Last year at this time, as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped our country, Babbie Jacobs and I partnered through Social Venture Circle (SVC) to showcase Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

Certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury, nearly 1,300 CDFIs serve persistently impoverished communities and historically underserved populations with responsible financial services and technical assistance. The pandemic illustrated the financial services ecosystem’s failure to serve poor, disabled, and BIPOC people and communities; yet CDFIs filled the gap and succeeded in serving these overlooked and financially vulnerable populations.

Through SVC, we published the first-ever directory of 60 CDFIs that accept individual investments, and held a series of webinars, attended by hundreds, to showcase CDFI work, impact, and investment opportunities. Now the work expands with community catalysts such as ImpactPHL.

To motivate others to invest, we highlight three CDFI investors. One investor couple is laser-focused on their home community of Lancaster; another investor has spent her professional and volunteer energies at the intersection of philanthropy and impact, and the third is an international venture capitalist who returned to the US and found CDFI investments to be “no-brainers.”

Carl and Ellen Pike – Investors with a local focus

Carl and Ellen Pike have lived in Lancaster for 50 years, moving there when Carl joined the faculty at Franklin and Marshall. 25 years ago, Carl sat on the Lancaster School Board with the future CEO of Community First Fund (CFF), Dan Betancourt. Carl’s work on the School Board and Ellen’s long career in high school education provided both Pikes with a close look at the community disparities across Lancaster, especially for people of color.

They believe deeply that “equitable opportunities make life better for everyone. All benefit when the entire community is healthy.”

Read the full article about investing in CDFIs from ImpactPHL at Generocity.