Convening, Recruiting, and Connecting People Who Repair Local Economies
CategoriesFaith on Main StreetMost participants in Neighborhood Economics events know we are organized as a faith-friendly convener on the topic of local economic investment for resilience in left-behind neighborhoods. We recognize faith-based institutions as important stakeholders in those neighborhoods. Churches own assets, administer services, and shape local identity. However, at our Galveston event, a new theme emerged as […]
CategoriesEcosystem AnalysisJoe Minicozzi, who runs the property-data firm Urban3 out of Asheville, stood in front of a ballroom in Galveston with a parcel map of Buncombe County, North Carolina, walking the room through what his own county’s tax assessor had quietly done to his neighbors. Four point four million dollars redirected away from public schools in a single year, enough to cover more than a hundred teachers’ salaries, and none of it required a vote or a scandal. It required a property tax formula that already existed, working exactly the way it was built to work.
CategoriesCollective TurnIn a world as bizarre as ours has become, we sometimes have a difficulty finding reasons for hope. That’s why I’m glad that we have a Neighborhood Economics event kicking off this week. About 200 folks will be working together, helping new economies emerge in the places where we each live—economies meant to serve everyone, […]
CategoriesEcosystem AnalysisThe Neighborhood Economics gathering in Galveston is significant not only for the local community, but to any community development effort looking to add to the capital stack. Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) are rebuilding the investing playbook around a central question: how can our money actually serve the places we live? Two of those RIAs – […]
CategoriesEcosystem AnalysisHow TICA is getting the collaborative wheels turning by Kevin Jones There’s a particular moment in building any new field of practice when a room full of well-meaning people who all say the word “impact investing” realize they’ve never actually watched each other invest. Texas recently had that moment. Kate Knight, former director of a […]
CategoriesCatalytic Capital Innovation StackPhoto Courtesy of RI Community Investment Cooperative This post follows Kevin’s introduction to Diversified Community Investment Funds The DCIF investment model is not a tool that leaves the local context unchanged. Its unique portfolio design, anchored by real-estate investments likely to appreciate and accessible to non-accredited investors, has emerged as a pathway toward sustainable local […]
CategoriesCatalytic Capital Innovation StackImage courtesy of NC3 Tracy Loh studies community capital at Brookings Institute, Metro. When she talks about the Diversified Community Investment Fund — the DCIF — the first thing she says isn’t about returns or impact. “It’s already legal,” she told me. “It doesn’t require any action on the part of Congress, or a state […]
CategoriesOwnership MattersLast year’s Neighborhood Economics conference in Chicago proved to be a pivotal moment for New Majority Capital (NMC)’s expansion to the midwest, reinforcing both the power of place-based engagement and the growing momentum behind entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) as a pathway to inclusive ownership. NMC participated in the event as both an attendee and a […]
Photo courtesy of East Tennessee Farmland Commons Food justice is often talked about in the context of addressing food deserts, with the goal of getting a grocery store or setting up a community garden to increase access to healthy options. But at The Farmers Land Trust, a national nonprofit transacting farmland into community ownership, food […]
CategoriesEcosystem AnalysisFor years we have been teaching the Field Guide to Transformation as a forensic player map. Who is on the field? What role are they playing? Is there a System Entrepreneur calling plays? Is there a Finance Wizard devising funding innovations? Has the local Prophet been co-opted by the institution they were supposed to hold […]
