Supporting Students Impacted by Poverty Through Literacy Methods, Resources, and Strategies

This chapter is based on supporting students impacted by poverty through literacy education. Specifically, it looks at literacy methods, resources, and strategies that offer students engaging opportunities to learn in safe and supported environments. Student-centered instructional examples provide both voice and choice through quality pedagogical practices. As the wealth gap continues to widen, it is more important than ever to be diligent in ensuring equitable access to educational resources available to all students regardless of income status. Within this chapter, the authors have offered ways in which educators can access some of these resources.

Conclusion

The “Conclusion” chapter summarizes key points from the book, emphasizing how complex and unstable the world has always been for Generation Disaster. While every generation faces its own challenges, there has never been a combination of social and political stressors shaping daily life to the degree this cohort has experienced, yet many demonstrate remarkable resilience and optimism. I know it’s not realistic to encourage older adults to retire from their lucrative jobs or powerful political positions to make way for the next generation or to voluntarily redistribute their assets to narrow the wealth gap, but older adults are encouraged to stop judging Generation Disaster and instead to allow them to demonstrate what they’re capable of when simply given the opportunity.

Testing the efficacy of three informational interventions for reducing misperceptions of the Black–White wealth gap

Americans remain unaware of the magnitude of economic inequality in the nation and the degree to which it is patterned by race. We exposed a community sample of respondents to one of three interventions designed to promote a more realistic understanding of the Black–White wealth gap. The interventions conformed to recommendations in messaging about racial inequality drawn from the social sciences yet differed in how they highlighted data-based trends in Black–White wealth inequality, a single personal narrative, or both. Data interventions were more effective than the narrative in both shifting how people talk about racial wealth inequality—eliciting less speech about personal achievement—and, critically, lowering estimates of Black–White wealth equality for at least 18 mo following baseline, which aligned more with federal estimates of the Black–White wealth gap. Findings from this study highlight how data, along with current recommendations in the social sciences, can be leveraged to promote more accurate understandings of the magnitude of racial inequality in society, laying the necessary groundwork for messaging about equity-enhancing policy.

Employee Ownership: Structuring Opportunities for Racial Wealth Building and Family Well-Being

Policies and practices of the 19th and 20th centuries have had a lasting impact into this century. This is most evident when examining racialized wealth inequality between Black and White families. This study of low-income employee owners examines the following questions: (1) Does employee ownership reduce the racial wealth gap? (2) How does employee ownership reduce the racial wealth gap, and (3) To what effect does employee ownership reduce the racial wealth gap? Findings indicate employee ownership impacts wealth building, advancement opportunities, and family economic security among Black employees and other marginalized populations. Policy and practice implications to advance employee ownership to address racial wealth inequality are highlighted.