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  • This Real Estate Co-Op is Looking for Investors Who Want to Put Community First

    The 2012 federal JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) took some time to gain traction, but in recent years it has democratized the financing of worker-owned co-ops and other community-based entities that ordinarily would be frozen out of capital markets. By making possible what is called a direct public offering, the law has made it easier to finance businesses that promise greater social benefits than just profit maximization, by opening investment opportunities to a more diverse and egalitarian mix of investors.

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  • A collaboration of local orgs is working to boost minority-owned businesses in Kensington

    Four local organizations have teamed up to provide $15 million in loans for the Latinx community in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The affordable loans have gone to affordable housing, small businesses, residential mortgages, and development projects.

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  • How Chinatown's Community Bank Has Survived Crisis After Crisis

    Community banking empowers marginalized communities that are not able to secure financing for homes and businesses through traditional financing. Establishing community banks allows members of these communities to bypass structural and institutional barriers in order to invest in themselves. Abacus Bank has a long history of advocating for businesses and families in Chinatown.

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  • Obawole: Neglected by banks, rescued by PoS agents

    Agency banking and point-of-sales terminals provide financial services to Obawole, a community under-served by banks despite its proximity to Nigeria's banking center. Agents are third parties representing banks. They provide services such as accepting deposits and making withdrawals, replacing often-decrepit and unreliable ATM machines. Technical failures and distrust can mar relationships with the banking public, but the services provide a needed convenience, and create jobs as well.

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  • Susu as a Vehicle to Advance Economic Mobility

    A traditional African method of mutual aid, Susu, is helping members of the African Diaspora access capital for businesses, education, housing, and more. The informal loan network enables people to contribute periodically to a group fund with each contributor taking turns receiving the collected money. The informal loan club is a centuries-old African tradition that serves as a security net and can also provide economic mobility.

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  • Fighting Gentrification

    When gentrification made housing unaffordable for many people in Houston's historically Black Third Ward neighborhood, local activists sought remedies beyond standard federal tax incentives for affordable housing. A city-sponsored Community Land Trust developed a plan for more affordable housing. At the same time, a development catering to low-income, older LGBTQ residents, adjacent to the Third Ward, got developed on donated land. Charlotte has many similar challenges, making Houston a model for what is possible.

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  • Gen Z Angels: How A Younger Generation Of Investors Is Getting In On Deals

    Gen Z VCs supports early-career and aspiring venture capitalists who want to become angel investors. The group was founded in November 2020, after the Securities and Exchange Commission loosened the rules about who can invest in early-stage startups and allowed start-ups to raise money through crowd-funding. The group, which has grown to more than 6,000 members, moderates Slack channels where members can post deals, help make connections, and share information to demystify the world of angel investing.

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  • What Can Biden's Plan Do for Poverty? Look to Bangladesh.

    Bangladesh has made huge strides in reducing poverty by investing in women experiencing the most economic hardships. As a result, children have lower rates of malnutrition, fewer child marriages, higher rates of completing elementary school, and women have more job opportunities. Over the course of 15 years, 25 million Bangladeshis have been able to break out of poverty. Progress in Bangladesh is a model of success that could be possible in America with Biden's American Rescue Plan which has provisions that would mitigate childhood poverty in America.

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  • Once destined for raw bars, 5 million oysters are being rerouted to coastal restoration efforts

    The Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration initiative (SOAR), coordinated by the Pew Charitable Trusts, The Nature Conservancy, and various state agencies, NGOs, and universities, spent millions buying oysters from 100 farms in seven states to put back into the oceans for reef restoration. Working in areas that already have reef monitoring programs, SOAR is supporting 20 reef restoration projects to create habitat for more oysters and other marine species, clean the water, and mitigate coastal flooding. SOAR also helped mitigate potential losses for shellfish farmers due to COVID-19.

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  • How Vermont's Energy Efficiency Utility Is Helping Businesses Sweat the Small Stuff

    To make their restaurant more energy efficient and to cut its carbon footprint, The Publyk House utilized the services of Efficiency Vermont, a publicly funded energy efficiency utility. As part of their Deep Energy Retrofit program, the utility helped install insulation, LED lighting, and high-efficiency appliances at the restaurant, allowing them to save 50 percent on energy in two years. Since the start of the program, 10 businesses have been able to cut their energy consumption in half.

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