How we are increasing the financial strength of underserved Black communities | My Moon Landing
As the country navigates an economic recession, money management has become increasingly important for people hoping to maximise their finances during this time of economic uncertainty. The Black community is significantly affected by financial instability, and Black women, non-binary and Black LGTBQ+ people uniquely experience financial adversity owing to their doubly underrepresented identities. Because of this economic disparity, our My Moon Landing program recently carried out a financial literacy program to elevate the financial knowledge of underserved people within the Black community.
My Moon Landing’s Strength Through Finances Series is a 12-part weekly series offering Black women, non-binary and LGBTQ+ people training and support to power up their financial strength. With support from The National Lottery Community Fund and Smallwood Trust, we’ve teamed up with financial experts to prepare our community for the recession through sessions covering topics like budgeting, saving, debt consolidation, investing and more.
Our core aim with My Moon Landing is to support Black female, non-binary and LGBTQ+ people scale community-based support projects because financial empowerment is inextricably tied to advancing community initiatives. Through Do it Now Now’s Common Call initiative, we learned that 60% of funding for Black-led organisations comes from employment and savings. While we are working to redress this resource allocation, we understand how important personal finances are in providing a foundation for community organisations.
To date, our workshops have reached 1000 Black female, non-binary and LGBTQ+ individuals, with many attending multiple sessions on a variety of topics. Our most popular sessions highlighted how to make passive income as an investor, highlighting the desire for our community to develop their financial knowledge in this area. Almost a third (29%) of our Strength Through Finances participants say they want to start investing, while 1 in 5 say they want to bulk up on savings.
Our My Moon Landing community also expressed desires to achieve financial goals, both personal and entrepreneurial. A popular financial goal was to be debt-free by paying off credit cards and student loans. Others shared aims to invest in their businesses by investing in developing side hustles or business ideas. The realisation of personal and professional dreams through finances is an essential aspect of achieving a good quality of life.
We’re continuing our My Moon Landing financial literacy journey through 1 to 1 financial coaching sessions. These more intimate sessions will offer our community more tools and resources to address their finances.
We understand that our workshops can help our community make the financial steps to meet their goals. This isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s vital, especially during this time of economic uncertainty. According to the ONS, 45% of the Black African population live in poverty, while 53% are on some form of financial assistance. Less than 1 in 5 people from Black Caribbean and Black African backgrounds have enough savings to cover one month of living expenses and Black households are most likely to have a weekly income lower than £400 a week.
For the most underserved people within the Black community, these inequalities are often exacerbated owing to intersectional discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. Providing the My Moon Landing community with the know-how and expertise to manage their finances is a step forward that moves the needle forward for the Black community, person by person.
To access the Strength Through Finances webinars and toolkit, join here
For the latest updates on all our initiatives, including My Moon Landing, sign up for our newsletter.