economy. 

Businesses, regardless of industry, are—and must be—key partners of the National Urban League in this endeavor. They support and facilitate connections to people, governments and organizations to strategically align financial, technological and intellectual resources that lead to positive social change. This report should serve as a call to action to corporate leaders to embrace new ways of thinking about their companies, their talent, and their role in global social issues.

Additionally, I invite each of you to use this report and the recommendations found throughout as a catalyst to build thoughtful solutions in support of your communities. With our successes, Americans of every race, ethnicity, and income group will have a fairer chance to seize the digital future and enjoy the jobs, higher incomes, and economic opportunities that come with it.

A 2017 study by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that automation could raise productivity growth globally by 0.8 to 1.4 percent annually and also suggests that half of today’s work activities could be automated by 2055. While this is a promising projection for those focused solely on economic growth, it is a source of fear for Americans who are employed in fields most at risk to automation.  Automation will affect Americans of all races, but it will have a significant impact on African-American and Latino workers. This entry focuses on the extent to which African Americans, Latinos, whites, and Asian Americans work in the 10 occupations that employ the most people in the United States and have a high probability of automation over the next 10 to 20 years (above .8 on the 0 – 0.99 scale established by Frey and Osborne in their 2017 study). It further asks the question, what should we be doing to prepare ourselves for the new age of automation?

More than 19 percent of Latino workers and 15 percent of African-American workers are concentrated in the 10 occupations that employ the most people in the United States and have a high-risk for automation compared to 14 percent for white workers and 12 percent for Asian American workers. Of the 21.7 million Americans employed in these occupations, 13 percent (2.75 million) are African American.  According to a recent data brief from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, compared to white workers, African Americans are over one-and-a-half times more likely to be cashiers, cooks, food preparation and serving workers, production workers, laborers, and material movers. They are also over three times more likely to be security guards, bus drivers, and taxi drivers/chauffeurs, all jobs at high risk for automation.

Automation will present opportunities and challenges for workers, employers, governments, and educational institutions. Although sales from e-commerce companies like Amazon, Alibaba Group and Overstock.com decrease the number of sales and employees at traditional brick and mortar retail stores, these e-commerce giants create new jobs by hiring workers at their distribution and fulfillment centers. Proponents of automation and artificial intelligence suggest that it will increase overall employment opportunities.  These higher paying, higher skilled jobs will be created in fields related to software development, engineering, technological maintenance and support, and education and training. 

Despite the positive opportunities and potential for economic growth and efficiency, one of the main challenges will be combatting the substantial skills gap that already exists in the U.S.  Many businesses are currently unable to find qualified workers to fill available jobs.  Automation without strategic intervention will increase the skills gap, the wage gap, and increase economic inequality. African-American communities will face unique challenges in labor transitions as a result of automation.  On average, African-American households have a net worth that is one tenth that of white households, making loss of income even more difficult. Implicit bias and overt racial discrimination in hiring, evaluation and promotion decisions may negatively impact the economic position of African-American communities. Residential and educational segregation, transportation challenges, lower digital readiness and limitations in social networks are all obstacles that are more likely to be faced by underserved minority communities, especially African Americans.

Strategic interventions by educators, employers and policy makers will determine whether automation increases or decreases racial inequality.  Initiatives to increase connections between educators and employers could serve to create pipelines from school to employment for students and workers currently employed in lowered skills occupations.  Increasing funding for such programs at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority serving institutions (MSIs) in order to equip African Americans and Latinos with premium skills and knowledge for new job opportunities would help reduce racial disparities in employment and income.

Business leaders, high schools, community organizations, HBCUs and MSIs should play a key role in preparing African-American and Latino students for the inevitable arrival of automation and emerging technologies.  Since their inception 180 years ago, HBCUs have provided African-American students with the best mechanism, and for some, the only opportunity to obtain a collegiate education.  HBCUs are leading institutions in awarding baccalaureate degrees to African-American students in life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering, all fields that are necessary to support new technologies. Further, although HBCUs account for only 3.3 percent of all institutions of higher education, they award nearly 50 percent of all baccalaureate degrees received by African-American students in the natural and physical sciences and a little more than 25 percent of all baccalaureate degrees in engineering. 

