Financial Resources in Kinship and Social Networks: Flow and Relationship to Household Wealth by Race and Ethnicity Among Boston Residents?
This study examines the extent to which family financial transfers occur among Boston residents of color. New data collected for the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), as part of the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color (NASCC) survey, for the first time provide detailed information on financial assets that allow analysis to be broken down beyond the traditional black-and-white divide at the metropolitan-area level. Particularly striking are differences in parental payments toward higher education expenses and financial support for the down payment of a home. Immigrant status further explains differences between white and nonwhite households as well as between households of color. In the absence of family wealth, many groups in Boston, among them immigrants of color and U.S.-born black families, face enormous challenges to better their life and that of their children.