Gloria Billingsley is a professor and interim chair of the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Jackson State University. She earned her MBA and PhD in public administration from Jackson State University. She has served in several nonacademic positions, including vice president for evaluation services at Professional Associates, a minority-owned training and technical assistance company; and policy and special initiatives officer for the Mississippi Department of Human Services, where she coordinated efforts among three state agencies in the implementation of the state Children’s Health Insurance Program. Dr. Billingsley has published research in several journals such as Perspectives on Public Management and Governance; Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration; Public Administration Quarterly; National Political Science Review; Race, Gender & Class; Public Administration and Management; and Ethnicity & Disease on issues such voting rights, race, gender, and class, minority participation in health and health disparity research, crisis communications, and nonprofit management issues of spirituality and health. She is active in professional associations and serves as a grant reviewer for several federal agencies with specialty areas in HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and mental health issues, culturally appropriate programs for people of color, and building community partnerships and coalitions.

Project Summary

This project will build on a previous study conducted by the Mississippi Urban Research Center (who are co-investigators) entitled “Home Mortgage Approval and Denial Rates in Mississippi: Challenges and Opportunities.” Based on preliminary research findings, homeownership plays a key role in increasing both household and generational wealth. This study intends to identify how home mortgage approval rates factor into racial wealth gaps for Black women and their families in Mississippi and the US. Concomitantly, it intends to identify and assess potential policy options that could be used to reduce the racial wealth and earnings gaps. The goal of this research project is twofold: (1) to assess the relationship between “Black women’s net worth” and “home mortgage approval rates”; and (2) to examine the efficacy of selected state policies intended to increase homeownership rates for minority groups, particularly Black women.