Institutions must create innovative programs and partnerships to prepare students to face the future of work, which will inevitably include automation.  One example is the collaboration between Kentucky State University and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky Inc. to prepare students for jobs in the field of engineering. Another example is the partnership between Year Up Atlanta and Atlanta Metropolitan State College where students can earn up to 21 college credits focusing on business and computer science during the first six months of the program, and then participate in a six-month internship at one of Year Up’s corporate partner firms.  Programs and collaborations like these that help prepare workers begin their careers or transition into higher-level occupations will be essential to the future of work in America.

References

Broady, K. E., “Race and Jobs at Risk to Automation,” Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, (December 2017)

Broady, K. E., Todd, C. L., & Booth-Bell, D. (2017). “Dreaming and Doing at Georgia HBCUs: Continued Relevancy in ‘Post-Racial’ America.” The Review of Black Political Economy, 44(1-2), 37-54.

Darity WA, Sharpe RV, Swinton OH. The state of blacks in higher education. Inc, New York: Beckham Publication Group; 2009.

Gallup-Purdue University Poll: The Relationship Between Student Debt, Experiences and Perceptions of College Worth. 2015. http://www.gallup.com/services/185924/gallup-purdue-index-2015-report.aspx.

Manyika, J. and Spence, M. (Feb.5, 2018).  The False Choice Between Automation and Jobs. Harvard Business Review. Accessed at: https://hbr.org/2018/02/the-false-choice-between-automation-and-jobs

Manyika, et. al. (January, 2017). “A Future That Works: Automation, Employment and Productivity.”  McKinsey Global Institute

Frey, C. B., & Osborne, M. A. (2017). “The Future of Employment: How susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation?” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 114, 254-280.

Technology is one of the fastest growing industries in Massachusetts and its largest employer. Last year, the tech sector in Massachusetts added 9,400 jobs to the economy, but far too often a large swath of the population was excluded from these job opportunities.

A recent self-reported study by four of the largest tech firms in the United States found that Black employees make up only 1% of tech workers. Unsurprisingly, the statistics in Massachusetts also paint a grim picture. According to the Mass Technology Leadership Council’s 2016 State of the Technology Economy report, only 3% of employees in computer and mathematical-based occupations are Black, while 5% are Hispanic. The numbers are clear. This job and economic growth is not reaching everyone.

To bridge the gulf between skill and opportunity, The Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts launched MSIMBO. Swahili for “code,” this computer programming class focuses on the diversity gap in the tech industry, working to ensure that the opportunities and benefits of Boston’s tech boom reaches all of the city’s neighborhoods. Offered to adults 18 years and older who are trying to overcome significant challenges to employment and who are interested in IT-related work, the program provides free job training and placement services.

MSIMBO has the potential to build a more diverse labor pool and fill thousands of job openings that require coding. The tech industry and the greater economy will benefit from the diverse backgrounds, talents and  perspectives of these future employees.

There will be no turning back of the clock. The Boston Consulting Group argues that the internet economy will outpace just about every economic sector over the next five years.  Boston businesses must take proactive steps to increase diversity in tech through educational programs like MSIMBO and fair hiring practices.  Supporting this initiative promotes economic opportunity, which benefits us all socially and economically by stimulating growth and creating a prosperous, sustainable economy.

One of the most pernicious ironies of the technology boom in America has been that despite its progressive ideals and socially-conscious intentions, not to mention the huge amounts of wealth it has created, the tech sector has underperformed when it comes to advancing the economic and social prospects of communities of color and promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

According to the EEOC, when compared to overall private industry, the tech sector employs more whites (68.5 vs 63.5 percent) and Asian Americans (14 vs 5.8 percent) than African Americans (7.4 vs. 14.4 percent) and Hispanics (8 vs 13.9 percent). The gender divide runs just as deep, with more men employed in tech than the overall private sector (64 vs. 52 percent) and women conspicuously underrepresented (36 vs. 48 percent). At the executive level, this disparity is especially prominent among Hispanic and African-American communities, who represent only 1.6 and 1 percent of all executive positions, respectively. And yet, studies have demonstrated a connection between diversity and financial performance, including a recent McKinsey report which shows that, globally, diverse executive teams are 33 percent more likely to outperform their peers on profitability.

