[background noises] good afternoon everyone. You look like a great crowd here this afternoon. Before we even start give yourselves a big round of applause for coming to learn more about closing the wealth gap in diversity and inclusion. We have some wonderful panelist with us this afternoon. I am so pleased to be here today and honored to be hosting this panel on Financial Services closing the wealth gap and providing access to capitol my name is maxine waters. [cheering] formerly chair of the Financial Services committee of the house of representatives and now the ranking member. Still trying to carry on the work that we were doing as a chair. As you know after the recent election they were able to get control of the house of representatives and they dismantled our subcommittee that i had created on diversity and inclusion. But we are going to talk about what it means to have this wealth gap. You are going to talk to some people who are dealing with clothing this wealth gap have to close the wealth gap and help to inspire and motivate you to know what you can do to be a part of the work that now the entire black caucus is involved in. For over two decades i posted Financial Services brain trust here at the cbc legislative conference and over the years we have discussed a variety of topics related to black wealth. This year i wanted not just to talk about the problem we face but to also present real life examples of successful powerful black people were placing the trails with solutions that happen to lift up our community. We all know generational wealth is the key to ending poverty. Increasing educational attainment, leveling the Playing Field and Opening Doors of opportunity. Unfortunately due to the legacy of slavery, jim crow, predatory lending, redlining and continued racism and discrimination, black americans continue to face a growing racial gap that shows no sign of narrowing. Wealth is a difference between what you own and what you over it wealth is more than just owning a home. It is about the equity in that home. Wealth is more than buying and selling stock on it app. Its realizing gains. Wealth is not about having a good job with great benefits, wealth is about having a good job with great benefits and stock options. Wealth isnt about working for someone else it is about owning your own business. Wealth is what you can pass down to your children it will make their lives better and help them to get ahead. Not hold them back. Wealth is a power, freedom, opportunity and we all deserve it. But when it comes to wealth black america comes up short. Then mark said it looked at racial wealth gap from 1860 until 2020 per the study found that in 2020 every dollar the average white family has the average black family only has 17 . Seventeen cents the same study found a 1920 the average black family only had 10 cents for every dollar the average white family had and 100 years we have only gained 7 cents on the dollar. Lets look at the last 40 years. The same study found since 1980 the racial wealth gap is growing by about one tenth of a each year. The numbers dont lie. The racial wealth gap remains persistent and consistent. Lets take a closer look at these numbers. A concerning 60 of our wealth is in our homes and only 45 of black people are homeowners. The black homeownership rate has been roughly unchanged since 1976. He may be wondering why having so much wealth and homeownership should be a cause for concern. The answer is that we have seen what happens when the Housing Market crashes as it did in 2008. It was a black families who were disproportionately by the meltdown unless billions of dollars in home equity. And are still working to build that equity back. White family 75 are homeowners this level has only increased since 1976. White homeownership was at 69 only 38 of white wealth is in housing. However white homes are typically valued higher than black homes. The average white home valued at 440,000 and the average black home valued at 217,000. The bulk of white wealth is investments, business equity, and liquid assets. According to the minneapolis fed 24 of white wealth comes from business. Only 13 of black wealth comes from Business Ownership. I what it comes to financing those businesses about white businesses can rely on their own investments and lack businesses frequently report a lack of access to capitol. A study by the joint center for Political Economic study found 60 of black owned businesses had challenges obtaining, access to capitol. Data from the Small Business administration that even when black owned businesses had preexistent relationships with the Financial Institutions, 53 of these businesses were still unable to have their own ink needs fully met. Conversely only 25 of whites own businesses were unable to fully meet their funding needs. This is not a qualification problem or an educational problem or lack it is black entrepreneurs are qualified, educated and driven. This is a discrimination problem. The racial wealth gap is a vicious cycle. A lack of wealth leads to a lack of Investment Opportunities which leads to a lack of wealth and so on. This problem is a direct result of decades of financial neglect, of communities of color. This is a problem that affects all americans because the racial wealth gap is literally Holding Americas economy back according to a 2021 report if we close the racial wealth gap u. S. Gdp could rise four 6 briefly think about the racial wealth gap in valid terms the reality facing our community is sobering. According to the Federal Reserve bank of minneapolis in 2019 the per capitol wealth of the average white family was 338,093. The average per capitol wealth h of a black family was only 60126. When you think about the wealth gap in terms of overall dollars the scale of the problem comes into focus. One study estimates we would need 7. 