Who need it most We must ensure access

For the past decade, I have had the honor of representing my community in the Arkansas House of Representatives by serving as House minority leader, and by working to grow and unite my hometown of Little Rock in the mayor’s office as chief of staff.

Throughout that decade of service, I have learned that one thing is paramount in forging a brighter path for Arkansas — access. The ability — or inability — of people to access capital, opportunities, and the ballot box will make or break the future of our state.

In Arkansas, we continue to see a persistent and harmful growth in gender and racial wealth gaps. Women and folks of color consistently lack the ability to access necessary funds to start or grow a business, purchase a home, or send their kids to college. Historically, individuals gain capital through either an investment or lending, but for far too many Arkansans, neither of those are viable options.

Today, 90% of all venture capital funds are dispersed within just five states along the East and West coasts. This geographical bias makes accessing capital in the Heartland and the South rare, and access to capital for women and minorities almost nonexistent.

We see the same trends in banking. Banks are far more likely to deny people access to responsive banking products, services, and lines of credit based on ZIP code, gender, and race. Growing income inequalities, systematic biases, and legacy barriers continue to strangle wealth generation among underprivileged communities, especially women.

As a public servant, as an Arkansan, I know that we have an obligation to acknowledge these barriers exist, and an even greater duty to fight like hell to break them down. We must continue to fund the groups that support these efforts and these populations. We cannot allow the situations we were born into to be the sole determinant of our success. There is still plenty of good work to do in our state to help people gain access to critical capital and responsible banking.

Expanding access to opportunities is just as important as the need for capital. I have noticed, especially here in the South, that we often let nostalgia or tradition be the biggest obstacles to our own vision and growth. We get so caught up on how things were, or have always been, that we lose sight of how things can be. Our dependency on the past stifles our immense potential. Right here in Arkansas — where we still honor the confederacy on our state flag — we have plenty of active blind spots when it comes to building a present and future that ensures we all thrive.

Any company or institution that has a desire to be successful and relevant in 2022, 2025, 2030, or beyond, has to be comfortable addressing its lack of diversity, inclusiveness, and cultural competency. Embracing equity, diversity, and inclusion as a strategy to both improve your bottom line and to maximize the impact of your good work is the smartest and most efficient way forward. Diversification has and will always be used as a growth strategy because it is truly the best strategy for growth.

The last, and most, critical access point is voting. Access to the ballot is the foundation of civic participation, and the most effective way to amplify the voices of the unheard and underheard.

As a state, we rank last in the country for voter participation. We have fewer people voting, and even fewer registered. Much of that can be attributed to a lack of engagement with minority communities — the global majority — and unnecessarily stringent voting laws. Why do we make it so hard for folks to exercise their most basic rights?

When the late Congressman John Lewis joined us on our podcast — “Rock The Culture” — he said, “voting should be as easy as getting a glass of water,” and I couldn’t agree more. We should embrace and advocate for automatic voter registration and online registration. We should fund efforts that focus on registering underserved populations.

Stacey Abrams, while on the podcast, explained, “voter registration is not about race, it’s about values. The communities that are least likely to register are usually the most likely to need their voices lifted.” To increase participation, we need to connect the dots between access to capital, access to opportunities, and access to voting.

Over the past 10 years I’ve learned that I may change positions, but I still continue on the same mission. And that’s to do “Good” work, not only for those who have access, but for the people who need it the most.