In 2017, JUST Capital polled the American public on the issues most important to them. When it comes to just business practices, anti-discrimination initiatives are chief among them—with 82 percent of Americans agreeing that companies should not discriminate in pay and 83 percent agreeing that companies should not base personnel decisions on race, religion, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability status.

Through our work tracking and analyzing the nation’s largest corporations in the Russell 1000, we identified 47 companies that stand out for their efforts to create equal opportunity workplaces and the work they’ve done to eliminate discrimination from both employee and customer experiences. Among their shared characteristics, these companies have:

• implemented policies to drive diversity and equal opportunity;
• set targets and objectives on diversity and equal opportunity;
• incurred no fines over the past three years by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and
• had no controversies pertaining to discrimination in employment or customer treatment over the past three years.

Our own analysis supports McKinsey’s findings. Financial performance at inclusive companies is greater than that of the other companies we analyze, with a five-year median Return on Equity (ROE) of 19.2 percent versus a 13.8 percent ROE for the rest of the Russell 1000.

Three companies in particular—Intel, Symantec, and American Express—stood out for specific programs and initiatives that can provide a roadmap other companies can use to guide them on their journey toward cultivating more future-forward, diverse, and profitable workforces in greater support of communities of color.

Intel

Fundamental to Intel’s work is the belief that wide ranging perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences can encourage innovation around the world’s toughest challenges. Founded on this belief, in June 2017, Intel created a three-year $4.5 million initiative to encourage students to remain in STEM programs at six historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through scholarships, student experiences, and tech industry workshops. Intel’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, Barbara Whye, expressed that Intel had “more work to do in achieving full representation by African Americans in technical roles,” and the company’s HBCU program represents a key step in that direction.

Their historic HBCU program is one of several programs Intel has launched in an effort to foster growth for communities of color in the tech industry. Their Latinos in Technology Scholarship, Next Generation of Native American Coders, and Technology Pathways initiatives, for example, all forge avenues for historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.

Symantec

Like Intel, Symantec has pioneered programs aimed at improving educational resources for communities of color in the tech sector. In an effort to address the under-employment of women, people of color, and veterans in this field, and help change the trajectory of the tech workforce for underrepresented communities, Symantec established the Cyber Career Connection (Symantec C3) which provides intensive training to individuals looking to build a career in cybersecurity. The program’s success can be seen in its numbers—63 percent of graduates from the program have been people of color and 25 percent of graduates have been female.

In partnership with the non-profit Net Impact, Symantec has pioneered the Racial Equity Fellowship program—a year-long leadership development program for undergraduate and graduate students geared toward improving racial equity on school campuses in an effort to address the racial inequities and barriers that still exist in the business world today.

American Express

At American Express, formerly led by Kenneth Chenault—one of just a handful of Black CEOs represented in the Russell 1000—diversity and inclusion have been a consistent and critical focus for nearly three decades. The company’s Employee Networks have provided opportunities for underrepresented employees—from women to LGBTQ employees to communities of color—to build career opportunities, create cultural shifts in the organization, and develop programs that impact the larger community.

For example, the company’s Black Employee Network (BEN) and Historic Origin & Latin American Network (HOLA) have partnered with management teams to develop financial inclusion solutions and products, such as American Express Serve and Bluebird, which provide greater accessibility to their technical products. Every year, the network holds the Executive BEN Global Forum, which brings together Black leaders to provide development resources and networking opportunities to foster future leaders in tech.

Given how underrepresented communities of color are in the tech sector, the leadership displayed by these companies is critically important. Not only can efforts such as these improve opportunities and workplace conditions for employees of color, they can positively influence corporate financial performance. JUST Capital will continue to track how companies perform on issues of diversity and inclusion and evaluate how these efforts impact profitability, financial growth, and the future economic prospects of communities of color.

