Driving Change with a Human Approach to Lending Operations
By Alexander McDonald, Senior Director of Lending Operations For communities to thrive, they need resources — but too often, small business owners, developers, and local community development leaders lack access to the capital they need to drive progress. Across the Momentus Capital branded family of…
How We Updated Our Credit Guidelines to Support Developers of Color
By Masouda Omar, Head of Small Business & Community Development Credit - Lending Operation As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Capital Impact Partners has played a part in both upholding and dismantling systemic racial bias in the credit system. Since our inception, we have…
Momentus Capital President & CEO Ellis Carr Reflects on Supreme Court Rulings
By Ellis Carr, President and CEO At Momentus Capital, we envision a future where everyone has the capital and opportunities they deserve – especially those who have been excluded from both for so long. Our President and CEO Ellis Carr reflected on the contrast…
Five Ways CDFIs Can Increase Equity in Lending Practices
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) were born out of the civil rights movement to ensure that nonprofits and businesses — particularly those in communities of color and communities with lower incomes — have equitable access to loans. Yet, CDFIs are part of a financial system…
Women Leaders of Color in Real Estate: Five Minutes with Our HEAF Fellow Ronette Slamin
This blog originally appeared on the HAND blog. You can read the original post here. Affordable housing development firms led by people of color – both nonprofit and for-profit – are highly underrepresented in the housing industry, yet are a critical resource for strengthening the…
Predictions 2023: What to Expect for Capital Deployment, Small Businesses, and Mission-Based Lending
As the first quarter of 2023 unfolds, Momentus Capital team members are starting to see trends for an exciting year ahead. And while 2022 proved to be another rollercoaster ride for the economy and small businesses, our experts still forecast plenty of opportunities to make…
How Place-based Inclusive Development is Essential to Building Community Resilience
At Momentus Capital, we believe that residents from all walks of life should have equitable access to the things that contribute to their health and wealth. This is especially vital for underestimated communities that often have a harder time accessing resources like good jobs, affordable…
Black History Month: Fostering Thriving Black Communities as Resistance to Inequity
It’s Black History Month! This month, we will celebrate by illuminating the social and economic experiences that shape the lives of African American communities. We also wanted to take a moment to share the history of Black History Month and the theme for this year.…
The Top 10 Questions To Ask Your Community Development Real Estate Lender Before Starting Your Development Project
As a real estate developer looking to deliver social impact, the process of finding and engaging with a lender can be hard. Once your mind is set on starting a community development real estate project, who do you turn to? Where do you find them?…
Video: Momentus Capital’s Senate Testimony Champions Community Advantage for Small Business Support
Momentus Capital’s Chief of External Affairs, Robert Villarreal, recently testified in front of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship about improving access to capital in disinvested communities through the Small Business Administration (SBA) Community Advantage (CA) loan program. The Community Advantage pilot…
Meet Karla Gill, Momentus Capital’s First Chief Technology Officer
Karla Gill recently joined Momentus Capital as its first Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In her role overseeing the integration of new technologies that make our work more effective, she will manage Ventures Lending Technologies, Information Technology, and the data analytics teams. In this blog, we…
Forty Years of Breaking Barriers to Success and Building Communities of Opportunity
By Ellis Carr, President and CEO 2022 is a special year for us at Capital Impact Partners as it marks our 40th anniversary. Four decades of leaning into helping people build communities of opportunity and developing pathways to success. And while this is an exciting…
Impact Investments That Support Companies Affecting Positive Change
By Raymond Guthrie Chief Investment Officer and Head of Capital Deployment Momentus Capital In 2022, a Fast Company piece by Porter Braswell released new statistics that painted a telling picture: in 2021, only 1.4% of Black founders received venture capital funds. That’s a stark number…
Meet Byron Reed, Momentus Capital’s New Senior Vice President of Business Advising
Byron Reed recently joined Momentus Capital as the new Senior Vice President of Business Advising. In his commitment to serve borrowers from underestimated communities, he will lead, manage, advise, and provide strategic direction to the team of business advisors who consult with potential and existing…
Impact Investing for Health Equity: Q&A With SameSky Health CEO Abner Mason
SameSky Health Founder and CEO Abner Mason is on a mission to advance health equity in communities Abner Mason came up with the idea for SameSky Health in 2013 with a dream of creating a company that is on a mission to advance health equity.…
We Are Now Part of The Momentus Capital Family of Organizations!
