U.S. · Brookings AI
A community investment trust for Portland, Ore. residents to ‘buy back the block’
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With limited access to wealth due to the current economic crisis and preexisting systems of inequality, it will be difficult for America’s people of color to recover from the setbacks of COVID-19.
Key facts
- After the course, residents enroll and choose to make an investment of $10, $25, $50, or $100 per month
- Residents can build equity in a commercial real estate property in their ZIP code (or a nearby ZIP code) by investing between $10 to $100 a month
- To invest, interested residents must be 18 years old and live within Portland ZIP codes 97216, 97230, 97233, or 97236
- Plaza 122 Community LLC is the Plaza 122 property owner that is owned by EPCIT
Summary
Wealth-building presents an opportunity for growth and equity by investing in people and places that have been historically left behind by local economic development strategies, leaving them without adequate capital to participate in and contribute to regional economies. Initiated by the global humanitarian nongovernmental organization Mercy Corps, the trust is a low-dollar, loss-protected investment opportunity designed for low- to moderate-income individuals. Although CIT was born out of a nongovernmental organization (NGO), wealth-building efforts like this can also be built with public sector resources. The Community Investment Trust grew out of Mercy Corps, a Portland, Ore.-based global humanitarian NGO that works to create just, productive, and secure communities.