OPINION: Reclaiming wealth and reimagining community in the information age

For nearly a century, Western societies have navigated the evolving landscape of the “Information Age” — a period marked by the explosive rise of digital technologies, personal computing and the internet. Beginning in the mid-20th century with the invention of the transistor in 1947, and milestones like ARPANET in 1969, and the rise of the World Wide Web in the 1990s, this age has fundamentally altered how we access, create and share information. It has redefined economies, overhauled communication and shifted how humans relate to and interact with one another.

For many, this era has delivered remarkable material wealth and comfort. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a portion of the population has seen unprecedented financial gains, buoyed by access to technology, capital and the global information economy. However, this prosperity has not been evenly distributed. Entire communities — especially those historically marginalized — have remained excluded from the so-called digital revolution, unable to access its promises due to systemic barriers rooted in race, class, geography and history.

In our community, Albuquerque, a powerful and necessary response has emerged: the Community Wealth Building Cohort, supported by Albuquerque Community Foundation. This coalition includes community-based organizations dedicated to uplifting those too often left behind — people of color, rural residents, immigrants, refugee families, underrepresented youth and low-income communities across regions like the International District, areas of Downtown, and the South Valley.

Our work rests on three strategic pillars: civic engagement, philanthropic decolonization and collaborative resource-sharing. Through these approaches, the cohort advocates for inclusive policies, challenges outdated funding models, and finds innovative ways to pool and share resources among grassroots movements.

Yet perhaps the most radical and necessary work the cohort is doing is redefining the very notion of wealth. In a capitalist framework, wealth is often measured by dollars and assets. The Community Wealth Building Cohort expands that definition — reclaiming wealth as something much broader and deeper. We affirm that cultural capital, intergenerational resilience, ancestral knowledge, community networks, and the capacity to heal and thrive despite historical oppression are all vital forms of wealth. Rooted in equity, dignity and justice, this redefinition moves beyond survival toward thrive-ability.

Our vision is not one of isolated aid but of collective transformation. The Community Wealth Building Cohort seeks to be a unified voice, identifying and addressing injustice, elevating underrepresented leadership and co-creating a sustainable legacy of health and prosperity as the groundwork for generational well-being.

The values that guide our work — community, relationship, trust, process, leadership, sankofa, generational well-being and systemic change — are not abstract ideals. They are daily practices that resist extractive, transactional relationships so common in philanthropy and nonprofit work. We build transformational relationships rooted in reciprocity and mutual respect. We honor cultural traditions and lived experiences, drawing from the past (as embodied in the West African principle of sankofa) to build a future that works for everyone.

True wealth, as the cohort sees it, cannot be separated from justice, history or healing. Systemic change requires more than policies and funding — it demands intentional listening, accountability and the redistribution of resources to those who have historically been denied access. It demands that we ask not only who benefits from the Information Age but also who has been burdened by it, and what must change to ensure a future that includes us all.

As we continue to navigate this digital century, organizations like the Community Wealth Building Cohort remind us that progress without equity is not progress at all. We are not only imagining a more just world—we are actively building it.

That is the kind of wealth worth fighting for.