Vice President Harris Will Deliver for Black Men
She Will Provide the Tools to Black Men to Build Wealth, Support Their Families, and Lead in Their Communities
Vice President Harris will build an Opportunity Economy where everyone has the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead. She knows that Black men have long felt that too often their voice in our political process has gone unheard and that there is so much untapped ambition and leadership within the Black male community. Black men and boys deserve a president who will provide the opportunity to unleash this talent and potential by removing historic barriers to wealth creation, education, employment, earnings, health, and improving the criminal justice system. Black men deserve a president who will deliver on promises and equip them with the tools and resources to make their aspirations a reality.
This year, Vice President Harris launched a first-of-its-kind, nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour to help entrepreneurs access the capital and resources they need to launch and grow their businesses, build wealth, and strengthen their communities—especially Black male entrepreneurs. While traveling across the country to cities like Atlanta, Detroit, and Charlotte, she heard powerful stories from Black men about the biggest hurdles that still make it too difficult for them to get their businesses off the ground and grow them to meet their full ambitions and discussed policies that can help break down remaining barriers to success.
Drawing on insights from her experience throughout her career and her Economic Opportunity Tour, today Vice President Harris is laying out an Opportunity Agenda for Black Men to provide them with the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights. This pathbreaking agenda includes:
- Providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business.
- Championing education, training, and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities, including pathways to become teachers.
- Supporting a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets so Black men who invest in and own these assets are protected.
- Launching a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black Men that addresses sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health, prostate cancer, and other health challenges that disproportionately impact them.
- Legalizing recreational marijuana and creating opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry.
Vice President Harris will lower costs and give Black men the tools to build wealth, provide for their families, and lead their communities.
Vice President Harris knows that costs are too high for Black men and that Black men have long been denied the tools that would allow them to grow their wealth, get a good-paying job, and support their loved ones. That’s why she has a plan to address these concerns.
She will ensure that Black men can build wealth and achieve economic success by:
- Providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting a new business or growing an existing business, in partnership with trusted organizations like mission-driven lenders and banks with a proven commitment to their communities. Vice President Harris has already laid out a plan to help more small businesses start, innovate, and expand. She proposed a historic tenfold expansion of the tax deduction for small business startup expenses from $5,000 to $50,000 and an initiative to help existing small businesses grow by providing low-and no-interest loans to small businesses that want to expand, boosting access to venture capital, and supporting innovation hubs and business incubators. And she’s said she will cut unnecessary red tape that makes it harder for small businesses to file taxes, hire a reliable workforce, and get off the ground. But Vice President Harris knows that today, the money needed to start your own business is not accessible for many Black Americans. Studies suggest that Black Americans are twice as likely to be denied credit by banks, regardless of their credit scores. Experts and Black entrepreneurs have identified limited access to capital as the most important factor that limits the creation and growth of Black-owned businesses. That’s why, today she is proposing a new partnership between the Small Business Administration and trusted partners on the ground to provide loans that are forgivable of up to $20,000 to entrepreneurs who have a good idea but don’t have the resources, connections, or access to capital to get their business off the ground, as well as entrepreneurs locating in underserved communities. This will help Black men and other Americans start or grow a business in their community when they don’t have the startup capital. For example, these loans can help entrepreneurs rent office space and industry-standard software to launch a cybersecurity company, pay for permitting fees and purchase a van for a catering business, set up a studio and buy advertising for a new architectural company, buy professional hairstyling equipment and chair space for a barber shop, buy lawn mowers and tools for a landscaper, and more. She will also work with the private sector and call for additional funding to expand on proven ways to break down barriers and provide financing and venture capital to entrepreneurs and small business owners in Black communities.
- Expanding access to bank accounts and lending to help Black men build wealth. Vice President Harris will also work with the private sector to expand access to affordable banking options that will allow Black men and others who are locked out of the banking system—and the wealth building that comes with it—because of high fees to save, invest, and build credit. She will also go after banks that slap on hidden fees for basic services. Vice President Harris took on predatory lenders when she was Attorney General of California. She will stand up for Americans who are exploited by predatory lending practices by going after these scammers and requiring credit reports to exclude bad debt resulting from predatory lending practices.
- Enabling Black men who hold digital assets to benefit from financial innovation. More than 20% of Black Americans own or have owned cryptocurrency assets. Vice President Harris appreciates the ways in which new technologies can broaden access to banking and financial services. She will make sure owners of and investors in digital assets benefit from a regulatory framework so that Black men and others who participate in this market are protected.
- Breaking down unfair and unnecessary barriers to employment for Black men. Vice President Harris knows that Black men are disproportionately shut out of the job market based on their criminal records and credit scores. Vice President Kamala Harris believes that employers should consider a job candidate’s qualifications first—without the stigma of a conviction or arrest record. That’s why she will work with Congress to require businesses to limit the use of unnecessary criminal arrest histories, convictions, and credit scores in their employment decisions. Laws like these have been shown to lead to increased employment among Black men and have been embraced by 37 states and 150 cities led by both Republican and Democratic governors. This program would build on her work as Attorney General of California and District Attorney, where she implemented nationally recognized and successful programs to help former offenders secure employment, reduce recidivism, and reintegrate into and contribute to their communities.
- Enabling Black men and other workers to profit when company executives profit. Right now, Black employment rates are at all-time highs, but too few Black Americans own assets that build wealth over time. Vice President Harris has a plan to help Black men own more assets by reforming our tax laws to reward employer participation in employee stock ownership plans, profit-sharing plans, and comparable arrangements, with appropriate guardrails to ensure these plans benefit and protect workers. Giving low- and moderate-income workers a stake in the business has been shown to close the racial wealth gap and fuel business growth—a win-win proposition.
- Expanding pathways for Black men to good-paying jobs, whether or not they have a college degree. Vice President Harris will also eliminate unnecessary degree requirements and promote meaningful pathways for those without college degrees for 500,000 federal jobs—and she will challenge the business community to do the same. She will set a goal to double the number of registered apprenticeships in America by the end of her first term—which provide quality training in high-demand industries with a clear pathway to a good-paying job—and will bring together high schools, trusted community organizations like the National Urban League, state and local governments, and the private sector to ensure that Black men are able to get the training and technical credentials they need to succeed in these registered apprenticeship opportunities and access jobs in highly paid, sought-after professions. Moreover, she will help Black men stay in school by investing in programs aimed at retention and graduation of Black men and boys, not just from high school but also from high-quality career and technical education programs and two and four-year institutions, providing ongoing mentorship and support.
- Providing more pathways for Black men to become teachers and school leaders. Only 1% of public school teachers are Black men. Vice President Harris will build a pipeline of Black male teachers, including by investing in programs under the Department of Education, which Trump wants to eliminate, to collaborate with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) that will empower Black men and others to enter and succeed in the teaching profession, where they can serve as role models and mentors to students and improve academic outcomes. Vice President Harris will also expand registered apprenticeships for teachers and continue to support and strengthen the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program to recruit and retain Black male teachers—which Trump tried to eliminate as President. Statistics have shown that Black student retention rates and overall success is increased when they have at least one Black male teacher during their elementary school years.
- Invest in grant programs for mentorship and leadership development. Vice President Harris will commit to expanding funding for existing community mentorship programs that have a proven track record of helping young Black men succeed and connecting them with established leaders in various fields—thereby establishing the next generation of community leaders. She will also support programs like My Brother’s Keeper and increase investments in leadership training and mentorship within public schools as well as HBCUs and MSIs to provide more opportunities for young Black men to develop leadership skills early and throughout their development.
- Providing financial support to financially stressed farmers and ranchers—including Black farmers and ranchers—that have been denied access to capital by banks and the federal government for discriminatory reasons. Vice President Harris already distributed more than $2 billion to more than 43,000 farmers and ranchers, including thousands of Black farmers and ranchers, who were discriminated against and denied access to loans and other financial support from banks and the federal government. Now, she’ll commit to scaling up this program by providing additional financial support to more farmers and ranchers facing financial stress—including Black farmers and ranchers—so that they can grow their farms and ranches and stay competitive.
