FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO
February 2025
At AFN, our commitment to advancing economic justice isn’t just a statement—it’s our driving force. We believe in the power of philanthropy and financial institutions to create real, lasting change, ensuring equitable wealth-building opportunities for low- and middle-income households. But we also know that transformational change doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a long-haul mindset, sustained leadership, and bold action. The Board, staff, and I are committed to leading AFN so that we remain vital thought leaders and a contributing network of members engaged in mission-focused investments and actions within and across our 8 issue areas.
2025 has already shown the potential for harm—economic uncertainty, systemic inequities, and new challenges that threaten the financial well-being of low- and middle-income households. A flurry of federal executive orders, unauthorized payment clawbacks, apparent violations of laws, disruptions of valued public services, indiscriminate layoffs, and legal threats against dissent are leaving many outraged and concerned about the well-being of our neighbors and communities. For some, this couples with fear about the uncertain immediate future. While there are injustices that the courts will eventually stop, many will be unjustly harmed—including many by the disruptions to services. Of equal concern are the emboldened racism and misogyny that is being trumpeted. Moreover, it is reasonable to believe all of us will suffer from higher inflation, less predictability to plan, and more consumer fraud due to deregulation.
That is a bundle of formidable challenges.
But history teaches us that moments of crisis also present opportunities for transformation. There is much to do with that focus. The Great Depression gave rise to Social Security and the New Deal; the 2008 recession led to the ACA; and the Covid-19 pandemic spurred the refundable child tax credit (for a year) and historic investments in guaranteed income and public infrastructure. 2025, too, can be a turning point—an opportunity to reshape policies, strengthen protections, and drive bold solutions that create a more just and inclusive economic future. Meeting this moment with clarity and determination requires us to find strategic ways to invest in communities, strengthen movements, and build systems that not only repair harm but lay the foundation for greater equity and resilience in the years ahead.
Our Board and members recognize that AFN’s greatest value lies in equipping members and stakeholders—particularly at the local and state levels—with the knowledge and strategies needed to drive meaningful change. By investing in proven and promising solutions and collaborating with key partners, we can navigate today’s challenges and forge new pathways to economic security and mobility.
Our focus is on fostering inclusive, intergenerational opportunities that enable everyone to thrive, especially those historically and currently othered.
In 2025, we will be working with our membership using a laser focus on effectively pursuing goals of a just economy defined by the ongoing civil rights movement, communities, engaged network members, and responsive regional chapters. The focus will remain to expand ownership of homes and businesses in traditional and innovative ways, increase economic security by addressing the challenges posed by climate while also recognizing and seizing the opportunities for jobs and economic expansion, protect existing assets, reduce debt and predation, and sustain positive innovation that builds an expanding, inclusive and just economy. We will continue to seek to undo the harms of an economy built to benefit an exclusive part of our society.
AFN’s vision and mission, thus, is a commitment to understanding the facts, exploring root causes, identifying potential solutions, and taking action. We do it with all members and engage in cities, counties, and states wherever the members are willing—led by our regional chapter. This approach represents the enduring value and strength of our network.
AFN’s approach is not about any specific words; it is about actions, investments, and outcomes that are different—tomorrow and the day, months, and years after—than the systems of our economy allowed in the past. It often is not about visible credit, but it is about effectiveness.
Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But I, and many others, believe justice is not inevitable; the arc bends only when we take deliberate action to change systems and achieve lasting outcomes. We all share the responsibility to advance justice and prevail over those who would destroy what has been built. A more just and resilient economy must withstand disruption to support decreasing income inequality, increasing disposable income, eliminating predatory practices, stopping disinvestment in communities of color and rural communities, addressing the demands of climate change to build and protect assets, and ensuring capital and asset-building tools are made available—free from implicit or explicit discrimination, however race-neutral that is veiled.
As Theodore Shaw, the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law at UNC, reminds us, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions—the Dred Scott case that denied citizenship to people of African descent—was decided in 1857 and less than eight years later slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment, and within 11 years the question of citizenship was clearly established by the 14th Amendment. The future of resilient rebuilding depends on our actions today and visionary plans for tomorrow.
AFN remains committed to actively bending the arc toward justice. We look forward to standing and collaborating alongside all of you.