In our never-ending quest to “secure the bag,” many of us may have contemplated owning the popular, media darling Bitcoin. But rather than collect these (bit)coins, it would better serve communities of color to own the technology that powers Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies.

The difference between owning a percentage point of Bitcoin versus owning the technology is immense. It is the difference between owning property—a solid investment—and owning Google—worth billions.  It is the difference between tenant farming versus owning the land you till. The technology that powers Bitcoin has the potential to shake up the big tech companies and the internet as we know it. The Black community must be leaders in the new internet revolution. We must stop sharecropping technology and reap the benefits of ownership.

Like any potential owner, you should know before you own. Bitcoin, a virtual, digital cryptocurrency,  is a peer-to-peer payment system. All cryptocurrencies use cryptography, or secret codes, to control the creation and transfer of money. Only those that understand and know the code can read the hidden message. Cryptocurrencies offer the benefits of a credit card (the electronic transmission of currency) and cash (personal information is not compromised) by using a distributed ledger, or blockchain, that verifies transactions.

Blockchain, a revolutionary technology, is a database that maintains a continuously growing set of data records. No master computer holds the entire chain. Rather, a vast network of computers holds a copy of the chain. Decentralization, among other things, means you have multiple eyes on information; and because there are copies, it is hard to send a fake transaction that cannot be checked against other copies. Since records are on multiple computers, it makes it more difficult for company consumer data to be targeted and breached.

Now that you have enough information to be disruptive—start dreaming.

Paul Snow, the founder of Texas Bitcoin, said, “the credit system in the U.S. is based in racism. I see Bitcoin removing barriers for communities of color.” We purportedly use credit to access the risk characteristics of borrowers, but the authors of the 2013 law article, “Discriminatory Effects of Credit Scoring on Communities of Color,” found that “many credit-scoring mechanisms include factors that do not just access the risk characteristic of the borrower; they also reflect the riskiness of the environment in which a consumer is utilizing credit.” If the credit system determines that your environment is risky, your insurance and loan credit worthiness will be jeopardized; your ability to get hired will be threatened; your housing choices will be limited; your car insurance will spike; and your business insurance will be higher.

Our current credit-scoring systems have a disparate impact on communities of color. The credit system is rooted in America’s history of housing discrimination, and the dual credit market that resulted from it. However, there are several blockchain companies looking to solve this issue. There are startups in the U.S. and overseas that remove the need for a bank account and enable individuals to build a different type of credit based off of choices the individual is making versus his or her racial makeup or neighborhood.

Bloom is one such blockchain company. Bloom plans to launch BloomCard; the first global credit card open to everyone, including those without a bank account or credit score. Every single purchase made with the BloomCard contributes to the customer’s BloomScore, which means the customer can start building credit right away. Imagine an individual living in a community of color no longer being penalized because he or she lives in the “wrong” zip code? Now imagine that same man or woman owning or even innovating with blockchain.

If you live in a smart home with devices that record your every movement, and someone hacks into that system, that person will have control over your life. There are several blockchain companies focused on keeping control over that information in the hands of the homeowners, not the hackers. By using blockchain, these companies are able to create greater security for your household devices. But no company has emerged as the leader in this developing field of smart home device security. This is an opportunity, and these opportunities are not bound by age. Malcom X once said:

"Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity, and thereby, increase their self respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today."

Mark Zuckerberg, and other tech founders, were exposed to technology at an early age. Mark Zuckerberg was introduced to computers at age 10. This is a common pattern with most innovators: early exposure and familiarity. As members of communities of color, we need to get our resources “all the way together” to prepare our children to innovate.

Black Panther, a revolutionary film (and my penultimate pop-culture reference) is Exhibit A of the work ahead. Shuri, the younger sister of the Black Panther, was not only surrounded by valuable resources like vibranium and #BlackExcellence, she was also surrounded by opportunity. To create the community of the future, we must invest in that future today.  We must mobilize to provide access to our children, create opportunity, encourage ownership and innovation, and just maybe produce several Shuri-es in the process.

For many low-income mothers timing out of welfare-to-work programs, they face a future where they do not possess the credentials and technological skills necessary to secure 21st century jobs. New collar jobs require an easy familiarity with high levels of automation. Employers routinely seek workers with college degrees in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics (STEAM) and companies are increasingly relying on non-permanent, agile talent, e.g., temporary workers, consultants, and freelancers, all of which places a greater burden on workers to be competitive in our global job market.  For low-income mothers, this can translate into stubborn unemployment or underemployment in jobs that pay low wages, provide no job security or benefits, and offer limited hours. According to analyses of the 2017 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement data by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), 35.6% of families in the U.S. headed by single mothers live in poverty. In Connecticut, the rate is 29.5%.

In response to this challenge, the Urban League of Southern Connecticut (ULSC) offers an alternative to often burdensome on-site job training services, with instructor-facilitated online training for certifications in coding and G Suite, which includes Google Calendar, Docs, Drive, Forms, Gmail, Google+, Groups, Hangouts, Sheets, Sites and Slides. The program eliminates common barriers to accessing resources—securing daycare and transportation. Participants complete the at-home, web-based training with laptop computers and two years of free internet service provided through the program. Upon successful completion, participants are allowed to keep the laptops.

When we assessed the need for web-based classes among existing clients, the response in favor of implementing such a program was, and continues to be, overwhelmingly positive. Many of the low-income mothers we serve who are timing out of welfare-to-work complain that most job training programs provide services on-site, explaining that the financial burden of obtaining daycare or transportation prohibits them from taking advantage of these trainings.

The Urban League of Southern Connecticut's solution addresses the urgent need to equip low-income mothers with the required skills to compete in the job market of the future. If low-income mothers who are timing out of welfare-to-work programs are not included in tech-focused job training opportunities, they are likely to remain part of our nation's permanent underclass. By providing web-based services, more low-income mothers will have the opportunity to be trained with the skills necessary to close the digital divide and improve the quality of their lives—and the lives of their families.

Today, we stand at the crossroads of opportunity. If we do nothing, automation and other technologies could displace Black workers and increase racial disparities. But with strategic positioning that accurately predicts the skills and jobs that will be in demand, we can harness automation to increase prosperity and opportunity for the Black community.

America is changing.  Grocery stores are installing self-checkout lanes. Manufacturing plants are increasingly using industrial robots. And driverless trucks, buses, and cars will soon be commonplace.  

Artificial intelligence, big data, robotics and other technologies are emigrating from Silicon Valley and settling in communities across the United States. Large companies are rushing to reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and respond to customers’ demands by automating their processes. 

These changes, and others, could have a significant impact on Black workers. In 2017, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that 27% of all African-American workers are concentrated in 30 jobs at high risk to automation. For example, compared to white workers, Black workers are over one-and-a-half times more likely to be cashiers, cooks, and fast food workers, and over three times more likely to be bus drivers, taxi drivers, chauffeurs, and security guards (the Center’s next study will explore whether a larger percentage of African-American workers’ job tasks can be automated).  

Black unemployment rates are already about twice as high as white unemployment rates. The displacement of only half of Black workers in the 30 largest jobs at high risk to automation could increase the African-American unemployment rate from nearly seven percent to more than 20 percent.

Black workers face unique challenges that make them particularly vulnerable during labor market transitions. Implicit bias in evaluation and hiring make it more difficult for Black workers to transition to new jobs. Limitations in social networks—both online and offline—make it less likely that Black workers will learn about a new job or have an inside track in securing it. Residential segregation and transportation challenges make getting to and from work especially onerous for African Americans. And a median household net worth that is one tenth that of whites means Black families face particular challenges paying for monthly household expenses during extended periods of unemployment. 

But all is not lost. To steal a moment from popular culture, let’s visit the Afrofuturistic nation of Wakanda. In Black Panther, Wakanda is not a broken country that requires it to be fixed according to a western imperialist model. Instead, Wakanda is significantly more prosperous and technologically advanced than other nations.

