A Baby Boomer and Millennial Walk into a Bar
Ok, it wasn’t a bar but my Zoom screen on two separate occasions. Despite the 30+ year difference in their ages, they shared a number of similarities: They’re both White, hetero men. Each, in his own way, was fascinatingly intelligent and meticulously self-educated on a wide range of topics from economics to politics, history, financial markets, permaculture, cryptocurrency, and more. Both spoke passionately and articulately — and probably could have gone on ad infinitum if I hadn’t crow-barred my way in every now and then with a question or comment.
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Community Investment Funds: Impact Investing for the 99%
Whether you call it impact, place-based, mission-aligned, values-driven investment, or something similar, the movement toward investing for “more than financial” return has gained significant traction over the past decade. The recent pandemic-induced economic downturn has only increased momentum in this direction, as it heightened awareness of the indispensable role of “Main Street” businesses within local economies.
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Community Capital Funds and How They Build Power
On August 25, 2021, Janice sat down with Andrea Armeni and Curt Lyon of Transform Finance, alongside Deborah Frieze of the Boston Impact Initiative to discuss Community Investment Funds and how they build power.
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What's Holding Back Investment for Impact?
“Lack of deal flow.”
I hear this lament all the time from investors and fund managers looking to invest for impact.
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To build inclusive, community-scale funds, modernize the Investment Company Act of 1940
A growing number of Americans who never considered themselves impact investors are now taking a long hard look at the wealth they’ve amassed through hard work — and, often, privilege — and wondering how they can use it to be part of a solution rather than an unwitting perpetuator of the problem.
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Dorothy and the Wizards of Wall Street
There’s a fault line under Wall Street and it’s starting to shift. Hairline fractures have appeared in the foundations of the once formidable, seemingly impenetrable bastion of high finance, and the firmly ensconced inhabitants of its brokerage firms and hedge funds find themselves exposed.
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Small Business Matters
It was April 22, 2020, and just six weeks earlier, she’d planned to spend part of the day out on the town green with hundreds of other Moreland citizens to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. But then a couple new terms entered the world’s vocabulary and changed everything: social distancing and shelter-at-home.
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Regenerative Finance: A Path to Economic Justice
On Monday, June 29, 2020, Janice sat down again with Teresa Chahine of Yale School of Management, this time as part of a panel with Anna Blanding of ConnCAT and ConnCorp and Michael Shuman, one of the go-to voices on local investing and community economics. This panel discussion was about finance and economic justice.
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It Could Happen
Who would’ve thought that small pockets of people in Detroit, Oakland, Baltimore, Birmingham, and even tiny towns like Cabot, VT, and Yellow Springs, OH, could bring the U.S. banking system to its knees?
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JUST BUILD IT: Janice Shade, Founder of LocalCap
Janice sat down with Social Entrepreneurship professor Dr. Teresa Chahine of Yale’s School of Management (SOM) in February 2020 to discuss democratizing entrepreneurial financing.
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NEK Prosperity Fund
The Fund's purpose will be to finance businesses and projects that help NEK citizens become: mentally healthy, physically healthy, well housed, well nourished, and financially secure.
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Local Cap Acquires Local-Investing.com
Local Cap is acquiring the URL, content, and analytics of www.Local-Investing.com, a well-known website that contains a breadth of valuable information and resources for local investors and community organizers.
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A Bathroom Line Indicates Progress
“Ten years ago, there were never lines for the bathroom,” joked a woman at the Angel Capital Association (ACA) annual summit in Boston last week. She was right. The percentage of women angel investors has increased from 4% 15 years ago to 22% now.
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Neighborly Banking
The tradition of neighbors investing in neighbors dates back to the 1800s in Vermont. Mutual savings banks, some of which have operated in Vermont for over 150 years, are still in operation today.
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Milk Money Co-Founder Announces Launch of The Initiative for Local Capital
Janice Shade, co-founder of Milk Money, has launched a new nonprofit organization to support investor education and financial literacy. The Initiative for Local Capital (or Local Cap, for short) grew out of the Invest Local education series created and delivered by Milk Money during 2015-2017. Local Cap will deepen and expand these educational programs and tools to help increase the financial literacy and confidence of those wishing to invest their money where their hearts and homes are.
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