- Providing Black men and their families with reliable, low-cost internet access, by reenacting the Affordable Connectivity Program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Affordable Connectivity Program provided 23 million households with up to $30 off of their monthly internet bills and a one-time discount of up to $100 to buy a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet. This program connected an estimated 5.5 million Black households to affordable high-speed internet, closing the digital divide for millions of Black families. Vice President Harris will reenact this popular program, which ended June of this year, to ensure that Black men and their families throughout the country are able to connect to the internet and obtain the financial, educational, and employment opportunities that come from reliable internet access.
- Relieving the burden of medical debt, so Black men can take advantage of opportunities to build wealth and start businesses. More than 1 in 4 Black households report having medical debt, significantly higher than the rate of medical debt for all adults. Vice President Harris’ plan to work with states to relieve medical debt—the leading cause of bankruptcy in America—will disproportionately help Black Americans. She will also implement a rule that would remove medical bills from most Americans’ credit reports, enabling them to more easily be approved for mortgages, car loans, and more. Indeed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that roughly 22,000 more safe mortgages could be approved annually as a result of this rule.
She will also make it a top priority to lower costs for Black men by:
- Revitalizing competition in food and groceries and enacting the first-ever federal ban on corporate price-gouging—benefitting Black families, who spend significantly more of their budget on groceries than other families.
- Lowering rent. Vice President Harris will incentivize the private sector to create new affordable housing units throughout the country so that the high cost of rent does not stand in the way of anyone’s ambitions. She will also partner with the private sector to build 3 million additional housing units in her first term. And she will go after price-fixing schemes that raise housing costs for Black men and their families and end unfair practices that help large corporate landlords dramatically raise rents.
- More than tripling the number of new first-time Black homeowners each year by the end of her first term through her housing plan. Vice President Harris has proposed an ambitious plan to lower the costs of renting and buying a home by building 3 million additional homes and providing up to $25,000 for a down payment for first-time homebuyers who lack inherited wealth. Based on an analysis by Moody’s, the number of first-time Black homeowners will more than triple per year under her housing plan—a 250,000 yearly increase—by the end of her first term. Although home ownership is a key engine of wealth building in America, fewer than 20% of Black Americans under the age of 35 own a home, less than half the rate for White Americans. Research shows that promoting first-generation homeownership is associated with not only building wealth but also improved health and educational outcomes for children in the home.
- Fighting to end racial bias in home appraisals that have lowered home values for Black men and Black Americans. For Black Americans that do own a home, homes in more majority Black neighborhoods are nearly twice as likely to be appraised below the contract price than those in neighborhoods that are majority white. As Vice President, Kamala Harris took on appraisal bias by ensuring consumers can appeal and providing greater training and professional development for appraisers. As a result, the rate of difference between Black and white home values has declined 40%, which is creating a significant increase in the values of Black homes. Now, as President, she will ramp up efforts to root out racial bias in home appraisals to make it easier for Black men and Black Americans to build wealth for their families.
- Helping reduce costs for Black men with children through tax cuts and affordable child care. Vice President Harris will help Black men working to provide for themselves and their families by expanding the Child Tax Credit to provide up to $3,600 per child and providing up to $6,000 for new parents in the first year of a child’s life to help Black families purchase cribs, diapers, clothes, and car seats when they are most needed. She will also save families thousands of dollars in child care costs and increase access to high-quality child care options, including by supporting small businesses and child care providers.
- Helping Black men provide care for their aging parents. Almost 40% of caregivers of older adults are men, and one third of that group is Black. Vice President Harris will help Black men with caregiving needs by providing home care services through Medicare so that seniors are able to get the care they need while staying in their homes.
- Cutting taxes for Black men in lower-wage jobs by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit maximum to $1,500, so that more of the money they make can go toward achieving their dreams like building a business.
Vice President Harris will ensure Black men have access to high-quality, affordable health care.
Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are committed to bringing down health care costs and protecting access to health care. Black Americans face higher risks of developing cancer, diabetes, and other chronic and costly diseases.
