Convening, Recruiting, and Connecting People Who Repair Local Economies
Foundations have often been observed to move in something resembling rugby scrums: many of them focused on the same issue. Shared ownership of businesses is the hot topic this year for many of them. And last week I went to Rockefeller Center to what was a major gathering of the leading catalytic foundations, funds focused on the various […]
I will be the first to admit that my belief in a better world and systems that work for all people may be a little more hopeful than what is visible in our current condition. If I go down the rabbit hole of what is happening systematically, then my cynical self is called to the […]
It’s always fun to be at SOCAP and to be able to connect with what Fran Seegull started referring to as the “OGs” who really are the team that started and grew SOCAP: Tim Freundlich, one of the founders; Lindsay Smalling, the amazing curator who managed content for most of the time our group owned […]
These past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to travel the roads of Texas to listen, learn, and visit organizations and possible partners in our work of convening and supporting the process of getting resources to places they haven’t gone historically. I have driven about 2,000 miles and still haven’t seen a giant portion […]
Every week, our planning for the San Antonio event gets more and more rich. And the connections we are making are incredible. Last week, Paula and I were in Texas on a scouting trip mostly focused on speaking with colleagues in theological education about how the conversations we have at Neighborhood Economics connect with the […]
On our last night in Texas, just before we went to the Broken Spoke, we had an extraordinary conversation at Still Austin, where our friend, Chris Seals, told us what he is up to in the whiskey distilling business in Texas. He even gave me an exquisite bottle of rye to take home with me. […]
Jeremiah Robinson and I had lunch today at Maria’s, billed as the best little taco place in Texas. If you’re from out of town, you won’t find it if you don’t know where it is. We were taken there by Janie Barrera. Her liftfund.com invested in the business run by Maria and her daughter Linda; […]
The fall has brought on a busy travel season, and that’s because our work in Neighborhood Economics depends on connections with local communities and good relationships with partners. Resources can’t hit the ground in local neighborhoods unless we build together. The excitement of this work is being able to see and learn as we move […]
Our Neighborhood Economics conference in Jackson, Mississippi, this past spring had a surprising degree of success attracting the leading national catalytic foundations that invest in economic justice. The Jackson conference was just our second in-person event since the pandemic, and we attracted the MacArthur, Surdna, Heron, and Kellogg foundations, and we are in conversation with […]
Imagine a world where every Black entrepreneur doesn’t just survive—they thrive, shattering systemic barriers with unyielding resilience and innovation. Despite the unwavering spirit of Black entrepreneurs, the stark reality remains: 95% of Black-owned businesses are sole proprietorships, a figure reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2019. This overwhelming majority stems from pronounced financial disparities, […]