Nearly sixty years ago Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement were at a crossroads. The courage and commitment of activists across the country had integrated schools, secured voting rights and overturned the Jim Crow segregation that had oppressed Black communities for generations in the South. But Dr. King recognized that the work was not finished. As he asserted in a feature essay in a national magazine at the time, achieving “economic security” for Black Americans was of “singular importance” moving forward.

On Monday, we honor Dr. King at a time when his message has never been more urgent – or more relevant to our work at Treasury. I hope each of us will take time to reflect on his legacy and consider how we can answer his call for dignity, opportunity, and economic justice.

Today in Oregon the same questions and challenges Dr. King faced continue to confront us. According to the 2024 Oregon Financial Wellness Scorecard:

• Oregon’s median household income ($70,084) slightly exceeded the national median, however Black median income ($50,950) was more than 25% less than the state median income (based on 2021 Census data).

• Overall, 45% of people in Oregon report having difficulty paying monthly bills, but 61% of people who identified themselves as BIPOC said they had problems stretching their budget to the end of each month.

• 53% of Oregonians had set aside a safety net of three months of savings, but only 43% of people who identified as BIPOC had three months of rainy day funds to fall back on in an emergency.

(We expect to issue updated data in the 2025 Financial Wellness Scorecard early next month.)

As Dr. King observed in his 1966 essay, these inequities are not the product of individual shortcomings. They are the result of multi-generational discrimination that “thwarts long-term employment” as well as other policies and practices that undermine the “economic foundations” for Black families and communities.

Dr. King also saw that poverty, economic worry and the financial strains on families cut across racial lines. In 1968, he began mobilizing a multi-racial coalition for economic justice, including an economic bill of rights, that culminated in another march on Washington, DC. The march brought tens of thousands of people to the nation’s capital later that year.

At Treasury, we can bend the arc of economic disparity toward economic justice and shared well-being, to echo one of Dr. King’s most famous phrases.

Our programs strengthen opportunities and financial security for all Oregonians:

• We make the American dream real for many people who might otherwise lack the path to a secure retirement, college or career training, or savings to help navigate a disability.

• We steward retirement investments for teachers, nurses, first responders and other public employees in Oregon – and by safeguarding and growing these investments, we protect the financial stability of the schools, health care, public safety, and other services Oregonians depend on.

• We help state agencies, local governments and school districts secure the financial capacity they need to serve their communities, improve quality of life, and reduce costs to taxpayers by efficiently managing their debt.

Nonetheless we have more work to do to ensure “economic security” for communities of color and for everyone in Oregon. How will we do that?

• We’re committed to protecting retirees from the risks of climate change by achieving net zero carbon emissions in the OPERF portfolio by 2050. While our objective is to maintain our fiduciary responsibilities to maximize the long-term returns of our portfolio, this move also protects vulnerable Oregon communities from the health, social and economic harms of climate change.

• We’re helping more Oregonians achieve financial empowerment, have the know-how to be financially secure, and regain their unclaimed property. One of the primary goals of our financial empowerment programs is to advance racial equity in financial education.

• We want to establish child savings accounts to ensure all children in Oregon get a meaningful start in life and a fair opportunity to achieve their dreams.

As a physician, I know that a financially secure Oregon is a healthy Oregon. As someone who has devoted much of my life to understanding the needs of communities in every part of the state, I know that an economically just Oregon is vital to the health and prosperity of everyone.

Dr. King’s call for economic justice and security rings clearly today, with undiminished urgency. At Treasury, we’re committed to answering it, inspired by Dr. King’s vision, his determination and his belief that its possibility can be a reality.