Locavesting
photo: Chris Kendig
Impact Investing | May 19, 2022
Overheard at Total Impact: Diversify decision-making and shift power to communities
ImpactAlpha, May 19 – Agents of Impact convened upon the City of Brotherly Love, even as some unbrotherly events unfolded across the country …
Photo credit: Yilun Cheng/MEDILL
Opportunity Zones | May 19, 2022
How Opportunity Zones can accelerate American Rescue Plan projects
American Rescue Plan, meet Opportunity Zones. Last year’s American Rescue Plan sent $350 billion in direct, flexible funding to state and local governments. …
Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, NY | Photo credit: WKBW
Community Finance | May 18, 2022
In Buffalo and across the country, grocery stores have become pillars of health and community development.
ImpactAlpha, May 18 – The once-busy grocery store on Buffalo’s east side that was the scene of last weekend’s racist mass shooting for nearly …
Agents of Impact | May 6, 2022
Kevin Jones, Neighborhood Economics: Turning strangers into unlikely allies
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – Kevin Jones played an early role in convening the disparate, and sometimes unruly, tribes of impact investing under the tents …
Inclusive Economy | May 5, 2022
Common Future and Uncharted merge to expand entrepreneurship and wealth-building in underserved communities
ImpactAlpha, May 5 – Call it the un-M&A deal. Common Future, the Oakland-based nonprofit focused on economic inequality, and Uncharted, the nonprofit social …
Impact Management | May 4, 2022
How CDFIs can adopt carbon accounting to lead on climate disclosure
Know what you own. A group of community development financiers is taking the lead on climate disclosure to clean up their loan portfolios. …
Climate Finance | May 3, 2022
Jonathan Rose on building green, affordable communities of opportunity (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, May 3 – The Pasatiempo apartments on the edge of Silicon Valley near downtown Fremont, Calif., are a mix of market-rate and …
Erie, Pennsylvania
Policy Corner | April 13, 2022
Keeping an eye on policymaking for impact investing
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 13 – From Opportunity Zones reform to SEC nominees, it’s been a busy few days on Capitol Hill for policy affecting impact …
Photo credit: Choctaw Nation
Policy Corner | April 7, 2022
Catalytic funding for tribal communities and small businesses at stake in Congress’s COVID-19 plan
ImpactAlpha, April 7 – The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, the third largest Tribal nation in the U.S., has a multifaceted plan to develop a …
Community Finance | March 17, 2022
How ‘Community Recovery Vehicles’ scaled community lending to ease pandemic pain
ImpactAlpha, March 17 – The Covid pandemic shined a light on the vital role of community lenders, which provided a lifeline to the …
Photo credit: Justice Funders
Policy Corner | March 16, 2022
ACE Act is a growth opportunity for impact investing
ImpactAlpha, March 16 – The bipartisan Accelerating Charitable Efforts, or ACE, Act would “reform” the laws that govern donor advised funds, the tax-advantaged …
Athens, Georgia
Community Finance | March 3, 2022
Social bonds direct proceeds to racial equity as the “S” gains prominence in ESG
When it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, the “S” has long been viewed as the more complicated piece of the …
Martin Muoto | Photo credit: SoLa Impact.
affordable-housing | March 2, 2022
CalSTRS invests $50 million in SoLa Impact for affordable housing in Black and brown communities
ImpactAlpha, Mar 2 — The California State Teachers’ Retirement System is backing L.A.-based SoLa Impact to invest in affordable housing in Black and …
Photo credit: Score.
Dealflow | March 2, 2022
Advantage Capital aims to invest $200 million in minority-owned businesses in underserved communities
ImpactAlpha, Mar 2 — New Orleans-based Advantage Capital has leveraged more than $3 billion since 1992 for small businesses in underserved communities in …
Capitol Building in Washington DC.