5 billion to catch the rasul wealth gap in half. To cut the racial gap in half 15 million to eliminate it altogether. Now republicans dont even want to fund the government we note this amount of money is not feasible given our capitol political environment. But the fact remains the racial wealth gap isnt going anywhere unless we do something to address it. In order to even make a dent we need permanent changes to u. S. Public policy and increased investment in black communities. We need to create more black owned businesses but we need to empower more black entrepreneurs proving to provide more blackowned firms with the seated capitals then get off the ground and working capitol so they can stand their businesses and take their operations to the next level. So, instead of going on and on with this information that you are going to hear about from the experts from people who are involved in this problem of the wealth gap and who are dealing with it in different ways and who have come through a lot of the obstacles in the and thediscrimination that is so prevalent, i am going to dispense with anything else and i would like to introduce my esteemed guests for todays panel. I dont have them in particularly the order theyre going to speak. But im going to give you the basic information about whom they are and what they have accomplished. First, let me introduce mr. Christopher williams the chairman of siebert, williams, shank and company llc a successful Investment Banking and Financial Firm that is not only minority owned but also majority women owned. Has decades of experience in corporate markets and the Institutional Investor market he has used created Business Practices to meet specific needs of our nations like black businesses professionals who need access to funding. Particularly in ways that traditional banks are simply incapable of doing. In addition because of mr. Williams Clear Vision Impact Fund is leading the way in making investments to Small Businesses that are minority owned or operated to support economic growth, foster inclusivity and help entrepreneurs of color succeed in an environment. So, it is clear mr. Williams history making efforts have helped put black owned firms on the map. Have greatly help chip away at our nations racial gap. I give you mr. Williams. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. I will give a little background on my personal history. And how it ties in to a large extent much of what you would be interested in. Particularly relating to business formation. Starting out i grew up in connecticut. My father worked for electric utility. What is interesting about that might mother worked out of the home. Following my first exposure to entrepreneurship was an experience when my father was working for connecticut light and power. They went on strike. They went on strike and you think is very topical now if United Auto Workers situation. They went on strike he said strike pay is only 25 a week so how are we going to make a living . How my going to support a family . He sat down, high school educated ole. First went around visited friends could not get a job. Secondly started looking through the newspaper. Found there were a lot of ads people wanted to have their floors refinished. So effectively he on the spot that they pop up business. He said okay, let me do some calculations how much is it going to cost me too rent sanders, polyurethane, stained et cetera produced during a summer fortunately i was around, 13 years old so i was his assistant. We went around, got jobs but he ended up developing that business and for that three weeks they were on strike i never noticed any difference in the quality of our lives. But the important thing is that this is what every entrepreneur has to keep in mind but this was was a life lesson he looked at its what he had to do with his family, when your back is up against the wall you get creative and think through how can i solve this issue . That is exactly what he did but i would now call he had a capitol light surge she did not own any equipment but for that moment what was needed he made that happen. And that ironically did give me my first exposure in terms of business and entrepreneurial ship. Now, i do not know how much you want me too go into some things about the vision and our journey . Or answer questions as we go along . [inaudible] i will go ahead. So i can, following studied architecture at howard university. There we go, thats right. I went to work an Architectural Firm in new haven, connecticut. That Architectural Firm was founded by two harvard grads who had gone on to get their masters degree in architecture at yale. One of them, they are both partners in the Firm Founders of the firm one happen to number one finish number one in his class at yale and two, he was the youngest member of the American Institute of architects at the time. He passed the architectural exam is same as wendell both of the partners have since deceased. But, i always say i learned more about entrepreneurial ship learning for those two gentlemen than i ever did in any of my Business School classes. Because what did they do . One of them was always making sure the daytoday operations were efficient. We were working, they were controlling costs. Making sure the team was producing the drawings for whatever customers and business that we had on hand. But the other went at the same time was always out generating new business. So he was mr. Outside making sure there was a pipeline of revenue. Because the worst thing that can happen for any business and often happens in architect they would work on the beautiful project that was on their desk. By the time they raise their heads and they are done, there was nothing else and they had to wait. Its always a cyclicality in terms of employment. So