Bottom Line Conversations: Decoding the Federal Reserve’s Role in Racial Equity

Watch Next City’s Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello in the latest webinar series that goes beyond the issues of equitable economic development to talk to the people who do the work.

On Wednesday, January 19, at 1 p.m. Eastern, join Next City’s Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello for the latest in a webinar series that goes beyond the issues of equitable economic development to talk to the people who do the work.

The Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful yet least understood economic institutions in the world. How does it make its most important decisions, and how do those decisions affect communities of color?

We’ll hear from two guests with particular insight on the Fed’s inner workings and impact. Claudia Sahm, founder of Stay-at-Home Macro (SAHM) Consulting, is a former section chief in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Fed. She has intimate knowledge of how the Fed leadership makes decisions, and who participates in those discussions. And we’ll also hear from Andre Perry, senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, whose research centers on Black communities and the impact that economic institutions such as the Fed have on them. (Perry is also a Next City board member.)

The Fed faces a rare moment. Its senior leadership — members of the Fed’s board of governors and bank presidents — are 100% white and 83% white respectively. But with three of seven seats to fill on the Fed’s board of governors over the next few months, the Biden-Harris Administration could dramatically shift diversity at the central banking system’s highest level.

Next City’s series “The Bottom Line” explores scalable solutions for problems related to affordability, inclusive economic growth and access to capital. The series is made possible with support from Citi.

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Oscar Perry Abello is Next City's senior economics correspondent. He previously served as Next City’s editor from 2018-2019, and was a Next City Equitable Cities Fellow from 2015-2016. Since 2011, Oscar has covered community development finance, community banking, impact investing, economic development, housing and more for media outlets such as Shelterforce, B Magazine, Impact Alpha, and Fast Company. Follow him on Twitter: @oscarthinks.

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Andre M. Perry is a senior fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. He is the author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities. A nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality, and education, Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, TheRoot.com and CNN.com. He’s also a board member with Next City. Perry’s scholarship has been featured on HBO, ABC, CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC and in the Wall Street Journal. His research focuses on race and structural inequality, education, and economic inclusion. Perry’s recent scholarship at Brookings has analyzed Black-majority cities and institutions in America, focusing on valuable assets worthy of increased investment. Follow him on Twitter: @andreperryedu.

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Claudia Sahm is founder of Stay-at-Home Macro (SAHM) Consulting. She is a regular opinion writer at Bloomberg. She has policy and research expertise on consumer spending, fiscal stimulus, and the financial well-being of households. She is the author of the “Sahm Rule,” a reliable early signal of recessions that she developed as a way to automatically trigger stimulus payments to individuals in a recession. Previously, she was a section chief in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board, where she oversaw the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking. Before that she worked for ten years in the Division of Research and Statistics on the staff’s macroeconomic forecast. She was a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in 2015-2016. Sahm holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan (2007), and a bachelor’s degree in economics, political science, and German from Denison University (1998). Follow her on Twitter: @Claudia_Sahm.

This webinar is to pay what you wish to register. Pay any amount that you would like or nothing at all. Those who become sustaining members of at least $5 a month, or who make a one-time donation of at least $20, may receive “20 Best Solutions of 2021” — Next City’s solutions of the year magazine. Your contribution toward this seminar will be used to find even more amazing guests, cover hosting fees and organize seminars such as this one more frequently. A video of the webinar will be made available to those who register.