Locavesting
Joe Scantlebury, CEO of Living Cities
The Reconstruction | October 21, 2021
Living Cities’ Joe Scantlebury sees cities as the template for an inclusive America
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 21 – U.S. President Joe Biden wants to ‘build back better.’ Joe Scantlebury is out to make sure the rebuild includes all …
Illustration by The Nation.
Dealflow | October 21, 2021
SMBX raises $11.5 million to democratize small business lending
ImpactAlpha, October 21 — San Francisco-based SMBX raised $11.5 million to democratize financing for small businesses. Launched in 2016, SMBX lets retail investors …
New York, NY
The Reconstruction | October 13, 2021
Racial equity planks in a new Community Reinvestment Act can expand the American Dream
When most Americans think about civil rights, we think about the violence perpetrated upon Black Americans and the nonviolence movement that finally helped …
Hachita, New Mexico | Photo credit: Tony Prato.
Place-Based Investing | October 7, 2021
How place-based investors are pooling endowment capital for local affordable housing and small-business lending
ImpactAlpha, October 7 — In New Mexico, a nonprofit community health organization, a hospital and a local foundation all wanted to put more …
Community Finance | September 23, 2021
Microsoft and Truist Financial anchor federal fund for community banks with $120 million
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 23 – Microsoft and Truist Financial are anchoring a new federal fund for community banks. The Mission-Driven Bank Fund from the Federal …
Photo credit: AP Photo/Noah Berger.
Climate Finance | September 21, 2021
‘Forest resilience bonds’ show an ounce of prevention can slow wildfires – and provide 4% returns
ImpactAlpha, September 21 — In a corner of the Tahoe National Forest in California that has escaped this year’s devastating wildfires, crews have …
Dealflow | September 21, 2021
Steward raises $8.8 million to expand online lending for sustainable farms
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 21 – Steward pools investments from individuals to provide capital to sustainably run farms, fisheries, and food producers. Since it was …
Photo credit: The Conversation.
Catalytic Capital | September 14, 2021
Opportunity Finance Network’s Finance Justice Fund secures $23 million
ImpactAlpha, September 14 — Opportunity Finance Network, a Washington, D.C.-based network of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, is looking to raise $1 …
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Photo credit: Brittanica.
Catalytic Capital | September 13, 2021
Arctaris launches $20 million Opportunity Zone vehicle for place-based community impact in Pittsburgh
ImpactAlpha, September 13 — Boston-based Arctaris Impact Investors partners with foundations, governments and other organizations to help revitalize local U.S. underserved communities, and …
Dealflow | September 8, 2021
Employee Ownership Catalyst Fund raises nearly $5 million to back worker-ownership conversions
ImpactAlpha, September 8 — The open-ended fund, co-managed by Mission Driven Finance and Project Equity, received commitments from Living Cities and other impact …
Clean Energy | September 3, 2021
Jessica Brooks, Sunwealth
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 3 – On neighborhood strolls, Jessica Brooks sees schools, churches, apartment buildings – and unused rooftops. Such “infill” spaces represent a …
Martin Luther King Jr. Mural at the National Historic Site in Atlanta, GA (photo: Forty3Zero)
Impact Voices | September 2, 2021
Centering civil rights in community finance
Americans are admonished that opportunity is available to those who are willing to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” Let’s measure how long …
Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz.
Dealflow | August 31, 2021
Silicon Valley Bank backs National Equity Fund to create affordable rental housing in California
ImpactAlpha, August 31 — California has eight of the 10 most expensive cities for rental housing in the U.S. A $110 million commitment …
Five Cardinals Farm in Plainview, Va.
Signals | August 25, 2021
Steward revamps its ‘crowdfarming’ model with short term loans for sustainable farms
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 25 – Sustainable farmers are on the front lines of the fight to mitigate climate change. Yet agriculture funding is geared …
Place-Based Investing | August 24, 2021
Building an ecosystem for workforce development and opportunity for all in Alabama
If you are an impact investor seeking ways to make a difference, come to Alabama. A year ago, Gov. Kay Ivey created the …
Photo credit: LYNSEY WEATHERSPOON.
