Neighborhood Economics will convene the people who are investing in communities in a way that bridges the racial wealth gap in Jackson, Mississippi in early May. We bring capital to the people and places that don’t normally get it.
Neighborhood Economics has shown it is able to bring together three funding streams that don’t typically flow together: faith-based investors, people investing in their local community, and catalytic philanthropic investors. We help them become unlikely allies in place-based community economic development.
Working with national leaders to create a new economy, as well as with local grassroots groups, community organizers, local congregations, and endowed churches starting to move their money to mission, Neighborhood Economics is an action- oriented, interactive event that has a history of creating change and starting new capital flows toward economic justice.
Among the themes of the conference will be unleashing the government-based capital that is not reaching the ground and changing the rules to begin to eliminate unfair housing and lending practices. One example of changing the rules is our work with the Federal Reserve to eliminate the hidden “Black Tax” paid by historically Black Colleges and Universities on their municipal bonds to pay for buildings, parking lots, etc.
A broad theme of our Neighborhood Economics event in Jackson will be looking at new solutions that are creating new paths to ownership of real assets–including commercial real estate, housing, and Black-owned farms–by communities of color. We will bring national leaders and identify local practitioners working to change the game.
We will highlight and explain new ways and tools to invest in pioneering Black and brown entrepreneurs who don’t get traditional loans. We will unpack the new financial tools creating the right kind of debt and equity that are delivering economic power to the people who don’t normally have it.
We will hope to find funding for a local person to play an important role in Jackson both before and after the conference. Our work has shown that the role of the system entrepreneur is crucial to accelerate a local economic ecosystem. Additionally, we plan to leave behind a community-directed philanthropic investing fund open to a wide range of donors.
For participants who connect their money with their faith, we will explore a theology of faith-based local investing across race, class and neighborhoods and zip codes.
Watch future newsletters for announcements about how to contribute to this work in Jackson, how to buy tickets for the event, and how to sponsor a session.