Why Foundations Show Up for Neighborhood Economics

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 […]

Catalyzing the Growth of Black-Owned Businesses

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, […]

Meet Strong Towns, Important New Partners in Our Work

Background You Need to Know One key principle that the team at Neighborhood Economics has taken from our experience in building SOCAP, the impact investing and social enterprise conference we started and ran for a decade, is finding the valuable strangers and helping them become unlikely allies.  That principle is one reason SOCAP became the […]

Solutions to Repair Local Economies are Starting to Replicate

Mixed Income Neighborhood Trusts, or MINTS, were a brand new concept three years ago, but Trust Neighborhoods has quickly grown from two buildings in one city to 170 residences in five cities. MINTS are a rare economic justice innovation that found the right inflection point in the system at just the right point to halt […]

Finding the Catalytic Philanthropy to Help Black Funds Scale

The influential Aspen Institute has decided that the goal of their Future of Wealth initiative is to see Black family wealth grow ten-fold over the next twenty-five years. This would bridge a significant chunk out of the racial wealth gap; the average white family has 10x the assets of the average Black family. Aspen’s grounding […]

CategoriesAccess to Capital Catalytic Capital Church Assets in Transition Faith + Finance Faith on Main Street Lining Up Endowments with Missions Local Economic Policy Local Mission-Guided Investing Neighborhood Investment Trust Ownership Matters Racial Wealth Gap

Press Release: Barber Joins Neighborhood Economics to Help Get Money Into the Hands of People Who Don’t Normally Get It

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Neighborhood EconomicsAnna Golladayanna@faithfinance.netwww.neighborhoodeconomics.org  Barber Joins Neighborhood Economics to Help Get Money Into the Hands of People Who Don’t Normally Get It (Asheville, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon – September 29, 2022) Leroy Barber, co-founder and president of the Voices Project, has been appointed Executive Director of Neighborhood Economics, effective October 1, 2022. Neighborhood […]

CategoriesCatalytic Capital Racial Wealth Gap

How to Create Black Wealth

Derek Peebles has a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish leading Cincinnati’s Common Good Collective.  “We want to create Black wealth in our community,” said the 30-something African American who also leads Amiba, a national association of independent businesses. Nationally, the average white family has $140,000 and the average Black family has $14,000 […]