ELC selects fintech platform Goalsetter to help close racial wealth gap in US

On Wednesday, the Executive Leadership Council announced a new initiative to grow and protect wealth in Black America.

Dubbed Build, Grow, Protect!, the initiative includes a three-year $6M investment in sustainable strategies to close the racial wealth gap and a partnership with the Black and female-owned fintech platform, Goalsetter. 

The ELC is a global organization consisting of over 800 Black executives representing the world’s 150 largest corporations.

With an overall mission to nurture Black excellence in business and focus on building the next generation of Black executive leaders, the organization says Juneteenth, and the remembrance of Black Wall Street inspired the initiative. 

Ultimately, the initiative aims to serve the organization’s commitment to accelerating upward mobility in the Black community through building capacity in nonprofits, creating programs that will grow wealth, and investing in programs that protect the civil rights, history, and culture of Black people in America,” according to an organizational press release. 

Goalsetter is a mobile banking app founded in 2018 by Tanya Van Court that allows users to add multiple family members to an account and features tools for saving, spending controls, and setting financial goals. 

“You can’t grow wealth until you grow knowledge. So [we’re] making sure that our kids have the knowledge that they need to both learn to spend and invest money responsibly,” Van Court told Afrotech in April.

The mother, entrepreneur, and former Nickelodeon executive says her platform is about empowering Black and Brown children with financial education. 

“Tanya and Goalsetter personify the mission of the ELC and the promise of what Black America can and should be when we show up to support and foster our own,” said The Executive Leadership Council President and CEO Michael C. Hyter. 

“The ELC is proud to embark on this mission with Goalsetter to ensure that Black Americans never again have to wait for financial liberation and will instead have the opportunities and resources they need to thrive, succeed and begin building generational wealth, as a community and for their community.”

By 2053, Black households are projected to have a median wealth of zero, according to the Institute for Policy Studies and Prosperity Now. While the racial wealth gap has long been a topic among progressive lawmakers, the ELC says there is no time to wait for those who have power in the political or corporate spheres to eradicate systemic racism 

“The intention of the strategy is to allow other individuals and organizations to join The ELC in accomplishing this goal because the initiative is scalable and replicable, potentially resulting in a multiplier effect,” adds Hyter.

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