This powerful concept is not merely the stuff of comic book science fiction. IRL, or “in real life,” Black workers have discerned the future and strategically positioned themselves for relevance and success. Black female NASA mathematician Dorothy Vaughan, depicted in the movie Hidden Figures, speculated that an incoming IBM computer would displace her team in the 1960s. In anticipation, NASA’s Black female mathematicians learned the computer language Fortran and were prepared to take over new jobs operating the computer when it arrived.

The same is possible today. Economic disruption will eliminate some jobs, change the tasks of other jobs, and create new jobs. For example, while online shopping has reduced sales and the number of employees at traditional retail stores, the rise in e-commerce has created new jobs with the hiring of workers at places like fulfillment centers. A study by Dr. Michael Mandel found that from 2007 to 2016, the general retail sector lost 51,000 jobs while the e-commerce sector added 355,000 jobs. We must work to ensure that e-commerce retailers build a healthy number of fulfillment centers near Black neighborhoods.

Autonomous vehicles are another area of opportunity. As previously discussed and detailed in a Center for Global Policy Solutions report, African Americans disproportionately work as drivers; therefore, we must address their future employment prospects and simultaneously tackle a lack of transportation as an obstacle to mobility. Properly deployed—perhaps even as a private or non-profit service—autonomous vehicles could lower the cost of transportation and provide the mobility many Black people need to get to and from work.

As the infrastructures for new technologies are being developed, we must leverage our political capital to ensure that racial equity is baked into the design and is not simply an afterthought. The challenges are complex. No one has all of the answers concerning the future of work, but here are some key principles we can adopt towards the work at hand: 

• New Skills Tailored to the Local Economy: Black workers must acquire new skills that are increasingly in-demand nationally and locally. Because industries and job openings are highly dependant on locale, the skills in demand in Memphis will differ from those in demand in Detroit.
• Local Implementation is Key: In light of the scale of upcoming changes, the existing workforce development system may prove inadequate. National Urban League affiliates can help coordinate community leaders, local government, employers, labor unions, and educational institutions to identify in-demand jobs in the local economy, develop methods to deliver skills to residents, create clear pathways to jobs, and help new workers find success. For example, major employers in healthcare, information technology, and other high-growth areas should partner with high schools and community colleges in Black communities to provide a pipeline of education, training, and opportunity for young people ages 16-24. Economies in predominately Black cities and counties grow if local leaders can effectively implement strategies to build a strong workforce. While we should support federal reforms in Congress like proposed tax credits for employers who invest in training and Pell grants for in-demand job training (see the Aspen Institute report for further detail), at the local level, Black cities and counties should take the initiative and leapfrog ahead by strategically investing in local workforce.
• Lifelong Learning:  A platitude, but true. Constant innovation means that all workers—from the manufacturing worker to the accountant and radiologist—must constantly acquire and refresh in-demand skills. This doesn’t, however, need to be onerous or complex. Workers can learn through podcasts, online tools, learning apps, apprenticeships, employer-based training, “nano-degrees,” and other practical ways that allow workers to quickly and affordably obtain skills. 
• Employer Accountability:  Employers eager to fill open positions are prone to pointing a finger of blame at their workforce, arguing that employees are responsible for obtaining the right skills and closing the skills gap. Too often, companies use this talking point to deflect responsibility when they automate and displace employees. Companies that benefit from automation should not shift the burdens to workers who are the least equipped to bear them. Instead, companies should take their fair share of responsibility and create a culture that affirmatively anticipates change and helps employees plan out and acquire new skills, including paying for training. Employers should also bring in new employees to diversify their workforces by providing apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs (see the  Jobs for the Future  case study as an example). 
• The Future of Work is Now: While the future of work involves strengthening the educational system for children, many initiatives implicitly write off parents—and that’s wrong. We must invest in both strong K-12 education for children and education and skills training for parents. Helping parents master soft skills in $25,000 per year service jobs and then transitioning them to $60,000 per year skilled jobs would have a tremendous impact on Black communities. 
• Job Quality: We should not focus on statistics like lowering unemployment rates and raising incomes to the exclusion of job quality. Black happiness also stems from meaningful work that helps others, provides opportunities for learning and growth, and allows for collaboration with others. 
• End the Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois Debate: Black economic security is not a binary choice between trade school versus college, or blue collar versus white collar.  The choice is never mutually exclusive. An argument can be made that Black communities are saddled with inadequate education to maintain a class of cheap labor, but we deprive millions of Black workers dignity and opportunity if we limit success to a B.A. or the N.B.A. While degrees are essential in today’s economy, there are still jobs that prioritize critical thinking and technological skills over diplomas. The Black community must compete for information technology jobs, advanced manufacturing jobs, and a host of other good jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree. 

