Here's why community capital institutions could be the key to recovery
Why It Matters
The United States puts more than $1 billion per year into a fund for community development financial institutions (CDFIs), and mandates that big banks make investments into low-income neighbourhoods, which they do by lending to CDFIs. Canada doesn’t have similar institutions that could classify as CDFIs, but if we did, hundreds of millions of dollars could be catalyzed to support communities’ recovery and regeneration.
As we continue to navigate through an incredibly challenging moment in time across North America and around the world, there is a critical need to maintain, improve, and launch systemic responses — like wage subsidies, income support programs, rent abatement programs, and sector stabilization funds. We’ll also need to renew our collective social contract, as the crisis has revealed the stark nature of long-standing issues that must be addressed, from precarious work to incredible inequality.
Additionally, there is a need to unleash the power and potential of social enterprise and impact investing as a part of a comprehensive response to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19. As a movement, we need to lean in at this time.
In the United States and Canada, both
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