Invest Appalachia’s Post

As pioneers in impact investing, IMPACT Community Capital LLC is committed to not only financing new units of affordable housing but also investing to preserve existing units. In our latest video, Michael Lohmeier, Chief Investment Officer at IMPACT, sheds light on the critical importance of affordable housing preservation to keep existing affordable housing units accessible to low-income households.       "Preserving affordable housing is key," Lohmeier affirms. "It costs significantly less to preserve existing units than to build new ones. By preserving what we have, we can ensure that communities remain stable and diverse." He explains that affordable housing isn't just about providing shelter; it's about ensuring that individuals and families can afford to live in safe and sanitary conditions without spending a significant portion of their income.       Read more from our Chief Investment Officer in IMPACT’s latest market commentary: https://lnkd.in/e2Czb4iU      Watch the video below to learn more:

Happy to share more information on the unique position that affordable housing has within the commercial real estate market. As I’ve said in both my article “Amidst Challenging Times, Opportunity Awaits” and the video below, “The need for housing that is safe, sanitary, and affordable grows regardless of economic circumstance”.

I spy #RPN shoutouts! The reports these students put together are still being used to inform ongoing strategies to address our five priority areas: Workforce Development, Economic Development, Health & Wellness, Housing and Quality of Place.

Working Power (WP) is thrilled to be featured in the ImpactAlpha article Ownership and wealth building in The Great Deployment. We launched WP to "bridge market failures" and help "drive socially just, community-based, locally-owned economic development." We are honored to collaborate with community partners like UPROSE and Ecological Citizens Project, who are also featured, along with advisors like Donnel Baird. WP is excited to partner with the Waverley Street Foundation as an initial investor in WP's new fund utilizing catalytic impact investments to expand our shovel-worthy project pipeline nationally to ensure projects are poised to receive Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds (GGRF) when deployed. These historic national funds need to reach communities most impacted by climate change, enabling communities to benefit directly from clean energy and community wealth-building. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g34AnCwu #WorkingPower #UPROSE #CommunityOwnership #CommunitySolar #ECP

Thanks for the shout out from Zoila Jennings at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in her great piece on equitable approaches to impact investing! "Take central Appalachia, which historically has faced chronic underinvestment and economic exploitation impacting health, financial wellbeing, and the environment. A challenge has been creating a lasting, long-term investment pipeline infusing capital across a broad array of economic drivers simultaneously.  We’re excited about the Invest Appalachia Fund, which is providing real estate and small-business loans in four priority areas:  -Clean energy, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, “green” building, clean manufacturing, climate adoption, mine land reclamation and development, workforce development, and community ownership. -Economic development, including responsible tourism, outdoor recreation, downtown revitalization, commercial real estate, community amenities, and arts and culture enterprises. -Community health, including workforce and affordable housing, community health facilities, healthcare provider access, addiction treatment and recovery, and childcare and early childhood education.  -Food and agriculture, including family farms and access to healthy food. The Appalachian region already has a robust, home-grown ecosystem of community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, along with foundations and community development organizations. But bringing in risk-absorbing philanthropic dollars is a game changer in creating broad, long-lasting growth and resilience. It can catalyze the influx of capital into communities that other investors have been reluctant to invest in by providing a buffer from risks that they are not willing to accept." #impactinvesting #appalachia #rural #communityinvestment #equity https://lnkd.in/euWEB87y

BlueHub makes investments that can inject life into underserved communities, according to Barron's. In a piece on how housing is an impactful and safe investment, Abby Schultz details the work done by IMPACT Community Capital LLC. The article details the significant increase in allocations to affordable housing, the substantial need for such investments, and the positive outcomes for low-income communities. Read the full article at: https://lnkd.in/gSKHseTc

The path to shared prosperity requires bold action from philanthropy. In our recent Bridgespan report "Boats for a Rising Tide: How Philanthropy Can Help Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap," we explored how foundations can leverage their full spectrum of investment options -- equity, debt guarantees, concessionary capital, and grant funding – to ensure many more people benefit from the abundance our economy creates. Among the many great examples, The Kataly Foundation stands out. In a series of editorials in Impact Alpha, Kataly's Chief Investment Officer Lynne H. takes us on the journey of what it takes to stand by values of racial justice, stewardship, healing, and repair while executing a vision of regenerative investment. From investing cash deposits with credit unions, CDFI's, and cooperatives to funding municipal bonds in communities of color, Kataly is putting its resources behind its mission. While the journey is not easy, Kataly is proving that it's worth it. https://lnkd.in/ed7CsYWa

Looking forward to speaking at #HOMESUK and #UnlockNetZeroLive on 28 November alongside Matthew Buckham and Jamie Dickinson MBA. For me, the future of community investment is tied up with a constant need to change and evolve - which can be both exciting and unnerving at the same time. But it's essential we do this to ensure we're working with and responding to the evolving needs of our communities, governing contexts and everything else our people-centred work presents. For those at the recent HACT community investment conference, you may have heard a few partners speak about the need for hope and optimism to help fuel developments in community investment and I'm a big supporter of that. I also think we need to be bold and re-establish the boundaries and influence of community investment work; re-centring its value at the heart of our social housing agendas. As we look ahead to a national effort to build more houses at scale, we must pair this effort with commitments to shape homes people feel safe and pleased to live in and commitments to shape communities where people can live happy, healthy and safe lives. Looking forward to the conversation on the panel in a few weeks time! Also, if this is an area you're also interested in, DM me - would be great to catch up on the day for a coffee if you plan to be at Homes UK too. #communityinvestment

Inflation, high interest rates, and other market pressures have slowed vital community development projects down as developers compete for low-cost funding. “That’s where community development financial institution loan funds come in,” writes Anna Smukowski, our director of Capital Programs, in a new op-ed for ImpactAlpha. Read the article to learn how CDFIs can bring more affordable housing online, even in a high-cost environment. https://bit.ly/3vuyy6e

If you attended the event, this blog is a great resource to read through. There were so many discussions that happened throughout the day it might provide you with some "Oh yeh!" moments and reignite some discussions of your own!