Forbes Financial Journalist Jennifer Streaks Talks the State of Black America Following the Pandemic

As the world is beginning to open up and life is going back to “normal,” there is also a new regular economics brewing from the black community. Black businesses experienced a slew of “closed permanently” signs and reached a new level of financial consciousness.

Throughout the pandemic, some may recall hearing about their favorite black-owned businesses nearly shutting down. For instance, Washington D.C.’s own “Ben’s Chilli Bowl” almost became a casualty of the shutdown city, but it remained open with the assistance in donations of its fanbase.

For many black-owned businesses around the U.S., they weren’t able to garner the same support. Forbes journalist and financial expert Jennifer Streaks stated that black-owned businesses might have failed during the pandemic due to the inability to transfer their businesses to an online format for consumers to purchase items.

“A lot of black businesses, unfortunately, were not online. We shifted from brick and mortar, from Target and Walmart, because we had to, to online,” Streaks said, “ So if you aren’t ready right now to have that secure site where they can buy off of your website, that was problematic.”

The lack of online presence hindered black businesses but not being able to afford the rent for their business became a huge factor.

It is not uncommon for a business to have financial cushions in place if an emergency arises. Rent could be covered for months; however, for black businesses, having a survival tactic of staying open based on month-to-month earnings is expected, according to Streaks.

The Forbes journalist believed that through the mayhem of closing down these businesses, there was a loss of compassion.

“It was a lack of compassion, a lack of understanding. Capitalism can be a dog when you’re on the wrong side of it,” said Streaks. “ When you have the money, you got your millions stacked, capitalism works for you all day, but when you’re a black entrepreneur, and you’re trying to get your small business loans, you’re trying to stay in your brick and mortar and put this outstanding site together, it could be hard.”

Now that the businesses are shut down, and the buildings are empty, many fear this is the perfect storm for gentrification to take over. With the uptick and unfortunate demise of own black businesses during the pandemic, a new level and understanding of financial freedom blossomed in the black community. According to an article published by Market Place, 40% of surveyed Black Americans have had the conversation of stock over the last year. Many have begun investing, most of which are young people.

Streaks believe the awareness stemmed from two different reasons, one being that money is now a topic of conversation in the home. As a result of the world being forced to stay home, there was more attention to what companies celebrities invested their money in.

According to Streaks, she discovered that more Black Americans are investing in stocks.

“Believe it or not, more Black Americans are investing in individual stocks, which blew me away. I would’ve thought it would be a 401 k, setting up the mutual fund, but no, it's stocked, and it is based on how they shop,” said Streaks.

It is not entirely known what this would mean for the Black community in the next few years as the developments are relatively new, but it is predicted that the wage gap would be moving in the direction of closing over time.

Jennifer Streaks is no stranger or beginner in the world of finance and economics. With a career dating back to 2005, Streaks undoubtedly coined the term expert, but her expertise was discovered much later after working in law and receiving her law degree from Howard University.

After discovering her passion was not in the field of law, Streaks found her niche in financing when the financial crisis hit in 2005.

The journalist noticed that everyday people found her to be a great resource in explaining the ins and outs of how to bounce back from their financial woes and found her information much more relatable than other financial advisors they had worked with.

Streaks went on to write for Black Enterprise about finances to disseminate her knowledge on the subject matter to the black community to now devoting her work and financial discoveries to Forbes.