The Greenwood Economic Justice and Opportunity Portfolio intends to accelerate the pace of economic mobility and wealth accumulation to help close the opportunity gap for Black America. This new Portfolio intends to create and implement a cohesive set of programs that a) acknowledge historic and current inequities; b) address systemic issues through an asset based lens and c) facilitate intergenerational wealth within the Black Community.

urbanAC was a part of a multi-disciplinary team hired to advance the design of a new investment portfolio to create “full economic participation” for Black Americans rooted in:

A clear and specific definition of equity and for whom

Reaching towards reparative justice that acknowledges and dismantles discriminatory practices

Actionable strategies derived from quantitative data and the experiential expertise of those whom the Initiative hopes to impact

Sustainable practices that build long-term economic, political and social capacity

urbanAC collected data and built case studies that helped inform the scale and geography of place-based investment and wealth building needs and opportunities. We contributed to public and philanthropic policy scans related to place-based assets. We defined ultimate outcomes for “full economic participation” and equity, established targets and metrics for measuring progress and impact, and developed a framework Theory of Action for portfolio initiatives, policy and platform recommendations (near and long term) that aligned with Theory of Change objectives, outcomes, and metrics.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funded a significant initiative to incorporate race and equity into municipal bonds. This work aimed to develop meaningful metrics around race and equity that can be valued by investors and incorporated into new issuances by municipalities and their financial advisors to fund infrastructure investments. This was accomplished via a new framework developed by Lourdes German, and a range of data tools and technical assistance programs developed by collaborators that include the Government Alliance on Race & Equity (GARE), the Urban Institute (UI), the National League of Cities (NLC), the Milken Institute (MI) and the Harvard Initiative for Responsible Investment (IRI).

urbanAC served as the lead equity advisor for the initiative, advising project partners on various work streams to ensure that all facets of the initiative reflected an authentic commitment to equity and inclusion, and awareness of emerging practices in the field.

We reviewed core partner’s existing research and created a foundational basis and framework to understand and confirm baseline theories, definitions and assumptions with regards to prevailing practices in the field of equity and presented outstanding questions and/or gaps. We developed a shared language around how equity was centered in our collective work.

Lastly, we conducted research on notable changes and shifts in the field and across disciplines of expertise that further informed the team’s collective opportunities, omissions and barriers for the integration of equity in the domain of municipal bonds. This included a review of existing tools and frameworks that entities use to guide municipal work, and the creation of relevant case studies.