After a hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a fund-raiser will return to the Lily Pond Lane, East Hampton Village, residence of Loida Lewis on Saturday.
Closing the Racial Wealth Gap will benefit All Star Code and Giving Gap, both aimed at correcting the persistent systemic issues that have historically barred people of color from accessing economic opportunities.
Cocktails will be served from 6:30 p.m., with dinner served at 7:30.
“We are social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and innovators who advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion” is the message from Ms. Lewis and her daughters, Christina Lewis and Leslie Malaika Lewis. “In the spirit of entrepreneurship and giving that has always been the hallmark of our family, we invite you to join us in our mission to close the racial wealth gap.”
Statistics illustrate the enduring wealth inequality between white and nonwhite Americans. Median weekly income for the first quarter of 2022 among Black workers was 22 percent lower than for their white counterparts. For Latinos, the difference was 25 percent. “In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are certain to witness a continuing, if not a worsening, of this trend,” the Lewis family wrote.
Reginald Lewis, Ms. Lewis’s husband and Christina and Leslie’s father, was the chairman and chief executive of TLC Beatrice International Holdings and the first African-American to build a billion-dollar company. He died in 1993. The family subsequently founded the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, All Star Code, and Giving Gap.
One month before his death, Mr. Lewis named Christina Lewis, who was 12 at the time, to the board of his foundation. That, she told The Star in 2017, inspired her dedication to causes that help historically oppressed people. As a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal she experienced the educational gaps among young people and was led to seek ways to help talented minority students gain access to the technology industry.
She founded and serves as executive director of All Star Code. The program creates a tech-startup environment for male high school students, its curriculum including a six-week coding “boot camp” or summer intensive. Participants learn how to thrive in a technology-driven world, while also developing an entrepreneurial mind-set and the understanding that they are capable of changing society.
Giving Gap aims to build a movement for the equitable funding of Black-founded nonprofit organizations. Such organizations are amplified by a donor platform allowing individuals and institutions to learn and give. It provides research, data, and reporting that documents the strengths and needs of Black-founded nonprofits and engages in fund-raising and storytelling campaigns to mobilize giving and positive action.
Tables for Saturday’s fund-raiser can be reserved at bit.ly/closingthegapbenefit. Donations can also be made at the website. More information can be had by contacting Philip Daniels, All Star Code’s senior director of development, at 201-970-5923 or [email protected].
