CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners recently announced a new alliance between the two companies. We recognized that we had a special opportunity to create greater change together than we could individually in the communities we serve and beyond. This is an exciting…

With the COVID-19 pandemic still impacting communities across the country, particularly communities of color, the work of community health centers and clinics (CHCs) is more urgent than ever.   Community health centers have worked extremely hard to meet the medical needs…

CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners recently announced a new alliance between the two companies. We recognized that we had a special opportunity to create greater change together than we could individually in the communities we serve and beyond. This is an exciting…

By Mary Donnell, Program Manager, Michigan Good Food Fund The grocery business is more competitive than ever. Even in normal times, much of the market share is taken up by the big-box players. But in the face of an unprecedented pandemic, local, independent grocers are…

By Alison Powers, Cooperative & Community Initiatives Manager In early 2020, Capital Impact Partners, in partnership with the National Cooperative Bank, awarded a total of $100,000 to three awardees, - ChiFresh Kitchen, The Guild, and the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative – through its Co-op Innovative…

CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners recently announced a new alliance between the two companies. We recognized that we had a special opportunity to create greater change together than we could individually in the communities we serve and beyond. This is an exciting…

By Diane Borradaile, Chief Lending Officer For generations, systemic racism has kept many people of color from achieving even a basic standard of living, which includes social services that help communities thrive. As we wrote in the first of our series looking at the repercussions…

CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners recently announced a new alliance between the two companies. We recognized that we had a special opportunity to create greater change together than we could individually in the communities we serve and beyond. This is an exciting journey we…

CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners recently announced a new alliance between the two companies.  We recognized that we had a special opportunity to create greater change together than we could individually in the communities we serve and beyond. This is an exciting journey we…

By Ellis Carr, President and CEO Since 1982, Capital Impact Partners has helped people build communities of opportunity that break barriers to success. We have done that through learning and evolving with a range of investors, donors, community partners, and other Community Development Financial Institutions. …

Editor’s note: This conversation took place virtually to protect all participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. There may be sound issues, as this was a live webinar. As COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact communities of color, it is important that supporting developers of color does not…

By Ellis Carr, President and CEO The events of the past weeks have been incredibly painful to witness. While in the midst of a global health crisis, the disease of racism reared its ugly head to create a crisis within a crisis in which unarmed Black…

By Michelle Betton, Writer “Structural racism has always been a pre-existing condition for communities of color.” -Race Forward People in disinvested communities, often communities of color, understand this statement too well. It has rung true for generations. Structural racism affects more than just health; systemic…

By Ellis Carr, President & CEO, and Daniel Varner, Board Chair Over the past several weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the world for all of us. Our hearts go out to everyone who has been—and will continue to be—affected by this devastating event.…

By Ellis Carr, President & CEO Friends and Partners - Since I last reached out on behalf of the team here at Capital Impact, our country has changed dramatically as a result of the unprecedented health crisis we are all facing. Across the country, communities…

“Those closest to the problem are closest to the solutions.” Bryan Stevenson Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) were first certified by the U.S. Treasury 25 years ago to provide financing in communities left behind by the mainstream financial system. CDFIs have long been “first responders”…

American small businesses and nonprofits are facing an unprecedented economic disruption due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Congress has reached a bipartisan compromise on a $2 trillion economic stimulus package to address the economic impact caused by the outbreak titled the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic…

By Michelle Betton, Writer “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.” -President Lyndon B. Johnson when he signed the Voting Rights Act…

By Scott Berman, Director, Policy and Development The civil rights movement sought to end legalized racial discrimination against Black-American individuals and communities. For generations, Black Americans were systematically denied opportunities that their White counterparts experienced, from the ability to buy homes to accessing quality education…

By Michelle Betton, Writer Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy is one of challenging the systems that keep people from benefitting from the democracy that this country is supposed to provide to all of its citizens. The people for whom he fought were often people of…

By Ellis Carr, President & CEO Throughout the year, I have thought a lot about what equity means to me and the work we do at Capital Impact. At its most basic, dictionary.com defines “equity” as “the quality of being fair or impartial; fairness; impartiality.”…

By Jason Anderson, Senior Director, Communications As 2018 came to a close and many of us were focused on the holiday season, a headline came across the news wires that stopped us in our tracks. It had been reported that a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who…

This blog originally appeared on the SOCAP19 blog. Click here to visit the original post. By Alison Powers, Manager, Cooperative and Community Initiatives Communities of color have experienced historical and structural disinvestment, which has led to an unprecedented racial wealth gap, historically low home ownership,…

By Ian Wiesner, Director, Business Development Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have been bringing investment to Detroit for more than two decades. The mission-driven approach and unique tools that CDFIs bring to the market have played a critical role in the development of new housing…

By Candace Robinson, Director, Strategy for Aging in Community, Capital Impact Partners, and Amy Herr, Director, Health Policy, West Health Policy Center This blog originally appeared as a Fast Fact on the Build Healthy Places blog. Read the original blog here.​​ Fact: On average, only 35…

By Elizabeth Luther, Detroit Program Manager Between 2000 and 2013, Detroit lost one-quarter of its population—more than 244,000 residents. When the city filed for bankruptcy in July 2013, the exodus continued, with residents leaving the city in record numbers. Vacant homes and shuttered businesses meant…

By Ellis Carr, President and CEO, and Dan Varner, Board Chair Looking back at our journey through 2018, both as an organization and as a country, it is no surprise to us that Merriam-Webster’s “word of the year” was justice. The meaning and implications of…

Alaina Beverly has spent her career championing and empowering underserved communities and working with stakeholders to work toward justice and opportunity for all. She started her career as a litigator for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and later worked in the Obama Administration…

By Ashlee Cunningham, Detroit Housing & Community Development Specialist Long before Midtown Detroit—or Cass Corridor, as 39-year-old Wayne State University graduate and artist Rachel Barker prefers to call it—was booming with aesthetically pleasing coffee shops, hip art galleries and expensive retail stores, it was the neighborhood…

By Lauren Counts, Senior Director, Strategy, Innovation, and Impact Management Innovation is an important tool for mission-driven organizations as they work within their communities to address issues of social, racial, and economic justice. Traditional thinking will not solve the problems that communities across the country experience…