Connect Capital
The multisector place-based teams in Connect Capital (2018-2020) used the Capital Absorption Framework to lay the groundwork for attracting and deploying capital at scale to achieve community goals—and expand and advance their local community investment systems.
In Appalachia, Coachella Valley (CA), Miami, Milwaukee, Richmond (VA), and Seattle, Connect Capital teams worked to achieve community dreams.
They used the Capital Absorption Framework to bring together residents, nonprofits, government, and philanthropy to strengthen collaborative networks, increase resources for community investment, initiate housing and climate-resilient investments, and contribute to transformative changes in policy and practice. Their work is ongoing, and its impact will continue to play out well into the future.
CCI Resource Library
Search our publications, tools, and other resources to assist you with transforming your community’s investment systems so all residents can flourish.
Community Investment: Focusing on the System
The Appalachian Ecosystem Journey
Preserving Affordable Homes for Equitable, Healthy Communities
COVID-19, Structural Racism, and Community Investment: Notes Toward a Just Recovery
Investing in Communities
Capital Absorption is an approach to community investment, not a formula. Equipping teams with capital absorption, racial equity, leadership, and collaboration skills will achieve different outcomes in different local contexts. In Connect Capital, those outcomes included:
A new regional investment entity that will bring financial resources to help existing organizations support the region’s transition to an equitable and sustainable economy.
A housing catalyst fund that will increase affordable housing units and counter residential segregation.
The county-wide Affordable Housing Framework that aims to create or preserve 210,000 affordable homes and is grounding the work of one of our 3C teams.
An urban resilience district that will support climate adaptation and equitable development in two diverse neighborhoods
Capital Absorption Framework
Communities use CCI’s Capital Absorption Framework to collaborate on strengthening their investment systems and accessing resources to achieve their visions.
Defining a Shared Priority: A shared priority guides your capital absorption work. Affordable housing? Economic development? Climate resilience? Your community will decide.
Building and Moving a Pipeline: Your pipeline is a set of deals and projects that will help achieve your community’s shared priority—and make your investment system work better.
Shaping the Enabling Environment: The enabling environment is what makes investments easier or harder (policies, practices, funding, skills, relationships, and more). You can change it!
Units of affordable housing
Seattle’s team successfully advocated for the city to acquire land for affordable housing and other community-supportive services.
Housing assistance
Housing Assistance: During the pandemic, the team in Coachella Valley, California, distributed housing assistance, helping over 17,000 households and 68,000 people with low incomes in Riverside County with rent and utility bills.
Grant
The Appalachia team structured a new investment fund, recruited a governing board, hired an executive director, secured a $2.5 million grant for initial capital and operating funds, and closed on the first $19 million for their fund .
Connect Capital Teams
Six teams across the country participated in Connect Capital. The tailored curriculum included peer-learning communities, specialized meetings for team leads, and technical assistance (TA) and coaching. Teams also received funding for staffing, organizational capacity, and TA.
Central Appalachia
Coachella Valley, California
Miami, Florida
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Richmond, Virginia
Seattle, Washington
Testimonial
For a deeply place-based initiative like Invest Appalachia, it’s been invaluable to have a national partner like CCI. Our participation in the Connect Capital program was a formative phase of Invest Appalachia’s development.
Andrew Crosson, Invest Appalachia
Program Partners
The Latest from Connect Capital
News, stories about our work, and more. For general press inquiries, please contact [email protected].