Policy Corner | February 11, 2022
Progress on a dozen policies to mobilize private capital for public good
There is no shortage of challenges facing leaders in Washington. The coming midterm elections will increasingly dominate the headlines. But impact investors must …
Bill Flynn of Amtrak (left) and Ross Baird of Blueprint Local (right) | Photo credit: Blueprint Local
Place-Based Investing | February 2, 2022
Ross Baird’s blueprint for equitable real estate in southern ‘Zoom towns’ (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 2 – Ross Baird has made a career of plugging capital gaps for promising ideas in their earliest stages. Before “accelerator” and …
Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia | Photo credit: Mosaic
Return on Inclusion | January 24, 2022
Black-owned developer Mosaic raises $10 million for equitable real estate in Philadelphia
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 24 – Led by Leslie Smallwood-Lewis and Greg Reaves, Mosaic focuses on projects in neighborhoods largely left out of Philly’s development boom. …
Community Finance | January 15, 2022
Solar proves a pathway for private capital to flow into low-income communities
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 13 – The race is on to install solar panels, lay in chargers for electric vehicles and retrofit housing for energy …
Photo credit: Silicon Ranch.
Dealflow | January 11, 2022
Silicon Ranch secures $775 million for clean energy in rural communities
ImpactAlpha, January 11 — Nashville-based Silicon Ranch provides clean energy, carbon and battery storage for rural communities in the U.S. and Canada, with …
Photo credit: Noble Network of Charter Schools.
Dealflow | December 13, 2021
Equitable Facilities Fund secures $300 million to finance Black schools leaders
ImpactAlpha, December 13 — Equitable Facilities Fund, a New York-based nonprofit social impact fund, has since 2018 deployed $585 million in low-cost and …
Photo credit: Shutterstock.
Climate Finance | December 9, 2021
‘Community Choice’ raises $2.2 billion with clean energy bonds in California
ImpactAlpha, December 9 — San Francisco Bay Area-based California Community Choice Financing Authority was set up earlier this year to help energy suppliers …
Community Finance | December 6, 2021
Secondaries fund secures $11.5 million to create a market for CDFI loans
ImpactAlpha, December 6 – The Aspen Institute and the Microfinance Impact Collaborative launched the Entrepreneur Backed Assets Fund last year to enable community …
Locavesting | December 2, 2021
How municipal impact investing can improve quality of life for historically excluded communities
Impact investing, which seeks to make a direct—and measurable—social or environmental impact while generating a financial return, has historically been synonymous with the …
Signals | December 1, 2021
Can the recovery catalyze a business revival on the Navajo Nation?
ImpactAlpha, December 1 – The Navajo Nation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, is one of the hardest places to …
Photo by Willie Davis/Con Edison.
Climate Finance | November 24, 2021
A $55 million credit facility will help Urban Energy develop community solar in NYC
ImpactAlpha, November 24 — Brooklyn-based solar developer Urban Energy is accelerating clean distributed energy for the city’s buildings, which account for over 70% …
Photo credit: CoStar
Dealflow | November 22, 2021
UC San Francisco backs four Bay Area organizations for place-based impact
ImpactAlpha, November 22 — UC San Francisco, which operates a major medical center, allocated a total of $5 million in debt to organizations …
Photo credit: Shutter.B
The Reconstruction | November 18, 2021
How impact investors can leverage the infrastructure bill to help disinvested communities catch up
After years of discussion, negotiation, failed efforts, and disappointment, we finally have a once-in-a-generation bill that will invest in the physical infrastructure of …
Photo credit: Jesse Costa/WBUR.
affordable-housing | November 3, 2021
Lincoln Avenue Capital acquires majority stake in Housing Partnership Equity Trust
ImpactAlpha, November 3 — Los Angeles-based affordable housing developer, Lincoln Avenue Capital, has secured most of the common equity in the real estate …
Photo credit: Getty
Impact Voices | October 29, 2021
Institutionalizing the racial reckoning in Community Reinvestment Act reforms
After a tumultuous two years of unraveled reforms, the Community Reinvestment Act, known as the CRA, has a real chance of being modernized …
Photo credit: Getty Images.
Catalytic Capital | October 28, 2021
Black Vision fund raises $25 million to support Black-owned small businesses
ImpactAlpha, October 28 — Expanding Black Business Credit, a consortium of Black-led community development financial institutions, or CDFIs launched the fund even before …
Photo credit: GaudiLab
The Reconstruction | October 27, 2021
Patient capital for established BIPOC businesses to close racial wealth gaps
Yes, startups led by Black, Indigenous and people of color-owned need growth capital. But meeting the growth and operating capital needs of established …
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 …