that was the second example of entrepreneurial ship. The third, after working a career and wall street at Lehman Brothers i decided to spin off and start the williams capitol group, my own firm. I started it was several colleagues with whom i had worked, developed a reputation and relationship with. And what is important is i was starting out, i think this is always import for any entrepreneur. You have fewer experience, you have your knowledge, you have a game plan. But you also need client relationships. You need the credibility because anytime you are starting out someone has to take a chance on you. And i remember the very first significant transaction that we did. This was after leaving Lehman Brothers it was only about a month. I had spoken to one of my longterm relationship it was sallie mae when sallie mae was still a governmentsponsored entity. The senior vp of finance, i had done so much business with them we developed a relationship it turns out was a gentleman named mitchell johnson. And when i was leaving lehman i senate looking to leave them starting my own firm piece if you can bring the same quality of deals that you brought me for all of these years at lehman, you can bring those on your own i will make sure my team cuts through all the red tape at cutting through the red tape for a huge entity like a governmentsponsored Corporation Like a fannie mae, freddie. In this case it was sallie mae it was critical. He did that. The very first transaction we did was 100 Million Financing for one of our corporate clients. That made all the difference the fact i could walk around and show it here is the financing on this prospectus. We did 100 million just our start up firm first sallie mae which was a large financing entity back at that time before it was even a private corporation. So thats kind of an example of how we got started. As we have grown weve grown into a variety of areas for that something we talk about a little bit later. [applause] ex i lied im going to introduce you to our next speaker. He is a young man from california. Okay go ahead its okay its all right, its all right. But what i want you to know is, he is responsible for an operation that i know i am know a lot about because much of the funding comes from the federal government through the Treasury Department. His name is mr. Everett sams. He is not only the ceo of an industry, but a pioneer whose efforts in the sphere have paved the way in changing the game for Small Businesses in our community who need access to capitol when traditional big banks will lend to us. Witnesses first unfortunate trend impacting our community and jumped right into action. Which is a Community DevelopmentFinancial Institution that is certified by the Treasury Department cdf iphones and focuses on serving underserved communities. More than 20 years of expense and banking. He has changed the game for generations of black and Small Business owners and put them on the path toward building wealth. We have also had the pleasure of having them testify before the committee on Financial Services several times were he shared his expertise on the importance of c dsi as well as minority depository institutions. Ladies and gentlemen. [applause] x good afternoon everybody. Just in case my mama is in the room i am from d. C. And they lived in l. A. But weve got to get that straight. [laughter] i grew up with a family of entrepreneurs so my story it might be similar to yours, my mother is an entrepreneur shes a lawyer thats an entrepreneur my father is a doctor that is an entrepreneur for my folks on the left thats howard met and howard log get it right. My grandfather is really the one was a trailblazer in the 1930s he had the company here in d. C. Because noticing what the 1930s its equivalent to what we call a barbershop and beauty salon to the thats where the community got the news he did for Vice President s congressmen and went first africanamerican to have a trade school here. Unfortunately fell in some hard times. He got some bad Financial Advice and bed tax advice which happens in our community. And so i grew up a store with what if. Those of you who are from d. C. We had colorado avenue we didnt have it anymore. We had five locations that we didnt have it anymore if yourr families like my family dont play the whole truth. Something happens. Thats of the told me something happens. I meant finance now so i know what happened okay . I am blessed to be clear we still have two shots my cousins are run t street jc loftin and cheryl because he chance to visit. But what happened is i focus on education as you can imagine with learned appearance and endp going to boarding school. Meeting a lot of people whose parents had access to capitol and change my path. I ended up sitting on the board of the first africanamerican bank and maryland started in 1920s. And just so we are clear it was started we were not allowed a federal chargers. We were i learned a lot of lessons or create a Mortgage Business and grew into a top ted lender sold to another africanamerican bank in baltimore which is now merger. For those of you who love harvard bank, haskins game my first 200,000. I was in the black bank in the sector before it was popular. Then it jumped ship and went to wells fargo but the way i define it is committee make tell me how to be the gender to the executive wells fargo taught me too scale up and that what we were at wells fargo as part of a group are doing a billion dollars a week. We decided to go to 2 billion. If we are being honest i was the youngest in the room i said thats a bad idea. Youre coming out of 2008 it was like a perfect storm for banks low interest rates, higher op ex, inflation is we call it. In High Compliance costs i was in the room and said hey, i think we should go a different way. Like some of you have probably expe