By Ellis Carr, President and CEO of Momentus Capital, Capital Impact Partners, and CDC Small Business Finance Healthy communities are built by their residents. Small business owners, local real estate developers, and other local leaders are the engines of job creation and economic activity in…
Meet Mindy Christensen, Our New Senior Vice President of Community Development Real Estate
Mindy Christensen recently joined Capital Impact as the new Senior VP of Community Development Real Estate. She leads her team to support Capital Impact’s mission to transform how capital and investments flow into communities by facilitating loan transactions for health care centers, charter schools, affordable…
Trends and Policies that May Affect Community Development & Small Business in 2022
Like 2020, 2021 presented challenges for small business owners, often revealing historical and systemic disinvestment in communities of color. It also created opportunities for businesses to adapt and rebuild. While communities and businesses are still dealing with the repercussions of the pandemic, we can work…
VIDEO: A Visual Storytelling of Capital Impact Partners’ First 10 Years in Detroit
Over the past 10 years, Capital Impact Partners has invested more than $300 million to foster equitable and inclusive Detroit communities, and we are committed to achieving that vision with the city’s residents. To celebrate our 10th anniversary of working side-by-side with Detroiters, we look…
Marching Toward “Freedom and Jobs”: How Our New Enterprise Fosters Wealth Creation and Builds Inclusive and Equitable Communities
By Ellis Carr, President and CEO During the 1963 March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs, attendees peacefully and constructively protested for the end of systemic barriers and racial segregation. These barriers kept members of disinvested communities from good-paying jobs or from owning businesses wherever…
Alliance “Get To Know Us” Spotlight: LaKisha Gant, Senior Vice President, Commercial Real Estate Lending
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise with Capital Impact Partners. Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership…
Alliance “Get To Know Us” Spotlight: Shelli Hayman, Senior Vice President, Small Business Lending
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise with Capital Impact Partners. Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership…
Alliance “Get To Know Us” Spotlight: Kim Dorsett, Chief Human Resources Officer
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise between CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners. Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under…
A Decade of Investment in Detroit’s Revitalization: An Oral History of Our Journey – Capital Impact Partners in Detroit
A decade ago, Detroit was on the verge of a landmark municipal bankruptcy. Emergency response times were among the slowest in the nation. Blight abounded in nearly every neighborhood. In the prior decade, Detroit had lost one-quarter of its population—more than 244,000 residents. National media…
Alliance “Get To Know Us” Spotlight: Diane Borradaile, Chief Lending Officer
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise between CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners. Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under…
PODCAST: Catalyze – Access to Capital for Underestimated Communities
In August, our President and CEO Ellis Carr participated in “Catalyze,” a podcast of the Greater Washington Partnership. “Catalyze” brings together leaders from Baltimore to Richmond who are working to make this the most inclusive growth region in the country. It features leaders from across…
In Memoriam: Capital Impact Mourns the Loss of Charles Snyder of National Cooperative Bank
On behalf of the entire team at Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, I want to express my deepest sorrow at the passing of Chuck Snyder. Chuck joined the National Cooperative Bank (NCB) in 1983 before being named as President and CEO in…
Alliance “Get To Know Us” Spotlight: Robert Villarreal, Chief External Affairs Officer
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise with Capital Impact Partners. Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership…
Alliance “Get To Know Us” Spotlight: Kim Buttemer, Chief Operating Officer
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise with Capital Impact Partners. Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership…
The Future of Building Wealth: Ellis Carr and Others Contribute Essays on Ideas to Build Wealth—for Everyone
There was considerable evidence, even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, that the United States was marking levels of income and wealth inequality unseen for a century, all during the longest economic expansion in modern history. The stark economic inequalities that individuals and families in our…
