Remaking the Economy: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Steve Dubb is senior editor of economic justice at NPQ, where he writes articles (including NPQ’s Economy Remix column), moderates Remaking the Economy webinars, and works to cultivate voices from the field and help them reach a broader audience. Prior to coming to NPQ in 2017, Steve worked with cooperatives and nonprofits for over two decades, including twelve years at The Democracy Collaborative and three years as executive director of NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation). In his work, Steve has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous reports; participated in and facilitated learning cohorts; designed community building strategies; and helped build the field of community wealth building. Steve is the lead author of Building Wealth: The Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social and Economic Problems (Aspen 2005) and coauthor (with Rita Hodges) of The Road Half Traveled: University Engagement at a Crossroads, published by MSU Press in 2012. In 2016, Steve curated and authored Conversations on Community Wealth Building, a collection of interviews of community builders that Steve had conducted over the previous decade.

Gary L. Cunningham, from 2019 to 2023, was president and CEO of Prosperity Now, a DC-based national nonprofit focused on creating an economy that works for everyone. Under his leadership, the organization has shifted its strategic focus from simply mitigating the effects of a broken racist system to transforming that system by testing, investing, and scaling systems-level solutions. Gary’s experience has earned him national recognition as an expert on entrepreneurship, job creation, and racial wealth equity. Cunningham grew up in both North and South Minneapolis to a single mother. He was 10 years old during the protests and riots of 1967, which were spurred by long-standing grievances in the Black community over lack of access to adequate housing, education, and healthcare. Before moving to Washington, DC, to lead Prosperity Now, Cunningham served as the top leader of philanthropic, healthcare, public policy, and educational organizations. He held the roles of president and CEO of the Metropolitan Economic Development Association, vice president of programs at the Northwest Area Foundation, and CEO and director of primary care at NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, a community health and dental clinic and social services agency in North Minneapolis. Cunningham has also served as assistant superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools and the deputy director of the Civil Rights Department for the City of Minneapolis. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in public policy from Metropolitan State University, located in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area, and a master of public administration degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

john a. powell is director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley (formerly the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society) and professor of law, African American, and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Anne Price is the copresident and founder of the Maven Collaborative. Price focuses on centering Black women in the advocacy for economic justice that benefits all Americans.

Jeremie Greer is co-founder and co-executive director of Liberation in a Generation, an organization incubated by PolicyLink, which is building the power of people of color to totally transform the economy.

Miriam Axel-Lute is editor in chief of Shelterforce and associate director of the National Housing Institute. She lives in Albany, New York, where she serves on the Community Development Alliance board. Miriam has been an analyst of housing justice and community development issues for over 20 years.