This is an incredibly important moment for Black communities.  To ignore this opportunity is to risk the mass displacement of Black workers to automation. If we can strategically exploit automation, however, it can provide fresh starts, create new opportunities, and disrupt entrenched race-based, socio-economic hierarchy. From Singapore to Estonia, nations have predicted the future and designed their infrastructure, workforce, and other economic policies to leapfrog ahead in relatively short periods of time. We can do the same thing from Mississippi to Detroit.

At this stage in the “diversity in the workplace” conversation, the business case has been made. Time and time again, researchers have provided hard metrics that support the inclusion of women, people of color, and others who bring unique perspectives—and rarely has doing the right thing so closely aligned with doing the most profitable thing. But many companies still find themselves struggling to enact the cultural change required to drive this type of change forward within their organizations. And we’re starting to see a backlash among some in Silicon Valley who are sick of hearing they need more women and people of color in their ranks.

The consequences of this backlash are dire, not just to the industry, but to Black and Latinx people. While companies risk losing their competitive edge and seeing jobs go unfilled, Black and Latinx people risk being shut out of the economy, seeing inequity widen, and having their livelihoods threatened. Consider the facts: on the economics side, the median net worth of a white family in the US ($132,000) is more than six times that of a Black and Latinx family ($9,000 and $12,000, respectively) combined; whereas, median pay for software engineers hovers around $100,000. On a day-to-day basis, we see how products, services, and algorithms shape how we live and work. The lack of racial equity in tech companies manifests in incidents like self-driving cars that don’t see Black people or Mexican restaurants being given lower rankings because AI associates ‘Mexican’ with derogatory terms like ‘illegal.’ Our lives and livelihoods are literally at stake.

Given these consequences, tech leaders need to go beyond the business case and embrace the moral and economic imperatives of building companies and an economy that truly works for all. This imperative is even more critical during a time when our rights and lives are under attack by newly emboldened racists. Yet as the stakes get higher, the desire to retreat can be seductive. In these moments, commitment matters more and can have greater impact.

Unfortunately, there are no easy steps. Tech companies don't seek “one-size-fits-all” solutions when building their products, so why are they being less thoughtful when it comes to integrating their workforces? Racial equity and inclusion require buy-in, financial investment, training, and commitment throughout the organization. Goals and values around diversity and inclusion are explicit, measured, and the whole organization is clear on its role in achieving them.

For companies looking to lay a foundation and begin this work, there are some key practices and lessons to be mindful of, especially at this moment when our notion of “diversity” is becoming so diluted that it’s used to describe the status quo.

