Community engagement, Immigrant and New American rights, News

Fighting for Immigrant Rights During COVID-19

  • Posted by Tyana Smith
  • On May 28, 2020
During times of crisis, it's even more critical to uphold our values and stand up for those who are denied the right to stand up for themselves. Join our fight for immigrant rights by joining the Freedom100 Circle, a one-year commitment where members engage with Freedom for Immigrants and Mission Driven Finance to launch and grow our Freedom100 Bond Fund, while educating the public about the U.S. immigration detention system and community-based alternatives to detention.
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Community engagement, Community Finance Fellowship, News

How the Community Finance Fellows are learning during a pandemic

  • Posted by Wilda Wong
  • On April 29, 2020
While sheltering-in-place during a pandemic, we welcomed five Community Finance Fellows to our team in March to begin learning in a virtual environment: Louise Jordan, a renewed San Diegan with a legal background who moved back from Virginia to join us; Andrew Moncada, a financial analyst from Florida who wants to run his own impact investment firm one day; Benson Ochira, a refugee from Uganda with a degree in business management; Essence Rodriguez, an undergrad research fellow with the U.S. Immigration Policy Center; and Crystal Sevilla, an executive assistant from San Diego with a deep interest in economics and finance. See how they are learning during a pandemic.
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Advancing economic opportunity, Gender equity, Investors, News

AdvanceHER: Unlocking Opportunities for Women and Girls in San Diego and Abroad

  • Posted by Tyana Smith
  • On March 3, 2020
In our quest to increase economic opportunity for underestimated groups, we knew we’d want to emphasize supporting women and girls. With a diverse and largely female team, empowering more women has always felt natural to us. We’ve long wanted to connect the resources and needs of our community in new intentional ways that make a real impact on gender inequality.
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Investors, News, Team

Mission Driven Finance Selected as an ImpactAssets 50 2020 Emerging Impact Manager

  • Posted by Wilda Wong
  • On February 25, 2020
Mission Driven Finance has been named as an Emerging Impact Manager in ImpactAssets' IA50 2020, a publicly available, online database for impact investors, family offices, financial advisors and institutional investors that features a diversified listing of private capital fund managers that deliver social and environmental impact as well as financial returns. The new IA 50 Emerging Impact Manager category spotlights newer fund managers that demonstrate potential to create meaningful impact. "We are honored to be selected for inclusion in the new Emerging category, especially among such distinguished firms," said Mission Driven Finance CEO David Lynn.
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Community engagement, Community Finance Fellowship, News

Changing the face of finance through the Community Finance Fellowship

  • Posted by Wilda Wong
  • On December 17, 2019
To build an inclusive economy, we must transform the world of finance. Communities need good businesses, and good businesses need access to affordable capital. But our financial systems, structures, and policies have restricted access to capital and opportunity—whether intentionally or not. We believe the lack of diversity in finance perpetuates unequal access to capital and […]
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Advancing economic opportunity, Community engagement, Investors, News, Racial equity

Making Funding Accessible in the Asian Pacific Islander (API) Community

  • Posted by Lauren Grattan
  • On November 22, 2019
AdvanceAPI: A Partnership with the Asian Business Association of San Diego Doing your taxes. Buying a house. Raising a family. Some things are, by nature, challenging. Entrepreneurs in underestimated communities would also add finding investors and accessing startup capital to this list. As an entrepreneur, sourcing start-up capital can be time-consuming. Add in the factor of […]
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News, Team

B Corp: Best For the World Honoree

  • Posted by Lauren Grattan
  • On September 22, 2019
A year ago, nonprofit B Lab certified Mission Driven Finance as a B Corporation—akin to organic or fair trade certification but for our whole company. We were delighted to join the B Corp movement with other folks using business as a force for good. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of […]
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Advancing economic opportunity, Borrowers, Community engagement, News, Why I invest

Developing Community with Creative Capital

  • Posted by Tyana Smith
  • On July 18, 2019
How Advance borrower Kris Schlesser Uses Creative Capital to strengthen community When we first met Kris Schlesser, founder of LuckyBolt, he was six years into a quest to make the perfect breakfast burrito easily accessible to professionals on the go. He had been financing the business with high-interest credit cards and microloans. Though he had […]
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