Dealflow | August 23, 2021
Makhers Studio is building affordable housing from recycled shipping containers
ImpactAlpha, August 23 — The Atlanta-based company raised $250,000 from RSF Social Finance, to lease its first manufacturing facility in Atlanta to build …
Impact Voices | August 18, 2021
How CDFIs are rethinking lending risks to build BIPOC-led businesses and wealth
The portrayal of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and low-income populations as “too risky” for business investments is rooted in racism used to justify underinvestment …
Community Finance | August 12, 2021
Now is the time to accelerate investments in community development financial institutions
For impact investors, one of the many takeaways from the last 18 months should be this: incrementalism will not get us where we …
Impact Voices | August 12, 2021
To build inclusive, community-scale funds, modernize the Investment Company Act of 1940
A growing number of Americans who never considered themselves impact investors are now taking a long hard look at the wealth they’ve amassed …
Photo credit: WEPOWER.
Dealflow | August 10, 2021
WEPOWER fund will back diverse founders to build community wealth in St. Louis
ImpactAlpha, August 10 — The Black woman-led Elevate/Elevar Capital fund is nearing its $1.5 million target after a $500,000 commitment from Living Cities (see ImpactAlpha’s series …
Baltimore, Maryland | Jon Bilous
The Reconstruction | August 9, 2021
The Reconstruction: An equitable path forward to redress racial injustice in real estate
ImpactAlpha August 9 – Black Americans make up nearly half of the people living in affordable homes financed by the federal government. But …
New York | Photo credit: Glynnis Jones
Impact Voices | August 9, 2021
Redefining risk to catalyze capital for community-based real estate developers
Corporate America’s diversity problem is well-established. The disparities in the real estate industry, which controls the levers of how entire communities are shaped, …
Photo credit: Sol Systems.
Climate Finance | July 26, 2021
KKR acquires minority stake in Sol Systems’ community renewable energy platform
ImpactAlpha, July 26 — Washington, D.C.-based Sol Systems has financed or developed more than one gigawatt of community solar projects valued at more …
The Rise Apartments, a 200-unit complex, and the Cycle Shop, a historic building, in The Edge, a neighborhood inside the Memphis Medical District.
Catalytic Capital | July 20, 2021
Guarantee from Kresge Foundation catalyzes $30 million for Memphis fund
Memphis’s medical district, with about 10,000 residents and more than 30,000 employees and students, has a high poverty rate and a shortage of …
Place-Based Investing | July 14, 2021
There’s no building back better without investing in underserved communities
Between record levels of government stimulus, an unprecedented vaccination campaign and a buzzing economy, it’s easy to see reasons for optimism as America …
photo: Matt Rourke, AP
Community Finance | July 14, 2021
Investing in marginalized communities to drive the COVID recovery
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – The two-track recovery threatens to leave distressed communities even further behind. Consider Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood: “A community that was …
Photo credit: Woodforest National Bank.
Locavesting | July 1, 2021
Workforce housing in Indianapolis demonstrates Opportunity Zone impact
ImpactAlpha, July 1 – More than 90% of the 188 units at The Westmont property in Indianapolis will go to low-income residents. The $31 …
Photo credit: PolicyLink
Capitalism Reimagined | June 24, 2021
Turning pledges into policies to invest in Black Americans and multi-racial prosperity
ImpactAlpha, June 24 – Investors and executives can lead in many ways as they seek to fulfill their often heartfelt pledges to do …
The waterfront in downtown Buffalo New York. Photo credit: Xylem.
Dealflow | June 24, 2021
Buffalo Sewer Authority issues a $54 million environmental impact bond for stormwater management
ImpactAlpha, June 24 — Environmental impact bonds, or EIBs, reward investors for backing projects that achieve positive environmental outcomes. Baltimore, Atlanta and Hampton, …
Patterson Park neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland | Photo credit: Jon Bilous
Community Finance | June 15, 2021
With billions in fresh capital, community lenders step up to finance a more inclusive economy
ImpactAlpha, June 15 – The COVID-19 disruption made stark how badly traditional banks and lenders have underserved small businesses and real estate in Black, …
Photo credit: Timothy Jean.
