Key priorities

Joe Biden

  • Support minority-owned small businesses.
  • Increase homeownership among minority communities and combat housing discrimination.
  • Improve accessibility to affordable higher education and reduce student loan debt for minority students.

Read details of Biden's plans below.

Donald Trump

  • Maintain low unemployment rates for Black Americans, as seen before the pandemic.
  • Strengthen minority-owned businesses.

Read details of Trump's plans below.

Biden's plans for racial equality

Biden has laid out a comprehensive plan to address racial disparities within the United States on issues ranging from health to policing, zeroing in on measures to advance economic equality, access to affordable housing, education and a fair criminal justice system.

Biden pledges to support minority-owned small businesses by allocating $30 billion — 10% of the $300 billion going toward research and development outlined in his jobs plan — specifically toward a Small Business Opportunity Fund, which would also leverage private investments. He also plans to invest $50 billion in venture capital specifically for Black and brown entrepreneurs, put $100 billion toward low-interest loans and provide educational and development opportunities for new entrepreneurs and students. Overall, he says, these investments through the fund will bring forward a gain of $150 billion.

Biden also advocates for reforming the current Opportunity Zone tax deferral passed under the Trump administration to help distressed communities, assigning the U.S. Department of Treasury to increase supervision over organizations receiving the benefit.

To boost homeownership within minority communities, Biden wants to create 1.5 million new homes and public housing units and provide up to $15,000 in tax credits for people buying their first homes. He also calls for an end to discriminatory housing policies, stressing the need to penalize financial institutions perpetuating such policies and outlining policies to strengthen renters' rights and provide more housing vouchers.

On education reform, Biden wants to expand student loan forgiveness and make public universities as well as private historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions tuition-free for students with household incomes under $125,000.

Trump's plans for racial equality

Trump has not outlined a broad policy plan to address racial inequity. Trump has repeatedly questioned whether systemic racism is a problem in the United States. He argues that his policies have helped Black Americans, in particular, often citing record low Black unemployment before the pandemic hit. Trump says his economic policies will help bring unemployment back to those record lows.

On June 11, Trump spoke about a four-step policy geared toward building "safety and opportunity and dignity." He highlighted a need for increased federal support toward minority-owned small businesses and addressed "health care disparities," saying more funding should go toward medical facilities that serve largely nonwhite populations.

Trump has also called for expanding Opportunity Zones, a tax deferral for distressed communities passed as part of the 2017 tax bill.

See more of the major presidential candidates' key policy agendas here.

NPR White House reporter Ayesha Rascoe and political correspondent Asma Khalid contributed to this report.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags: Series: Tracking The Issues In The 2020 Election