Driving Investment to Markets of Opportunity

On December 12, LISC and the New York Fed hosted Transforming Communities: Driving and Assessing Investment. This conference looked at the current state of community development finance and existing investment vehicles that funders and practitioners can use to bring opportunity to under-resourced communities. The conference also examined the future of community development finance and how the ecosystem might evolve to meet community revitalization goals. Organizers live-streamed and recorded the conference. You can view the thought-provoking discussion and get more information about the topic here.

Around the same time, LISC released a white paper delving further into the community development finance discussion, CDFIs and Impact Investing: An Industry Review. In this paper, authors Elise Balboni (LISC Senior Vice President for Lending) and Christina Travers (LISC Vice President for Capital Strategies and Treasurer) examine the history and current role of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in bringing mission-driven investment to America’s communities. The authors discuss the impact of CDFIs, pinpoint where investment gaps still exist, and illustrate the opportunities CDFIs offer for socially minded investors. Read CDFIs and Impact Investing: An Industry Review.