NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Two days before Juneteenth, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday unveiled a plan to address the racial wealth gap in New York City.
The mayor said the Juneteenth Economic Justice Plan will focus on building generational wealth.
“Leaders of color in this administration led the way, came up with specific actions we could take right now to make an impact,” de Blasio said at his Thursday briefing.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas — two months after the Confederacy had surrendered. That was also about 2 1/2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Southern states.
“We know that Juneteenth is the perfect time to make an impact, because Juneteenth reminds us at that moment in the 1860s, officially the law has changed but the reality didn’t change, and the racial wealth gap has continued from that moment, in fact, has grown,” de Blasio said.
The mayor said the net worth of the average white family in the U.S. is 10 times that of the average Black family.
“The answer is redistribution,” de Blasio said. “The answer is purposeful, focused efforts to right the wrongs. That’s what we’re doing with the Juneteenth Economic Justice Plan.”
According to de Blasio, key components of the plan are:
Universal NYC Baby Bonds
• Expanding baby bonds to all school districts
• Universal NYC Scholarship accounts for every public school kid next school year
CUNY Scholarship Fund
• Providing 2,800 four-year scholarships for Black and low-income students
Brooklyn Recovery Corps at Medgar Evers College:
• Giving over 200 students paid internships, work experience and career prep
Also on Thursday, President Joe Biden was scheduled to sign a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday. It’s the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was created in 1983.
De Blasio said the city would mark Juneteenth this year with a celebration on the James Baldwin Lawn at St. Nicholas Park in Harlem on Friday at 6 p.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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