• Seek (and share) more robust data: More and more companies are releasing their diversity numbers, highlighting where they’ve grown and where they’ve fallen short. However, this data is often just a snapshot of what is a larger, longer process of employee recruitment, retention, and advancement. Get the demographics at the top of your recruitment funnel, the selection funnel, and retention data. Examine employee experience segmented by population to see who is thriving, who is struggling, and why. These are the kind of measurements that will reveal the hidden complexities of your organization’s inclusivity.
• Create a theory of change: Like all difficult initiatives, building a more diverse, inclusive company culture requires a strategy. "More people" is not strategy. Develop an opinion about why your organization is so segregated. Is this a network problem, an inability to work with diverse sets of people, unjust hiring practices—all three? Develop a plan for those issues. “Hire more people” is not a plan. Create realistic, as well as “stretch” goals, and hold yourself accountable. Some companies have gone as far as publicly stating their goals for diversifying their workforces and the amount of money, time, and programming they are dedicating to such efforts. In doing so, companies establish accountability internally and externally.
• Get specific about culture and values: Culture fit is widely accepted as the hiring holy grail at most tech companies; but without appropriate training and guidance, it too often becomes code for “someone who reminds me of me,” reinforcing homogeneity. Kaya Thomas, a two-time Code2040 fellow, said it best in her Medium post: “I’m not interested in ping-pong, beer, or whatever other gimmick used to attract new grads. The fact that I don’t like those things shouldn’t mean I’m not a “culture fit.” I want to create amazing things and learn from other smart people. That is the culture fit you should be looking for.” We often see companies send employees to interview candidates for strategic roles without giving them any guidance around standard questions to ask. This is an open invitation for bias to seep into your hiring practice. To avoid it, spend some time defining what cultural attributes will make someone effective in the given role and company—the ability to balance speed and attention to detail, for example. Ensure your hiring managers are filtering for these specific attributes, not just a general sense of whether or not you’d mind getting stuck in an airport with that person. 
• Invest in management training: Managing people is a competency which directly impacts your business’s ability to execute on your goals. As you look to hire a more diverse workforce, the associated challenges (ensuring employees are engaged, supported, and provided with appropriate feedback and stretch opportunities at the right times) are magnified. There are certain nuances that might not be intuitive for managers of a diverse employee base. Certain events disproportionately impact communities of color, such as the shooting of young Black men by police, or the acquittal of the police officers involved. It may not be obvious to white managers that they should check in with their teams to see how people are feeling and whether they need time or space following one of these traumatic events. That kind of empathy and communication can be trained, and a culture that supports it can be built with the right investment in manager training.

Reverend Jesse Jackson has called racial equity in tech “the next step in the civil rights movement”—and with good reason. Ensuring we have access to the economic and social capital of the tech industry is critical to the health, wealth, and freedom of our communities. Companies that recognize this need and want to be allies in this work can start with the steps above and commit to more than their bottom lines; they can commit to leading the charge in creating a sector and an economy that work for all.

Leaf through the pages of the 2017 edition of the Columbia Urban League’s annual report, and you will find pictures of excited middle and high school students attending our annual STEM Expo. In one picture, students are making paper airplanes while others are examining several plane models. Most importantly, all of them are being introduced to possible careers in the airplane industry by Frank Hatten, education relations director for Boeing. In another picture, students are visiting an exhibit that features solar chargers, hydrogen fuel cell cars, and a mechanical charging bike. Keep looking and you will find an exhibit featuring a bomb squad robot; another displaying experiments in forensic science, addressing handwriting, fingerprinting and chromatography; and an exhibit with a remote TV station green screen demonstrating how technology is used in everyday news presentations.

The Columbia Urban League was founded in 1967—three years after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that banned employment discrimination based on race. As a result, the Columbia Urban League quickly became the organization employers  in South Carolina relied on to recruit a diverse workforce. Despite the hindrances of racial discrimination and segregation, our constituents were determined to be prepared for these new career opportunities. These men and women understood that preparation was the key to success and an improved quality of life.

Our young clients demonstrate the same passion we witnessed in the 60s. Today, young men and women face the challenges of a changing workforce that requires skills and competencies in STEM. Without STEM skills, the shift to technology and automation has the potential to permanently lock historically vulnerable communities out of the workforce. According to the Lumina Foundation, an independent private foundation dedicated to preparing people for informed citizenship and success in a global economy, too many African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans are not on track to secure the credentials necessary to enter the workforce by 2025. In a recent Joint Center for Political Studies report authored by Kristen Broady, she determined that automation will have a significantly negative effect on African-American and Latino workers’ career opportunities.

The annual STEM Expo was born from our recognition that African Americans, underserved and disadvantaged communities need greater exposure to STEM careers. Students who attend Columbia Urban League’s STEM expos say they leave the experience excited about STEM and empowered to pursue careers in the field. STEM is no longer an option; it is an imperative for historically disadvantaged communities to acquire skills that will allow them to become productive members of society.