To ensure that Black men have their health care needs met, Vice President Harris will:
- Launch a National Health Equity Initiative for Black Men. Vice President Harris knows that Black men face elevated risk of health conditions like diabetes, sickle cell disease, prostate cancer, and more. That’s why she will cap insulin costs at $35 a month and out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs at $2,000 for all Americans, bringing down costs for Black Americans—who are two-thirds more likely to have diabetes and are more likely to report rationing their drugs because of cost concerns. She will also expand preventative screening programs, including prostate and colon cancer screenings, where the risk factors for Black men are especially high. And, she will expand the budget of the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, fully fund the Sickle Cell Data Collection Program, and build a sickle cell database to improve prevention and treatment. As part of this initiative, she will also expand access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and work to reduce the persistent stigma around seeking such treatment among Black men.
- Increase investments in HBCU and MSI medical schools and health care programs to train a medical workforce—including mental health professionals—that understands the needs and experiences of Black patients in the healthcare system. HBCUs and MSIs disproportionately produce the country’s Black doctors and other critical health professionals and are focused on addressing health care inequalities and building a more diverse workforce for the future.
- Protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act to ensure that the 1 in 4 Black Americans with preexisting conditions can keep access to affordable health care.
- Keep health insurance premiums down so that Black men and their families can see a doctor and get treated without breaking the bank.
- Protect access to clean air and clean water. Today, too many Black Americans do not have access to clean air and clean water, threatening the health, safety, and prosperity of Black communities across the country. Black people in the United States are 40% more likely to suffer from asthma compared to white people, which is often caused or worsened by harmful air pollution, and are more likely to be exposed to toxic lead through water pipes. Vice President Harris helped secure over $15 billion in funding to replace lead pipes and was the tie-breaking vote on the largest ever investment in clean energy technologies that don’t cause pollution. As President, she will ensure all lead pipes across the country are replaced, will continue to invest in energy sources that pollute less, and will hold polluters accountable to secure clean air and clean water for all.
As we enact policies that lift Black men up, we must remove the barriers that have so often held them back. She will:
- Break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back by legalizing marijuana nationally, working with Congress to ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land. She will also fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men—who have, for years, been overpoliced for marijuana use—are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market.
- Build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve through the common sense police reforms in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants and raises use-of-force standards. She will also make investments to boost meaningful community-oriented policing and incentivize police departments to hire in the communities which they serve—such as through local police cadet programs and high school public safety academies—ensuring both that Black men are treated fairly and that Black families are kept safe.
- Invest in proven Community Violence Intervention programs. Vice President Harris will continue to invest millions of dollars in proven Community Violence Intervention programs made available through the Safer Communities Act to support local community-based organizations, most of which are led by Black men, working with law enforcement to reduce violence and crime, empower local communities, and strengthen neighborhood services.
- Protect the right to vote—a right previous generations of Black Americans died fighting for—and to have that vote counted, so that in this election cycle and every one to come, their voices will be heard. Vice President Harris will fight for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to stop racial voter suppression and the Freedom to Vote Act to modernize our elections, expand vote-by-mail and early voting, put an end to partisan gerrymandering, and reduce the corrupting influence of money in politics. She will also surge resources to the Department of Justice to investigate and crack down on those suppressing or obstructing Black Americans from exercising their right to vote.
Vice President Harris has long led efforts to ensure the security and prosperity of Black men and Black families, from taking on corporations discriminating against Black Americans as California Attorney General to launching major initiatives to build wealth in Black communities as Vice President. Over the past four years, Vice President Harris has worked alongside President Biden to increase Black wealth by 60% compared to before the pandemic and to help over 250,000 Black Americans become homeowners. As Vice President and as a Senator, she secured tens of billions of dollars for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) across the country and launched the Economic Opportunity Coalition—a novel public-private initiative where private sector entities are driving tens of billions of dollars into underserved communities.
She has also been fighting for justice reform for decades. As San Francisco District Attorney, she implemented a nationally recognized model to reduce recidivism rates from 50% to under 10%. And as Vice President, she strengthened accountability for federal law enforcement by banning chokeholds, restricting no-knock entries, and providing guidance on use-of-force standards.
But Vice President Harris knows there is so much more work to do to make Black men feel valued and like they have a government that cares about them and their dreams for the future. As President, she is committed to knocking down the barriers that have for so long kept Black men back and giving them the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs for themselves and their families, and protect their rights.
Donald Trump is a serious threat to the lives of Black men.
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