June. 2020 Newsletter
Philanthropic and nonprofit organizations serving rural communities contend with unique obstacles and challenges. Oftentimes, grappling with these issues requires a novel approach using innovative practices. One such strategy is regional collaboration.
 
While LOCUS Impact Investing works with philanthropic partners nationally, we have a wealth of rural experience. Our June feature dips into that well as we hold a recorded conversation with LOCUS Senior Vice President, Deb Markley, and Brian Dabson, LOCUS Advisor and Research Fellow at the University of North Carolina's School of Government, to discuss the findings of a research project, "Regional Solutions for Rural and Urban Challenges."
 
Click  here  to access the recording, and be sure to check out our  microsite  documenting the full body of work developed through the Regional Solutions project.
LOCUS Focus
Impact Investing Advancing Racial Equity
Like many of you, LOCUS advocates for racial equity and is committed, along with VCC, to bringing a racial equity focus to our work as a team and the work we do with foundation partners across the country. As part of that commitment, we are highlighting a series presented in 2019 by the Stanford Social Innovation Review in partnership with Mission Investors Exchange and as important today: How Foundations Are Using Impact Investing to Advance Racial Equity .
Foundations and CDFIs:
Creative Solutions for COVID Response and Recovery
In the wake of COVID-19, mounting economic concerns have highlighted the need for new tools and ways to address community needs and long-standing inequity. Foundations are well-positioned to respond, but effective action requires philanthropy to branch out into non-traditional spaces, such as local investments.

Join LOCUS Solutions Consultant Lisa O’Mara and other experts in the impact investing field for a webinar hosted by CNote . Click here to register for this one-hour webinar featuring foundations, CDFIs, actors within the mission-aligned investing field, and their stories of fund deployment in the communities they care about.
Indiana Philanthropy Alliance:
Philanthropy Leads
Indiana Philanthropy Alliance (IPA) took its 2020 conference virtual this month. During Philanthropy Leads, foundations and impact-minded professionals across sectors chose from over 30 sessions where experts shared stories of new ideas and community impact.

LOCUS Senior Vice President Deb Markley and Solutions Consultant Travis Green participated in two panels: "An Introduction to LOCUS Impact Investing" and "Moving Toward Action on Local Impact Investing." Together, the talks offered participants an overview of the ways the practice can help root wealth in a community and how philanthropies are folding a broad set of tools into their investing programs to fill gaps.

Click here to learn more about gaining access to the recorded sessions.
Opportunity Zone Updates
An article from Bisnow observes how increased capital is flowing to Opportunity Zone Funds while deals close and projects launch at increased rates. Like most real estate developments, OZ-based deals saw many abrupt interruptions with the arrival of COVID-19. Within the last month, investors have been turning to OZs to put their capital gains to good use.
News from
the Field
Where You'll Find LOCUS
Since COVID-19 has upended so many practitioners' travel, please see below a list of helpful virtual gatherings and learnings...

Jun. 17 | Virtual Session
Lisa O'Mara participates in a webinar on foundation and CDFI responses to COVID-19.

Jun. 24 | Virtual Session
Teri Lovelace, the California Endowment's Christine Ryan, and Joel Smith of Native American Bank will speak on a panel featuring CIGP.
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