The planning process for the SEE CHANGE Collective began in May 2021 with the formation of a 9-member Steering Committee comprised of community and business leaders representing a range of organizations, personal experiences, and areas of expertise. Over the course of several months, Committee members came together to develop a common understanding of the racial wealth gap in the Greater New Orleans and worked to identify high-level strategies to close the gap. To support the Committee members, the Urban League of Louisiana commissioned a literature review and landscape scan using both quantitative and qualitative research to illustrate the state of wealth for Blacks, Hispanics, and Latinos in the region. The Urban League of Louisiana also assembled a 6-member National Advisory Committee to provide additional thought partnership and strategic advice on the Collective’s work. The Steering Committee used the knowledge gained from this body of research as well as guidance from the National Advisory Committee to build a datainformed, actionable, and measurable strategic framework. Working Groups were then established for each lever; and over the course of three months, Working Group members worked together to determine the appropriate activities that would support the goals identified in the strategic framework. This all culminated into the SEE CHANGE Collective Action Plan.

The action plan was developed by the SEE CHANGE Collective Steering Committee and Working Groups to address the conditions that lead to racial and economic inequality for Black, Hispanic, and Latino people in the Greater New Orleans region. The plan includes outcomes the SEE CHANGE Collective aims to achieve, the strategies that will be used to achieve them, and the specific activities that the network of members will accomplish to support the strategies.

The Greater New Orleans region is a melting pot of residents with varied life experiences and backgrounds. However, the outcomes and opportunities afforded to each resident in this diverse region look vastly different due to systemic inequities related to the color of their skin. Like many metropolitan areas across the country, New Orleans and its surrounding region have been largely shaped by a legacy of structural racism that has disadvantaged many Black, Hispanic, and Latino people, and that, in many ways, endures in the present day. Access to opportunity is unequal in Greater New Orleans, as it is throughout the country, and this is perhaps best demonstrated through the racial wealth gap that exists between the region’s White residents and those of color. Decades of racial and systemic oppression have prevented many Black, Hispanic and Latino people from accumulating wealth at the same rate as their White counterparts in the U.S., resulting in significant racial disparities across key economic outcomes including income and wages, homeownership, as well as business ownership and entrepreneurship. To create the economic climate that will position Greater New Orleans for the future, businesses and policymakers must look to the potential of all the region’s residents and take deliberate, realistic, and proven measures to enable full participation.