Dealflow | June 10, 2021
Harvard Business School students’ impact fund secures $200,000 to back BIPOC-led small businesses
ImpactAlpha, June 10 — Nearly $70 million, or 10% of assets in 40 student-managed investment funds have a sustainable investing strategy, according to …
Photo credit: Shutterstock.
Dealflow | June 9, 2021
Georgia Power commits $75 million to advance racial equity and justice
ImpactAlpha, June 9 — Atlanta-based utility company Georgia Power tapped a $200 million community-focused allocation from its parent, Southern Company. It is looking to …
Photo credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Community Finance | June 3, 2021
Corporates emerge as new source of capital for community investment
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – With the closing of its $250 million Black Economic Development Fund, LISC showed off the opportunity to tap corporations as …
Fabric shop owner | Photo credit: Mavo
Community Finance | May 19, 2021
A lifeline for relief, CDFIs are even more essential now for the recovery of under-banked businesses
When the initial COVID shutdowns hit a year ago, community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, were critical in getting small businesses quick relief …
Photo credit: Washingtonian.
Catalytic Capital | May 11, 2021
Capital Impact Partners to manage Nourish DC to fund local food businesses
ImpactAlpha, May 11 — Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is tapping Arlington, Va.-based community development financial institution Capital Impact Partners to receive $1 …
Lake Street in Minneapolis, MN | Photo credit: Sam Wagner
Community Finance | May 6, 2021
Helping communities acquire assets and rebuild small businesses in Minnesota
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – The conviction of former officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd sent a signal to residents of Minneapolis …
Source: Higher Purpose Co.
Catalytic Capital | May 6, 2021
RSF Social Finance deploys capital from the Racial Justice Collaborative
ImpactAlpha, May 6 — RSF Social Finance has launched the Racial Justice Collaborative, a vehicle that aims to provide debt, equity and grant …
Impact Voices | May 5, 2021
Boston’s Ujima Fund demonstrates the (investment) power of neighborhood democracy
Every Wednesday evening for the past few years—at least, before the pandemic—a group of Boston residents from the working class neighborhoods of Dorchester, …
Mason Music, a community-based music program at the newly renovated Woodlawn Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama | Photo credit: Mason Music
Opportunity Zones | April 29, 2021
Opportunity Alabama is combining community and capital to fulfill the potential of Opportunity Zones
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 29 – A senior-care facility in Heflin, Alabama, population 5,000. A restored hotel in Selma. Workforce housing and an historic theatre in …
Photo credit: AdvancedAg, an Indigenous-owned water and agtech company in Alberta
Dealflow | April 20, 2021
Indigenous Growth Fund raises $150 million to back Native lenders in Canada
ImpactAlpha, April 20 – A new fund in Canada is aiming to impact marginalized Indigenous communities by channelling capital to Indigenous-owned financial institutions. The …
The Reconstruction | April 20, 2021
Reviving a Black cultural corridor in West Oakland – as a community-led cooperative
In another era, Esther’s Orbit Room helped make West Oakland the “Harlem of the West,” hosting the likes of B.B. King, James Brown …
Figs on the tree
Climate Finance | April 16, 2021
Banks up their green finance ambitions
ImpactAlpha, April 16 – JPMorgan Chase and Citi – the biggest bankrollers of fossil fuels – unveiled new trillion-plus targets for sustainable financing …
Community Finance | April 13, 2021
Founders First’s Kitty Fund makes micro-investments in “mompreneurs”
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 13 – The pandemic has been challenging for many small business owners, but mothers have faced particular burdens as childcare routines have …
Image by Claudio Schwarz / Pulled from Community Credit Lab website
Impact Voices | April 1, 2021
Sacrificing returns? These community investors ask if they’re sacrificing impact.
The time is now for the impact investing sector to reflect on how it does business, how it frames success, and begin to …
Ellis Carr, Capital Impact Partners | Photo Capital Impact Partners
Community Finance | March 31, 2021
Alliance of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance creates community investing powerhouse
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 31 – Capital Impact Partners, a community development finance institution, has deep community roots. CDC, a nonprofit Small Business Administration lender, …