Community Finance
Photo by Skoll Foundation.
Inclusive Economy | September 21, 2022
Common Future acquires Community Credit Lab for combined community wealth-building
ImpactAlpha, September 21 — Oakland-based Common Future earlier this year merged with nonprofit impact accelerator Uncharted. Now, the organization led by Rodney Foxworth …
Image credit: Westend61 / Getty Images
Impact Investing | September 20, 2022
Will a new EPA fund serve low- and moderate-income people? Five principles to promote success
On August 16, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, federal legislation that invests nearly $400 billion over 10 years in renewable energy …
CNote co-founder and CEO Cat Berman | Photo by CNote.
Corporate Impact | September 20, 2022
CNote raises nearly $7.3 million to tap corporate cash for community development
ImpactAlpha, September 20 — CNote has raised $7.3 million to expand its network of more than 2,000 CDFIs, low-income designated credit unions and …
Muni Impact | September 14, 2022
To manage climate risk, municipal bond insurer taps data on community vulnerability
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 14 – Public finance investors buy hundreds of billions of dollars in municipal bond issuances each year, providing much needed capital for …
Photo by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Dealflow | September 6, 2022
Equitable Facilities Fund closes $230 million in social bonds for underserved charter schools
ImpactAlpha, September 6 — The New York-based nonprofit social impact fund aims to lower funding costs for high-performing and impact public charter schools …
The Inner Loop East being filled in. | Photo source: Stantec
Muni Impact | August 31, 2022
Tear down this road: Cities start to remove highways that divide and disadvantage communities
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 31 – Tearing down part of a freeway was such a boon that Rochester, New York, is planning for removal of more …
Community Finance | August 18, 2022
Community lenders look to carve out a role for themselves in new green bank fund
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 18 – The Inflation Reduction Act, sprung from the seeming dead just three weeks ago, sprinted into law almost as fast …
Impact Voices | August 18, 2022
How community investors are creating equitable approaches to climate finance
When it comes to climate change the stakes for all of us are high. But the evidence is clear that lower-income and communities …
Photo by Ting Internet.
Muni Impact | August 11, 2022
Ting Internet secures $200 million from Generate for communication infrastructure in communities
ImpactAlpha, August 11 — Cable internet versus fiber optic, you ask? A lower-waste footprint and lower-energy consumption makes fiber technology the more eco-friendly …
Policy Corner | August 10, 2022
“Green Bank” in climate bill to provide catalytic capital for renewable energy and community resilience
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 10 – It’s not the national green bank that advocates have pushed for more than a decade. But the $27 billion …
Photo by BlocPower.
Catalytic Capital | July 26, 2022
BlocPower secures a $3 million guarantee from Kresge Foundation to green and electrify buildings
ImpactAlpha, July 26 — Troy, Mich.-based Kresge Foundation has committed a $3 million guarantee to BlocPower. The foundation’s commitment supports a loan-loss reserve …
Baymiller Row Houses in Cincinnati. Photo: The Port
Muni Impact | July 25, 2022
How ‘The Port’ is drawing private investors to redress Cincinnati’s racial wealth gap
Driving through Cincinnati, Ohio’s Bond Hill neighborhood, Tony Jones pointed out the street his grandmother used to live on, and the corner where …
Photo by Carnegie Mellon University.
Locavesting | June 22, 2022
Langdon Park pays $63.2 million for affordable apartments for Black and Latino D.C. residents
ImpactAlpha, June 22 — Former NFL wide receiver Malcolm Johnson left his job at JPMorgan last year to launch Langdon Park Capital, named …
Baltimore, Maryland
Policy Corner | June 15, 2022
Ensuring the Community Reinvestment Act addresses the racial wealth gap, as intended
More than 40 years after the Community Reinvestment Act was put in place to undo racist policies in banking, the racial wealth gap …
Agents of Impact | June 10, 2022
Elyse Cherry, BlueHub Capital: Creating equity for healthy communities
ImpactAlpha, Jun. 10 – Payday loans. Car loans. Student loans. “One way to describe our economy is that it’s about draining every ounce of …
Policy Corner | June 8, 2022
Keeping communities at the center of equitable infrastructure by reimagining risk, power and accountability
Largely missing from conversations around the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal has been an acknowledgement of the impact of past infrastructure investment to …
Inclusive Economy | June 7, 2022
One Percent for America: How simple, low-cost loans can clear a barrier to citizenship
Those newly naturalized Americans in the stirring pictures of immigrants from all over the world taking the Oath of Citizenship – every one of …
Return on Inclusion | June 2, 2022
Catalyzing capital and sizing solutions to homelessness: A blueprint for Los Angeles
(Editor’s note: This story is being co-published with The Giving List.) ImpactAlpha, June 2 – As a parting challenge to his successor, outgoing …
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 …
Impact Voices | May 11, 2022
Fixed-income and municipal-bond strategies for direct climate impact
Investors are pouring money into environmental, social & governance and green bonds. Green bond issuance alone is expected to reach up to $1 …
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 …
(left to right) Eugene Cornelius (Milken Institute), Kweilin Ellingrud (McKinsey) and Kimberley Reid (Future Fund Management Agency) at Milken Global Conference 2022 | Photo credit: Milken Institute
Capitalism Reimagined | May 5, 2022
Overheard at the Milken Global Conference: Mission and margins
How to understand and harness the recent influx of capital into ESG products was the conversation at the center of this week’s 25th …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 2017 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 …
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 …
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 …