News Article
Apr 16, 2019
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Grand Rapids, Michigan, is one of the fastest-growing US cities with economic opportunities for businesses. We jumped to the top of polls for the best cities to start a business in 2015 and have maintained top rankings ever since. We also top national lists for best places to call home and raise a family. This does not tell the whole story, though. Communities of color struggle to thrive here. We rank among the worst large US cities for African Americans economically. Almost 40 percent of African Americans in our city live in poverty. They are three times as likely to be unemployed as whites. More than 40 percent of Hispanics and Latinx live in poverty, and they are more than twice as likely to be unemployed.