Local Return: Community Investing for Environmental Impact

Guest Jessica David, Community Consultant and Co-Founder, Local Return

What is ESG investing, and does it truly address earth's most pressing environmental issues - pollution, conservation, sustainability and social equity?

How does community investing compare with global market investing, and why are the distinctions so important?

What are the risks and rewards of shifting investments from Wall Street to Main Street?

Community consultant and co-founder of Local Return, Jessica David answers these questions and seeks to educate more people about a new opportunity in investing that has a local focus. Local Return has the mission of building community wealth in neighborhoods that have experienced historical disinvestment. David and her team are establishing Rhode Island’s first-ever diversified community investment fund (DCIF) by raising $3.5 million for neighborhood revitalization. The structure and governance of this fund will serve as a model for the formation of DCIF opportunities across the country.

Investing is a complicated topic. Most people avoid getting into the weeds of investing. Individuals who can afford to invest in the stock and bond markets of Wall Street tend to surrender their investment decision-making power to professional investment advisors, who earn their living on commissions made by distributing the money into large pools of exchange traded funds. Companies offering retirement benefits tend to do the same. This purely profit-motivated manner of investing lacks transparency and, hence, evidence of truly meaningful impact. DCIFs offer people an exciting and more accessible investment alternative.

David's experience includes serving as Executive Vice President of Strategy & Community Investments at the Rhode Island Foundation, the state’s largest philanthropic institution, where she led strategic initiatives, grant programs, evaluation, capacity-building, and impact investing. Her work at Good Worth Working For LLC includes supporting community organizations and leaders on strategy and change processes, program design, large and small convenings, and culture-building. And interestingly, David is also a full-time Master of Divinity student at Harvard Divinity School, and she reveals how this spiritual investment dovetails with her work at Local Return.

INFORMATION RESOURCES

Visit the Local Return website.

https://localreturn.org/ (Sign up for e-news at the bottom of the page)

Learn more about the Local Return Diversified Community Investment Fund (DCIF).

https://ricommunityinvestment.com/ (Sign up for e-news at the bottom of the page)

Read about DIPG: Eternal Hope Versus Terminal Corruption by Dean Fachon begin to uncover the truth about cancer - https://dipgbook.com/

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