Racial Equity

Where conventional financial systems perpetuate structural racism, community investment has the potential to play a powerful role in advancing racial equity in and across communities—but only if we actively work to center equity in all aspects of the system.

How We Got Here

Centuries of structural racism have shaped financial systems and markets to channel resources to communities that already have them and further disinvest communities that don’t. To overcome that legacy, community residents and their aspirations must drive local community investment systems, and community investment practitioners must incorporate racial equity lenses and attend to the racial equity implications in every choice we make. 

Making Change Happen

Recent events—COVID-19’s racial disparities, ongoing police violence, surging white nationalism—signal the urgency of uprooting racism across American society. By tackling the biases baked into the community investment system and reshaping it to prioritize racial equity, practitioners can transform communities and the lives of their residents. 

Racial Equity Resources

We offer tools, research, and ideas to help those working for racial justice in systems, organizations, and communities.

Transformational Change

Helping emerging community leaders develop key management and leadership skills.

Past Programs

The Fulcrum Fellowship equips rising executives in the philanthropic, nonprofit, public, and private sectors to lead transformational change.

Field Leaders

Meet some of the people working to advance racial equity through community and economic development. 

Stanislaus Equity Partners CDC
Chief Strategy Officer
Modesto, California
Oklahoma City Community Foundation
President & CEO
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Boston Children's Hospital
Director of Community Investment
Boston, Massachusetts
WV Community Development Hub
Executive Director
Charleston, West Virginia
Baltimore Department of Planning
Assistant Director for Equity, Engagement, and Communications
Baltimore, Maryland
Wells Fargo Foundation
Head of Housing Access and Affordability Philanthropy
Kensington, Maryland
National Fair Housing Alliance
Vice President of Housing and Community Development
Washington, District of Columbia

The Latest from CCI

News, stories about our work, and more. For general press inquiries, please contact [email protected].