Thread by @oscarthinks

When people ask me “what do you write about?” Generally I typically say something like “economic revitalization for historically disinvested communities.”

But that of course still encompasses many things. Here is a thread of one of those things: shifting the flow of capital.

Shifting the flow of capital also encompasses many things, but it’s definitely one of the common threads that runs through my work. It's about cities or communities gaining access to or influencing large, existing pools of capital that typically ignore their needs.

Retirement assets are one of the biggest pools of capital out there, with more than $27 trillion in public and private retirement program accounts. Here’s a story I wrote about how a tiny but growing slice of those assets are financing affordable housing nextcity.org/daily/entry/tr…

Banks hold ~$13 trillion in deposits in the U.S. The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act says banks must use those deposits to meet the credit needs of every community where they do business. But the act is far from perfect. Here's one vision to strengthen it: nextcity.org/daily/entry/ne…

Foundations give out around $67B/year. A tiny slice goes to community dev, & a tiny but growing slice of that are "program-related investments" — low-interest loans to projects that can't get or don't want banks involved, like this in Chester, PA: nextcity.org/features/view/…

Foundations also hold more than $868 billion in their endowments. Most of that gets invested by firms led by white men (see tweets above) — some fdns turn around & wonder why more women or POC can’t access capital. Well, some are trying to change that: nextcity.org/daily/entry/mo…

Community foundations hold $91B in assets. Some of the largest recipients of annual giving, many use them as a tax shelter. B4 getting granted to others, those $ usually get invested on Wall Street. Some are finally investing them instead on main street: nextcity.org/features/view/…

State & local govts hold $500 billion in deposits — taxes collected, fees paid & other public revenue. More cities are looking at ways to be more intentional about investing those dollars more responsibly or locally. Some want to start their own banks: nextcity.org/features/view/…

The U.S. insurance industry holds more than $6.5 trillion in investments — they take in premiums, pay themselves, pay claims, then invest what’s left over. CA used to track insurance co investments into affordable housing & clean energy in the state. nextcity.org/daily/entry/ca…

Public procurement $ are a major investment cities make. Even in majority-minority cities, like most big cities in the U.S., minority-owned firms often get just a single digit % share of public procurement dollars. So I write about who's changing that nextcity.org/daily/entry/le…

Credit unions now have more than 100 million members, more than $1.5 trillion in assets & $1.2 trillion in deposits. But their presence & reach into historically disinvested communities remains lacking for many reasons. Some are working to change that nextcity.org/daily/entry/ne…

The corporate bond markets were worth $9.2 trillion in 2018, w/ another $1.3 trillion in corporate bonds issued. Bonds are usually how big corporations borrow money. A growing slice of those bonds are going to nonprofit community development lenders: nextcity.org/daily/entry/co…

In 2018, the federal gov guaranteed 60k small business loans, totaling $25.3B. The guarantees are supposed to boost access to small biz loans. But just 5% of those went to black-owned biz. Just 18 percent to women-owned biz. Who's changing that? nextcity.org/daily/entry/wh…

We’ve all seen the numbers. 98% of venture capital money goes to men, the vast majority of whom are white. See: tweet above re who manages wealth. But there is a relatively new VC firm in #NewarkNJ that has many hoping it can buck that trend: nextcity.org/daily/entry/wh…

#OpportunityZones. The new tax break attempts to carve out a new pot of capital — unrealized capital gains — & utilize that for the benefit of disinvested communities. Results so far have mostly not reflected that vision. I first wrote about it in Feb 2018 nextcity.org/daily/entry/bi…

In some cities, housing organizers are starting to call out banks for continuing to finance slumlords and developers who are flipping rent-stabilized housing into luxury housing. Here's how one bank, a big customer and advocates are working against that: nextcity.org/daily/entry/ar…

Here's a follow-up story on a project that was able to access retirement $ as part of its capital stack. It's important to note that public resources were still necessary to make this happen, but this isn't some fanciful talking point. It's real. nextcity.org/daily/entry/ho…

#OpportunityZones are kind of taking over my life, for better or for worse. Here's another story from the perspective of some groups in smaller "flyover" or rust belt type cities who have already been trying to bring investment back into their communities. nextcity.org/daily/entry/sm…

Here's the City of Boston's approach so far to shifting some of its ~$1.5 billion in deposits toward more responsible or more local investments. nextcity.org/daily/entry/bo…

Another take on #OpportunityZones. Most of the action so far has been around real estate, but it’s supposed to support investments in operating businesses too. Here’s why that's challenging, especially for people of color in disinvested communities: nextcity.org/daily/entry/lo…

It's not just community groups that want to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act. The current administration has its own thoughts, and surprise surprise they do not see eye-to-eye with grassroots organizers in marginalized communities: nextcity.org/daily/entry/th…

If you want to understand the potential for #OpportunityZones to subsidize projects that do nothing to benefit those the tax break purports to benefit, you can look to the EB-5 immigrant investor program. Atlanta's OZ czar happens to be an expert on EB-5: nextcity.org/daily/entry/wh…

In St. Louis, City Treasurer Tishaura Jones started asking the city’s banking providers for a response to the #BlackLivesMatter agenda as part of the *annual* application process to hold city deposits. Some banks didn't re-apply. nextcity.org/daily/entry/to…

Out of $70 trillion managed by asset management firms in the U.S., less than one percent are managed by firms led by women or people of color. Makes it hard for more diverse startups & real estate firms to access capital for their work. Can that change? nextcity.org/daily/entry/wh…

One of the reasons banks have trouble financing projects for disinvested communities is that appraised property values remain so low, the approved loan amount isn't enough to cover what's needed. It's the "appraisal gap." But there are ways around it: nextcity.org/daily/entry/ho…

The “appraisal gap” afflicts entire swaths of cities. While there are ways around it, it's challenging to bring capital back into these communities in ways that respect the histories and remaining presence of those who’ve stuck it out. nextcity.org/features/view/…

California passed #AB857, creating a legal pathway for cities & counties to obtain a public bank charter from the state. It’s the biggest step yet for a movement spanning across the country to divest taxpayer deposits from DAPL & reinvest in communities. nextcity.org/daily/entry/ca…

This is a sample of just one thread that runs through my work. I’ll continue adding to it as future stories I report continue with this thread. I also plan to create additional threads for things like worker-ownership, community ownership, & communities investing in themselves.

“None of us knew anything about banking to begin with, but we haven’t let Wall Street gaslight us into thinking that this is impossible."

Today for @NextCityOrg, as SF moves forward a proposal for a municipal bank, I talked w/the organizers behind it: nextcity.org/daily/entry/th…