Derek Razo and Camille Canon, in addition to speakers from Trust Neighborhoods, Folks Capital, The Guild, Mission Driven Finance, and Schmidt Futures offered a master class in using various combinations of market power and community control to build up shared ownership and community wealth.
Laura Kohn, senior director of care & education, spoke on behalf of Mission Driven Finance.
Elias Crim of Ownership Matters shares this recap:
Laura Kohn presented Mission Driven Finance’s remarkable Care Access Real Estate (CARE) Investment Trust, another example of what could be described as reinventing a model by turning it upside down. Instead of funneling profits to a small number of affluent investors, this REIT shares its appreciation with a particular sector: mostly female, BIPOC, and lower-income providers of childcare services.
The latter is an underserved occupation whose workforce is often renting in poor locations with bad leases and little ability to finance their growth aspirations. By contrast, participants in the CARE Investment Trust will have a 50/50 share in the appreciation of the properties. The goal is to assist them in acquiring their properties via a down payment or a price reduction—which will also work to recycle capital for the REIT. Since most childcare providers work out of their own homes, this strategy also works to build up homeownership.
Kohn emphasized that more childcare available means more (and less stressful) workforce participation—certainly a form of community investment.
