Quarterly Investment Report

Dear Community Credit Lab Funders and Investors,

Since I last communicated, so much has changed. We were holding uncertainty as we processed the election, hit the ground running in the New Year, and have now witnessed the continued impact and undoing of several years of progress towards equity.

As I think of my dear peers and colleagues who have given so much of their love, time, and energy to this work for the past several years, I’m sitting with a recent read by Prentice Hemphill in their new book, What It Takes to Heal. Prentice speaks to oppression as “the distribution and concentration of trauma into bodies and communities designated less powerful. It is the mechanism that leaves these same bodies and communities without the resources in time, money, and support to heal.”  Prentice also shares an expansive viewpoint on the term resilience, “To be resilient is to be engaged, creative, adaptive, and relational. It’s to remember that you are part of this world. It is the opposite of isolation and habitual protection.”

These words hit me as I am reminded how oppression and resilience are interconnected and that we cannot go into isolation. I continue to think of the levels and layers of impact happening and ways in which I/we can show up and move in this moment. The CCL Fund remains committed to catalyzing models to close the racial wealth gap; centering and uplifting community-led ideas and solutions to creating inclusive economies, and convening peers and impact investors to share learnings.

Now more than ever, we must ensure that we continue to flow capital within communities most impacted by our extractive and exclusionary systems. In speaking with our emerging fund managers who are designing innovative capital solutions, we have heard both a fear of a pull back of funding and yet a relentless belief in the potential of this moment to create what was previously not possible.

Much of our Q4 was spent working with these emerging fund managers and community-led capital innovators to keep building and planting the seeds for our next economy. We have been working with managers and innovators  who are looking to deploy capital in efforts to combat rapid gentrification, secure opportunities for community-ownership, and support ecosystems of actors that are enabling access to basic needs and livable wages. More to come on these investments in our next Investment Report.

The past few years have opened the door to a more expansive definition of wealth as so much more than just financial accumulation. The veil has been lifted for so many of us as we witness, and experience the impact of unfettered financial wealth as it relates to power and democracy. In this moment, our communities have responded by imagining and creating new models that center well-being, democratized access to decision making, and slower and more deliberate planning to ensure we are considering all impacts — both negative and positive from our practices. Let us not forget that this is the important work of transforming systems and practices that no longer serve us. It may be hard to see the path forward at this moment, but the opportunity for a break from the status quo awaits us — and we ask that you jump in with us to imagine what can be. Thank you for your continued support and partnership. Unless otherwise stated, all investment data included in this report on CCL’s portfolio and programs is as of the quarter ending December 31st, 2024. Please feel free to reach out with questions or comments.

With hope,

Jaime Gloshay
Managing Director of Impact Investments, Community Credit Lab