Fellowship program aims to address joblessness, lower wages for Black women

Latesha Walker is one of 10 fellows in the Women's Diversity Network's new Wealth Equity Fellowship program, and she hopes it will help her figure out how to use the skills she has amassed in a multifaceted career that cuts across education and social work.

Joblessness and lower wages for Black women are what the Women's Diversity Network's program seeks to address for its 10 fellows, said Shanequa Levin, the network's chief executive and founder.

Walker of Wyandanch was laid off from a health care firm in 2020 because of pandemic-related cutbacks.

Now Walker, 44, president of the Wyandanch school board, says she wants direction in how to "make all of these skills transferable, marketable so I can take it and make an independent gesture." Her goal: becoming an entrepreneur.

Levin said the program sought to help Black women "gain the exposure and mentorship" from professionals in a variety of fields, such as the medical industry, education, finance and Civil Service, and connect them with "folks that are hiring and paying more equity wages."

"We participated in a survey to collect data from Long Islanders and 52% of the people that were surveyed were making less than $17 an hour, " Levin said, about the survey of nine nonprofits that primarily serve Long Island residents who are Black and Latino. "On Long Island the living wage for a family of three with one adult is almost $37 an hour … What we found out, too, was Black Long Islanders are facing higher rates of joblessness and lower wages than whites."

Feeling unsure about the next steps in her career path, Asha Johnson of Glen Cove, another fellowship participant, was grateful for assistance in helping her identify and broaden her options. "I was stuck salary-wise." Her career has ranged from working for a nonprofit social work agency to medical billing and coding, for which she said she was newly certified.

"For me, this gave me an opportunity to look broader and not have to do all the research on my own," said Johnson, who says she is over 45.

Johnson said she liked that the Wealth Equity Fellowship was "talking about balancing the scales about how much people make. Clearly we [Black women] make less."

Levin's nonprofit was among four local groups that each received $100,000 grants from the Long Island Community Foundation's Long Island Racial Equity Donor Collaborative to try to address economic inequities. Other grant recipients are the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center, Choice for All in Roosevelt, and the Leadership Training Institute in Hempstead Village.

"The economic inequities have led to some significant disparities, which points to a glaring need to invest in communities of color," said Sol Marie Alfonso-Jones, senior program officer for the Long Island Community Foundation, a public charity.

The Women's Diversity Network's grant provides $1,000 stipends for the fellows and program coaches who facilitate the fellows' 17-week virtual classes, and a "living wage" salary for the project manager, Levin said.

Project manager Tanika Steele said fellows would soon get mentors from industries that fit their interests. "Those mentors will work with them about a year after they [the fellows] finish the 17-week program. We'll follow up with them quarterly" to assess their progress.

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie